THE PROGRESSIVE

MOVEMENTSOL: VUS.8d

WHAT WERE THE GOALS OF THE PROGRESSIVES?

Progressives: Americans who want to improve the “system” by working together with the government

Many social problems arose from industrialization

(i.e. poor living/working conditions, corrupt business practices, government controlled by the wealthy)

WORKING CONDITIONS FOR LABOR: Dangerous conditions Child labor Long hours, low wages, no benefits or

security Company towns Employment of women

COMPANY TOWNS

Towns based on a single factory-the company often supplied all aspects of living

The First Company Town was in Lowell MA. All aspects of life were conducted in the company-owned town, including its own church!

MUCKRAKERS

Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle exposed the meatpacking industry

writers who brought attention to corruption

Muckraking literature told of the abuses of child labor

PROGRESSIVES’ GOALS: Government controlled by the people Guarantee economic opportunities

through government regulation Eliminate social injustices

PROGRESSIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

In local governments New forms to meet needs of increasing

urbanization (commission and council manager)

In state governments Referendums-laws submitted to the people for

a vote

Initiatives-laws can be originated by the people

Recall-removing an official from office by the people’s vote

PROGRESSIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

In electionsPrimary Elections-people choose candidates for

public office17th amendment- direct elections of SenatorsSecret Ballot

In Child LaborChild labor laws

IMPACT OF LABOR UNIONS

Purpose: protect workers rights by banding together as a Union

OrganizationsKnights of Labor (1st large labor union for all races)

American Federation of Labor (Skilled craftsmen led by Samuel Gompers)

American Railway Union (Railroad workers led by Eugene Debs)

Industrial Ladies’ Garment Workers Union

Strikes!Haymarket Square

1886- confrontation between striking workers and police resulted in several deaths

Homestead Strike 1892- steel workers against

Carnegie fought hired “thugs” Pullman Strike

1894- Debs’ workers were attacked by “strike breakers” resulting in President Cleveland sending out troops

Union Gains Limited work hours Regulated work conditions

Antitrust laws Sherman Anti-Trust Act: prevents

any business structure that “restrains trade” (no monopolies)

Clayton Anti-Trust Act: expands Sherman Act; outlaws price-fixing; exempts unions from Sherman Act

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE

Forerunner of modern protest movement

Benefited from strong leadership (Susan B Anthony)

Encouraged women to enter labor force during WWI

Resulted in 19th amendment  

Women celebrate the passage of the 19th Amendment granting them theright to vote: Aug 26, 1920.

OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

•16th Amendment: Income Tax•18th Amendment: Prohibition•Meat Inspection Act•Pure Food & Drug Act•Conservation (National Parks)

Carry Nation worked for prohibition by walking into saloons, destroying bottles of liquor with her hatchet, and scolding the customers

IDA B. WELLSShe led an anti-

lynching crusade and called on the federal government to take action.

Congress failed to make such a law, however a great deal of public awareness was raised!

Photo credit Library of Congress

IDA B. WELLS Born into slavery shortly before

emancipation, Wells was raised in a well-respected and politically active family. She moved to Memphis and became an editor of a local paper, and she regularly reported racial injustice. This led to her later crusades.

Lynching became far too common of an offense for Wells to take lightly. She denounced it as mob rule and a violation of rights, including the crime of murder. Ida B. Wells led an anti-lynching crusade and called on the federal government to take action.

While many times the issue came before Congress, anti-lynching laws were never enacted at the National Level.

Photo credit Library of Congress

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON:He believed the way to

equality was through vocational education and economic success; he accepted social separation.

Economic success would precede social equality!

Photo credit: Library of Congress

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON: Booker T. Washington was a former slave. He

believed that racism would end once African Americans acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society. Washington, who was born a slave in Virginia, graduated from Hampton Institute after his emancipation. He opened his own school in Alabama, the Tuskagee Normal and Industrial Institute. Washington pushed curriculum based on farming and technical training.

"No race can prosper until it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem."

Booker T. Washington believed the way to equality was through vocational education and economic success; he accepted social separation and discouraged animosity between the races. He urged cooperation between the races. Washington did not want to "rock the boat" as he feared racial backlash would take back the few gains already made in the Civil Rights movement. Photo credit: Library of Congress

W.E.B. DU BOIS:He believed that education

was meaningless without equality.

He supported political equality for African Americans by helping to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

W.E.B. DU BOIS: W.E.B. Du Bois became the first African

American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1895. "The honor, I assure you," he said, "was Harvard's". Born to a middle-class family in Massachusetts, Du Bois believed blacks should seek a liberal arts education so that the African American community would have well-educated leaders. Toward this end, Du Bois proposed that a group of educated blacks, the most "talented tenth", would achieve immediate inclusion into mainstream American life. This would then pave the way for others to follow.

Du Bois was much more militant than Washington, advocating non-compliance with laws and openly defying the authority which was in place.

W.E.B. Du Bois believed that education was meaningless without equality. He supported political equality for African Americans by helping to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.