The Progressive Era
A movement to reform or change various aspects of America’s political, economic and social systems
It is made up of  Whites & Blacks, Democrats & Republicans, Middle class & Working class,
some Wealthy women & Men.
Not all progressives believed the same things, but most did agree on the following items:
1. The need to end political corruption
2. To hold government accountable to the people
3. Curb the power of big business
4. Help labor with working conditions, pay and ability to unionize
5. Clean up urban America.
a. “Return the power to the people”
Socialists, like Eugene Debs, were Progressive, however, not all progressives were socialists. Most
Progressives believed in Capitalism and just wanted reform (change).
General Goals for the Progressive Era
- Reform
o To end corruption
- Politics
o Accountable of the people
o Efficient and power
- Economics
o Curb/regulate the power of big business and government
o Help labor
- Society
o Improve the well-being of people
o Civil rights
o Education
o To end vice’s; drinking, gambling, etc…
Progressive Era -1890-1917/20 (approximately)
A time period in which various groups try to reform or improve aspects of American society
Why?
1. Rapid urbanization – cities grow too fast, can’t handle the influx of new people with housing
2. Rapid Industrialization
3. Immigration – create competition for jobs, xenophobia exists
Who?
The middle class women and blacks
- Middle class women, who have the time, money and education.
- Issues of voting rights and power in society
- Jim Crow laws, equality and lynching
- Is considered a grass roots movement – from the bottom up, starts with the people on a local level
and moves up the political, government, social and economic ladder.
Labor Unions
1
- Fighting for the rights of workers and political corruption
Writers & Journalists – exposed the problems in society and hope to fix them
- Muckrakers – journalists who exposed the bad in society. They wanted to make America better by
exposing poor working conditions in factories, living conditions in apartment buildings, and
corruption within big business.
- Upton Sinclair wrote ‘The Jungle’ – exposed the meat packing industry
- Ida Tarbell – wrote about the corruption in the oil industry, in particular aimed at John Rockefeller
- Ida Wells-Barnett – wrote about the lynching in the south and ‘Jim Crow’
- Jacob Riis – photographed the poor people in the inner cities, gave speeches to raise awareness about
them
Religion & Charities (private)
- settlement houses
- YMCA/YWCA
- Social gospel
- Salvation Army
Socialists – Socialism should regulate or control big business, redistribute wealth, government is responsible
for the welfare of its citizens.
- Most well known Socialist is Eugene Debs, he runs for president, 4 times.
- Most progressive were not socialists
The Goals of the progressive era
To change things Socially (and morally – ones values or way of living)
To change things Economically
To change things Politically
Progressive Era -1890-1917/20 (approximately)
A time period in which various groups try to reform or improve aspects of American society
1.
2.
3.
4.
Government should be more accountable to the citizens/people not big business
Government should curb or lessen the power of big business and wealthy
Expand the Power of the government to improve society
Government should be more efficient and less corrupt
Much of the Progressive Movement is based on a grass roots level meaning…..
Things start at a local, municipal, level by the people  …moves to the state, governor and state legislature
level …moves to the Federal level to…Senators, Congressmen and President.
There are three Progressive Era Presidents’
2
TR, WH Taft and Woodrow Wilson
9/15
Based on Progressive Era readings about Summit.
Traditional – keeping with the past, staying with what works not readily willing to change or move ahead
with different ideas, thinking or ways of work
Progressive – bringing in new ideas and thinking, reform and new ways of thinking.
Progressive
Louise Connolly –
- She was a female superintendent of schools.
- Petitions by local people to keep her in office
- Became executive of textbook publisher
Overlook Hospital
- non profit community hospital
- team medicine approach, whereas they had
doctors that specialized in different areas; a
heart doctor, ear nose and throat doctor, etc..
Neighborhood house
- Established settlement house for immigrants
and poor. A place to come for job training,
placement and English classes.
- Some of Summits wealthy wanted to help the
poor and immigrants.
Silk mills:
- protests/ striking for better labor conditions
and better pay
- more job opportunities with the creation of
businessmen building new factories here
- woman running a boarding house for the new
workers, mainly immigrants
- the creation of a police department
Summit Becomes a city
- Mayor and council work without pay
YWCA & YWCA*
In summit more opportunity for men and boys to
have fun leisure time
Traditional
LC - Was asked/forced to resign by the ‘all male’
board.
