THE DRIVE FOR REFORM17.1

OBJECTIVES

Identify the causes of Progressivism and compare it to Populism.

Analyze the role that journalists played in the Progressive Movement.

Evaluate some of the social reforms that Progressives tackled.

Explain what Progressives hoped to achieve through political reforms.

KEY PARTS

Origins of Progressivism Muckrakers Reveal the Need for Reform Progressives Reform Society Reforming Government

INTRODUCTION

Read section 17.1 Answer the critical thinking questions 4-6.

ORIGINS OF PROGRESSIVISM

Industrialization, urbanization, and immigration brought many benefits to America but they also produced challenging social problems.

In response to this a movement called Progressivism emerged in the 1890s.

Progressives believed that new ideas and honest, efficient government could bring about social justice.

CONT.

Most of the progressive leaders came from the growing middle class of America.

They’re main supporters were the factory workers, farmers, and miners. The lower income Americans were driven to come together in support for the good of society.

Progressivism was a reform similar to the Populist Movement in the late 1800s.

CONT..

Progressives shared a common belief that urbanization and industrialization had created troubling social and political problems.

Their goal was to bring about reforms that would correct these problems and get rid of corrupt government officials.

City and government officials were in control of the municipalities of the cities.

CONT…

Municipalities are the services that cities provide for people that live in them, paid for by the taxes that the people pay. (drinking water, paved streets, adequate living conditions, public transportation.)

The bosses of the political machines would bribe city officials into doing what they wanted making the lower socioeconomic classes suffer while the rich got richer.

MUCKRAKERS REVEAL THE NEED FOR REFORM

Muckrakers were journalists and writers that dramatized the need for reform and depicted the ugliest side of America via their articles in newspapers and magazines.

These magazine articles horrified many Americans who had not opened their eyes to what was going on around them.

The leading muckraker was Lincoln Stephens.

CONT.

Lincoln Steffens was the managing editor at McClure’s Magazine.

In 1903 he published The Shame of the Cities a collection of articles on political corruption.

He showed how corrupt politicians would bribe and threaten voters to support them, and how political corruption affected all aspects of life in a city.

CONT..

Another influential muckraker was Jacob Riis, he was a photographer for the New York Evening Sun.

He photographed the crowed, unsafe, rat-infested tenement buildings where urban poor lived.

One of his most famous works was called “How the Other Half Lives” and it shocked the nation’s consicience.

CONT…

Novelists come along side the newspaper writers and begin to put a human face on social problems.

They would create allegories that would depict the lives of the poor in urban societies.

Frank Norris published “The Octopus” that correlated to the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Upton Sinclair wrote “The Jungle” correlating to the stockyards of Chicago.

PROGRESSIVES REFORM SOCIETY

The muckrakers made a large impact on society and helped the Progressives increase in popularity and bring about reforms.

Many of the reformers believed that the bible and Christianity should be the basis of the social reform; the most notable for this was Walter Rauschenbusch.

CONT.

One important goal of many Progressives was to improve the lives of poor people in the cities.

One step was the use design and use of settlement houses.

Settlement Houses were community centers that provided child care so the parents could work, taught English classes to immigrants, and gave mothers classes in childcare.

CONT..

Progressives also tied to help children, the leader in this was a lawyer name Florence Kelley.

His goal was to ban child labor, and he formed the National Child Labor Committee in 1902. Which developed the U.S. Children’s Bureau in 1912 that we still use today.

In 1916 Congress passed the Keatin-Owens Act which banned child labor.

REFORMING GOVERNMENT

Progressives realized that they needed to reform the political process in order to reform society.

They would have to take control of the political bosses and give people more control over the government.

In 1900 a massive hurricane occurred in Texas causing some change in government.

CONT.

This hurricane left the city of Galveston Texas in ruin, this was the greatest national calamity in American history. The hurricane killed more than 8,000 people.

This set in motion what came to be known as the Galveston plan. Which just means instead of one mayor they replaced him with a five person commission.

This style of government became very effective and popular and spread to many different cities.

CONT..

This period of time gave way to very progressive ideas and dynamic leaders.

One of the most well known dynamic progressives was Robert La Follette.

He was elected governor of Wisconsin in 1900, Under his leadership he forced railroads to charge lower fees and pay higher taxes, improve education, make factories safer, and adopt direct primary.