The Progressives 1898–1920

Chapter 6

The Progressives

Introduction

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ReformRead

Chapter 6 The Big Picture:

• As the 1900s dawned, activists called Progressives fought to make America’s economic and political systems fairer.

• Others attacked a wide range of societal ills.

• The Progressive movement involved countless individuals and groups at all levels of government.

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1. Define: Progressivism

A group of reform movements of the late 1800s that wanted to correct the abuse of the Industrial Revolution

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Reformers who focused on three areas of reform

2. Who were the Progressives?

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1) easing the suffering of the urban poor,

2) improving unfair and dangerous working conditions,

3 ) and reform government at the national, state, and local levels.

3. Identify the three areas in which the Progressives sought reform.

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4. IDENTIFY TWO PROGRESSIVE GOALS

to improve the lives of the working class and to regulate the unchecked power of business

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5. What issues did progressivism focus on?

• urban problems, such as: the plight of workers and the poor

• practices of “big business” • poor sanitation, • and corrupt political machines• and other issues

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Topic 2: Muckrakers

6. What is the Objective of this lesson? Analyze how

journalists, called muckrakers, exposed political corruption, corporate and industrial practices, social injustice and life in urban America.

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7. Define: muckrakers

a term coined for journalists who “raked up” and exposed corruption and problems of society and industrialization by writing about it

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8. How did muckrakers prepare the way for political reforms?

Their writing energized the Progressive movement –they paved the way for political reform

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9. Who were the muckrakers? What were their occupations?

Journalists and authors who reported on business and political corruption and how it affected the working poor, small businesses, etc.

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10. In the early 20th century, how did muckrakers influence American society?

Through the publication of newspaper articles, magazine articles and books

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What issues did Progressives focus on?

• Ida M. Tarbell grew up near oil derricks in Western Pennsylvania and later investigated the practices of the Standard Oil Company for McClure’s Magazine in November 1902. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress.

• ISSUES:• practices of big

businesses• helping urban poor • working conditions • reforming

government

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11. WHAT HELPED TO ENERGIZE PROGRESSIVE CAUSES?

• Ida M. Tarbell grew up near oil derricks in Western Pennsylvania and later investigated the practices of the Standard Oil Company for McClure’s Magazine in November 1902. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress.

Newspapers gave publicity to their causes

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12. Identify: Ida Tarbell—What did she expose?

(1857–1944) Investigative journalist; she wrote a report condemned the corrupt business practices (monopoly) of John D. Rockefeller in McClure’s magazine. These articles became the basis for her book, The History of the Standard Oil Company.

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OGT

• WHAT KNOWLEDGE DO STUDENTS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS CONCEPT? Students need to know the economic effects of industrialization. Students can define the terms “monopoly” and “laissez-faire economics” to increase their understanding of the economic conditions and effects of industrialization.

• Also, students can make a list of the positive and negative aspects of monopolies and look at a specific example, Standard Oil, from that time period.

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What is this political cartoon implying?

“IN DANGER” What are you going to do about it?

A. WHAT WAS PROGRESSIVEISM?

Muckrakers

Ida Tarbill, exposed abuses of Standard Oil’s Monopoly

13. What did muckrakers hope

to gain by reporting abuses?

Muckrakers hoped that people would be outraged and make the government address the problems

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1887--Uncle Sam states:“Don’t bother me. I am

engrossed in my friend here to attend to you!”

What is this political cartoon implying?

Uncle Sam too engrossed in baseball to bother with other news

14. Identify: Lincoln Steffens. What did he expose?

(1866–1936) Muckraker and managing editor of McClure’s magazine; he exposed city government corruption in his 1904 book, The Shame of the Cities.

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REFORMING SOCIETY

An east wing tenement block, New York City.

15. Who was Jacob Riis--What did he expose? What did it lead to?

• (1849–1914) Newspaper reporter, reformer, and photographer; his book, How the Other Half Lives, shocked Americans with its descriptions of slum conditions and led to tenement housing legislation in New York.

STORY OF US: 28.15—31.30 Riis

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16. What were the major social problems facing the urban poor?

• poor housing conditions

• lack of healthcare

• discrimination

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17. How was Jacob Riis’s book, How the Other Half Lives, so significant in the reform movement?

• Riis’s book shocked Americans

• It made government leaders aware of the severity of poverty of the urban working poor

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How did Progressives try to reform society?

• By exposing the problems• Forming organizations to

lobby the government for improvements

Housing reforms

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18. What was the Tenement Act of 1901?What effect did it have on people’s health?

Housing reforms

Tenement Act of 1901 was legislation (a law) that forced landlords to install lighting in public hallways, the law required at least one toilet for every two families.

Outhouses were eventually banned from New York City slums.

Within 15 years, the death rate in New York dropped dramatically

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19. What caused improvements within meat-packing and drug industries?

• Muckraker’s exposure of abuses.

• Example: The novel, The Jungle, led to reports from Secretary of Agriculture that would lead to improvements.

Protecting consumersUpton Sinclair

From Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle

“There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt

and sawdust, where the workers had trampled and spit uncounted billions

of germs. There would be meat stored in rooms and thousands of rats would

race about it..A man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep handfuls of dried rat dung.

These rats were nuisances, and packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then the

rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together…

20. In 1906 Sinclair’s novel The Jungle drew outrage against the Chicago meatpacking industry for its arrogant disregard of basic health

standards. What government regulation resulted from the writing of this book?

The Jungle led to government regulation of food and drugs (Meat Inspection Act).

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Why do you think it took so long for reforms to occur within the food and drug industries?

Big business interests had little desire to reform their practices.

• How Theodore Roosevelt Made Your Dinner Safe to Eat

• A magazine cover dramatizes some of the evils that made a Pure Food and Drug act necessary.

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