CHAPTER
17
The Progressive Era
Overview
Time Lines
SECTION
1 The Origins of Progressivism
SECTION
2 Women in Public Life
SECTION
3 Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
SECTION
4 Progressivism Under Taft
SECTION
5 Wilson’s New Freedom
Chapter Assessment
Transparencies
CHAPTER
17
The Progressive Era
“I believe in democracy because it releases
the energies of every human being.”
President Woodrow Wilson
THEMES IN CHAPTER 17
Economic Opportunity
Women in America
Constitutional Concerns
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CHAPTER
17
The Progressive Era
“I believe in democracy because it releases
the energies of every human being.”
President Woodrow Wilson
What do you know?
• What does the word progressive mean to you?
Read the quote above and answer the following:
• What did Wilson mean when he said
democracy “releases the energies” of the
people?
• What does the “release of energy” suggest
about what might happen during the
Progressive Era?
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CHAPTER
17
Time Line
The United States
1890 Congress passes Sherman Antitrust Act.
1905 Niagara Convention promotes militant
pursuit of African-American rights.
1909 NAACP is founded.
Payne-Aldrich Tariff is passed.
1912 Sixteenth Amendment creates federal
income tax.
1913 Seventeenth Amendment provides for direct
election of senators.
1917 Congress passes Eighteenth Amendment
outlawing alcoholic beverages.
U.S. enters World War I.
1919 Congress passes Nineteenth
Amendment, which grants women the vote.
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CHAPTER
17
Time Line
The World
1891 Construction of the Trans-Siberian railroad
across Russia begins.
1895 Italian Guglielmo Marconi invents radio
telegraphy.
1900 The Commonwealth of Australia is
created.
1905 Albert Einstein publishes papers on
special theory of relativity and particle
theory of light.
1914 World War I begins in Europe.
1916 Mexican revolutionary “Pancho” Villa
raids Columbus, New Mexico.
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SECTION
1
The Origins of Progressivism
HOME
Learn About
political, economic, and moral roots of progressivism.
To Understand
how progressive reforms changed modern America.
SECTION
1
The Origins of Progressivism
Key Idea
Social and economic changes during the
late 19th century create broad reform
movements in American society.
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SECTION
1
The Origins of Progressivism
HOME
Section 1 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
What were some examples of political or professional groups
that campaigned for the reforms shown?
Economic
Moral
American Socialist Party
Muckrackers
WCTU
Anti-Saloon League
PROGRESSIVE
REFORMS
Political
Social Welfare
National Consumers’ League
National Child Labor Committee
YMCA
Salvation Army
SECTION
1
The Origins of Progressivism
Section 1 Assessment
SYNTHESIZING
In what ways might Illinois, Wisconsin, and Oregon all be
considered trailblazers in progressive reform?
THINK ABOUT
• legislative and election reforms at the state level
• the leadership of William U’Ren and Robert La Follette
• Governor Altgeld’s appointment of Florence Kelley as
chief inspector of factories for Illinois
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SECTION
1
The Origins of Progressivism
Section 1 Assessment
FORMING OPINIONS
Imagine you are a muckraking journalist in the early 1900s.
A magazine publisher has asked you to submit a list of story
ideas for upcoming issues. What wrongdoings would you
like to probe?
THINK ABOUT
• Ida M. Tarbell’s articles on the Standard Oil Company
• the targets of political, economic, and moral reformers
• topics that might require government reform
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SECTION
2
Women in Public Life
HOME
Learn About
women’s growing participation in work, education,
politics, and reform.
To Understand
how women’s lives changed in the early 20th century.
SECTION
2
Women in Public Life
Key Idea
Many of the social and economic changes
that give rise to progressivism lead women
into public life as reformers and workers.
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SECTION
2
Women in Public Life
HOME
Section 2 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
What are some details about working women in the late
1800s?
WOMEN WORKERS:
LATE 1800s
Farmwomen
Domestic work
and farm labor
Domestic Workers
Factory Workers
Servants, cooks,
laundresses,
maids.
Tobacco workers,
garment trade,
manufacturing.
Often African
Americans or
immigrants.
Often immigrants
or children of
immigrants.
White-collar
Workers
Stenographers,
typists, bookkeepers,
teachers.
Required high school
or business degree;
White, native-born,
middle-class women.
SECTION
2
Women in Public Life
Section 2 Assessment
ANALYZING ISSUES
What women and movements during the Progressive Era
helped dispel the stereotype of submissive, nonpolitical
women?
THINK ABOUT
• new work and educational opportunities for women
• new roles women played in public life
• the suffrage movement
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SECTION
2
Women in Public Life
Section 2 Assessment
ANALYZING MOTIVES
Explain why women participated in each of the following
reform movements: improving education, promoting housing
reform, correcting labor abuses, pushing for food and drug
laws, winning the right to vote.
THINK ABOUT
• the problems that each social reform is trying to remedy
• how women benefited from each
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SECTION
3
Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
HOME
Learn About
Theodore Roosevelt’s domestic agenda and policies.
To Understand
the reforms of Roosevelt’s administration.
