The Progressive Era

1890 - 1920

Bell Work: 10/13/14 (Monday) “Now, it is very necessary that we should not flinch from seeing

what is vile and debasing. There is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck rake; and there are times and places where this service is the most needed of all the services that can be performed. But the man who never does anything else, who never thinks or speaks or writes, save of his feats with the muck rake, speedily becomes, not a help but one of the most potent forces for evil.... The effort to make financial or political profit out of the destruction of character can only result in calamity.“ - Theodore Roosevelt

What do you think Roosevelt is referring to? What is a muckraker? Do you think he is in favor of or opposed to muckraking?

Objectives Identify the causes of Progressivism.

Analyze the role that journalists played in the Progressive Movement.

Section 1: The Drive For Reform Reformers crossed social,

economic, political lines

Beliefs:

Industrialization and urbanization had created troubling social and political problems

Wanted society and government to help people

Use logic & reason to solve problems

End corrupt government

Some sought political reform

Vote for women

End political machines that allowed some to prosper while others lived in dangerous conditions

Big business – break up the trusts

Social – stop the growing gap between rich and poor, child labor, conditions, etc.

Muckrakers – journalists and writers who exposed the “muck” – ugliest side of life Lincoln Steffens – The Shame of

the Cities Jacob Riis, How the Other Half

Lives, photographer who turned his camera on the urban poor

Ida Tarbell, The History of Standard Oil, about Rockefeller’s ruthless tactics

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, about the horrors of the meatpacking industry

Bell Work: 10/14/14 (Tuesday) What role do you think muckrakers played in the early

20th century?

Objectives Evaluate some of the social reforms that Progressives

tackled.

Explain what Progressives hoped to achieve through political reforms.

Reform of Society Social Gospel – follow the Bible’s

teachings about charity and justice to help society

Settlement houses – provided social services to the poor Jane Addams – Hull House

Child labor laws, more

educational opportunities John Dewey urges students to

think not memorize facts Help industrial workers Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire,

1911 leads to reforms in industry (killed 146 – mostly young women)

Reforming Government Cities switch to city commission form of local government

after the hurricane of 1900 (worst natural disaster in American History – 8,000 killed)

Direct primary – people voted in local elections directly to put officials on upcoming ballots

Initiative – people could put law on ballots by getting signatures on a petition

Referendum – could approve or reject laws passed by local legislatures

Recall – voters could remove corrupt officials from office 17th Amendment – direct election of senators Progressive governors – Bob LaFollette (WI), Teddy

Roosevelt (NY), Woodrow Wilson (NJ)

Objectives Analyze the impact of changes in women’s education

on women’s roles in society.

Explain what women did to win workers’ rights and to improve family life.

Evaluate the tactics women used to win passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.

2. Women Make Progress WCTU – Temperance movement picks up Margaret Sanger – birth control, fewer children,

better quality of life Florence Kelley – Nat’l Consumer League – safer

products for the home Ida B. Wells – rights for African American women

(had also protested lynching) Carrie Chapman Catt – NAWSA – lobbied for

women’s suffrage Alice Paul 19th Amendment – suffrage (right to vote)

Bell Work: 10/17/14 What were some forms of discrimination faced by

African American and other minority groups in the early 20th century?

3. Struggle Against Discrimination Americanization – tried to make immigrants more

“American” Disturbed by alcohol use; customary in many

countries Plessy v. Ferguson – “Separate but Equal” is ok Washington & DuBois want reform (different

strategies) Niagara Movement demanded immediate change

(DuBois) NAACP forms after riots in Springfield, IL (after

attempted lynching)

Discrimination cont. Urban League – focused on poor workers; provided

clothes, books, helped find jobs

Anti-Defamation League – to defend Jews

Mexican, Native, and Asian Americans also form groups to fight prejudice and discrimination

4. Roosevelt’s Square Deal President after McKinley’s assassination; youngest;

Secretary of Navy

Square Deal – keep wealthy and powerful from taking advantage of poor, but not that government should take care of the lazy

Trustbusting – enforces Sherman Antitrust Act

Meat Inspection Act – processing plants

Pure Food and Drug Act – today enforced by the FDA

Roosevelt cont. Conservationist – w/John Muir; outdoorsman

Reserve land for public use – Yosemite National Park

Water Reclamation Act – govt. would regulate water, manage dams, reservoirs

New Nationalism – restore govt. trustbusting powers

Progressive Party – “Bull Moose”

5. Wilson’s New Freedom 1912 – Democratic Woodrow Wilson

New Freedom Plan – control corporations

Lowered tariffs so American workers could buy foreign if U.S. products got too high

16th Amendment – Income Tax

Federal Reserve Act – holds reserve funds for banks, sets interest rates, supervises banks

Wilson cont. Federal Trade Commission – Monitored business

practices that might lead to monopoly (FTC)

Clayton Antitrust Act – specified activities that businesses could not engage in, protected labor unions

Enforces the Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Legacy of Progressivism More government protection of people’s lives

More control over people’s lives

Helped children, natural resources, public health, working conditions, regulated businesses