SECTION
3
Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
Key Idea
Theodore Roosevelt pursues a reform agenda
known as the Square Deal. His energetic style
contributes to the emergence of the modern
presidency.
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SECTION
3
Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
HOME
Section 3 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
How were the following problems solved during Roosevelt’s
presidency?
Solution
Problem
1902 coal strike
Federal arbitration
Northern Securities
Company’s monopoly
Supreme Court’s dissolution
of the Northern Securities Company
Unsafe meat processing
Passage of the Meat Inspection Act
Exploitation of the
environment
Legislation passed to protect the
environment
SECTION
3
Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
SYNTHESIZING
Section 3 Assessment
3
In what ways do you think the progressive belief in using
experts played a role in shaping Roosevelt’s reforms?
THINK ABOUT
• Roosevelt’s use of experts to help him tackle political,
economic, or environmental problems
• how experts’ findings affected legislative action
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SECTION
3
Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
Section 3 Assessment
DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
How did Theodore Roosevelt expand the role of the federal
government?
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SECTION
4
Progressivism Under Taft
HOME
Learn About
the policies of the Taft administration.
To Understand
the growing conflict between progressive reform and
business interests.
SECTION
4
Progressivism Under Taft
Key Idea
William H. Taft pursues a more cautious
progressive program during his one term as
president.
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SECTION
4
Progressivism Under Taft
HOME
Section 4 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
What are the causes or actions that Taft took that made
people question his leadership?
CAUSES OR ACTIONS:
Signed PayneAldrich Tariff
amid public
outcry.
Returned
reserved land
to public sale.
Fired Pinchot.
Supported
Joseph
Cannon.
RESULT: Taft’s Difficulties In Office
Speaker of the
House of
Representatives
contributed to
split in the
Republican Party.
SECTION
4
Progressivism Under Taft
Section 4 Assessment
HYPOTHESIZING
What if Roosevelt had won another term in 1912? Speculate
on how this might have affected the future of progressive
reform.
THINK ABOUT
• Roosevelt’s policies that Taft did not support
• the power struggles within the Republican party
• Roosevelt’s perception of presidential leadership
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SECTION
4
Progressivism Under Taft
Section 4 Assessment
FORMING OPINIONS
Both Roosevelt and Taft resorted to mudslinging during the
1912 presidential campaign. Do you approve or disapprove
of negative campaign tactics?
THINK ABOUT
• Roosevelt’s and Taft’s name-calling
• how you’ve reacted to negative campaign ads you’ve seen
on television
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SECTION
5
Wilson’s New Freedom
HOME
Learn About
Woodrow Wilson and his approach to reform.
To Understand
the victories and defeats for progressivism during his
administration.
SECTION
5
Wilson’s New Freedom
Key Idea
Woodrow Wilson claims the presidency as a
progressive leader and establishes a strong
reform agenda.
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SECTION
5
Wilson’s New Freedom
HOME
Section 5 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
What were some of the key events related to progressivism
during Wilson’s first term?
• NAWSA protests on
Wilson’s inauguration
day
• Federal Reserve Act
divides nation into 12
regions, each headed
by a federal reserve
bank
1913
• Federal Trade Act sets up
Federal Trade Commission
to investigate unfair
business practices
• Clayton Antitrust Act
strengthens the Sherman
Antitrust Act
• African-American
delegation confronts
Wilson on his segregation
policies
• Suffragists picket the
Democratic Party
convention
1914
1916
SECTION
5
Wilson’s New Freedom
Section 5 Assessment
DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
Wilson said, “Without the watchful . . . resolute interference
of the government, there can be no fair play between
individuals and . . . the trust.” How does this statement
reflect Wilson’s approach to reform?
THINK ABOUT
• government’s responsibility to the public
• the passage of two key antitrust measures during Wilson’s
administration
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SECTION
5
Wilson’s New Freedom
Section 5 Assessment
DEVELOPING HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
If you were a suffragist in the early 1900s, which
organization would you have joined—the National American
Woman Suffrage Association or the National Woman’s
Party?
THINK ABOUT
• Catt’s strategy to win the vote
• Alice Paul’s approach to achieving suffrage
• the National Woman’s Party’s protest at the 1916
Democratic Party convention
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Chapter
17
Assessment
1. What were the four goals that various progressive
reform movements struggled to achieve?
2. What kinds of state labor laws resulted from
progressives’ lobbying to protect workers?
3. In the 1890s, what job opportunities were available to
uneducated women without industrial skills? Who
typically filled these positions?
4. Give two examples of women’s national organizations
committed to social activism and briefly describe their
progressive missions.
5. What scandalous practices did Upton Sinclair expose in
his novel The Jungle? How did the American public,
Roosevelt, and the Congress respond?
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Chapter
17
Assessment
6. What precedent did Roosevelt set when he helped
mediate the 1902 coal strike?
7. As a progressive, how did Taft compare with Roosevelt,
his predecessor?
8. Why could Wilson claim a mandate to broaden the
government’s role in social reform, based on the
popular vote in the 1912 presidential election?
9. How did the Clayton Antitrust Act benefit labor?
10. Cite two examples of social welfare legislation that
Wilson opposed during his presidency and the
arguments he used to defend his position.
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