- Reaction Summit Herald reported…
- Anti-suffrage feelings
More opportunity for boys than girls.
Overlook Hospital
- Allowed treatment of the ‘worthy poor’
- Didn’t allow TB cases, mentally ill,
- Was somewhat exclusive, it cost $ thereby
excluding the poor.
- Would admit the ‘worthy poor’, ie those who
could afford treatment.
Neighborhood house
- Immigrants living tenement housing,
overcrowded, poor sanitation.
- Some nativist attitudes
Silk mills
- Police respond to labor strikes in same old
way, with force.
- Big business – poor conditions and pay.
-
Summit becomes a city
- At the time there is a very powerful
Republican political machine
- Bonnell used the power of the political
machine to get the charter.
*women’s groups emerge
The City has its own police and fire department
Nativism and the fear of immigrants, ghettos
Anthony Comstock wanted to stop the painting of a
woman at an art store calling it pornography. Also
wanted to curb vice.
3
Question: Was Summit a Progressive or Traditional (Gilded Age) City by 1917? Give 3 specific reasons with
an explanation. Begin with a thesis statement.
The Wisconsin ‘Idea’ created by the famous Senator Robert Lafollette (aka Fighting Bob)
These progressive ideas began in Wisconsin and spread across the country.
Political Reforms:
- Take (to lessen) power from big business and the political machines.
- The idea of the secret ballot, so no one would see who you vote for
- Whenever you give more people the right to vote you increase democracy
Economic
- Accident insurance
- Ending child labor
- Minimum wage laws
- States begin to establish labor departments to monitor labor laws and conditions
- Set a 10 hour work day
- Workers compensation
- The idea of unemployment begins
- Had to hire union members
9/21
TR political cartoon – Taft knitting and kittens
Election of 1912
1. Taft (R) runs on the Republican party ticket
2. Eugene Debs – Socialist
3. TR creates the Progressive Party,
a. aka Bull Moose Party
b. A Platform of ‘New Nationalism’
c. This party is more progressive socially & political
4. Wilson is the Democratic (D) nominee….and wins the presidency
Why the Election of 1912 is important.
1. This election is interesting because there is 4 different major parties people running.
2. All the candidates are in some way progressive and it shows that America is embracing the idea of
progressivism.
3. It splits the Republican party between Taft and TR allowing Wilson to win
4. The liberal progressives leave and join the Democrats
5. The conservative Republicans left are what make up our modern-day republican party.
4
Wilson’s accomplishments
As president he attacks the ‘Triple Wall of Privilege’
o Trusts
 Wilson thinks that all Trusts are bad and would lead to economic instability
 Clayton Anti –Trust Act (strengthened Sherman Anti-Trust act) gave specific powers
to attack trust, however…
i. Labor unions and farm unions are exempt & excluded from this, they cannot
be sued and have the right to strike.
 Federal Trade Commission – FTC – created to monitor/enforce the regulations under
the Clayton Anti-trust Act
o Tariffs
 The Underwood Tariff  it reduces tariff approximately from 40% to 25%, however
with reducing tariff’s the government is now making less money.
 Tariff’s are one way in which how the Federal Government is funded.
 The 16th Amendment is ratified and allowed the Fed. Gov’t to collect income tax
o High Finance (Banks)
 Creates the Federal Reserve system
 The fed gov’t tries to regulate and control money and the economy.
 The gov’t uses experts to control economy and creates what is called ‘elastic
currency’, by adjusting the ‘interest rate’. This rate controls the amount of money
floating around in the economy.
Suffrage
Women split on the issue of full suffrage, some women believe that a woman’s place is in the home raising a
family, while others believe the time has come to get the vote!
Alice Paul – radical suffragette, she brings ideas like picketing the White House and general protests to raise
awareness and putting pressure on politicians to pass a suffrage Amendment.
WWI puts women on the front lines and taking some jobs on the home front.
1920 the 19th amendment is passed!!
5
Progressive Presidents 1901 – 1921
-
-
-
-
-
Teddy Roosevelt
1901 – 1909
Spoke from the ‘Bully Pulpit’
– forceful, dynamic speaker.
Is know for his ‘Square Deal’
o His plan to focus on;
Health Care, Labor,
Trust-Busting and
Conservation.
-
Taft disliked being President
-
Payne-Aldrich Tariff; tariffs
and taxes go up, therefore; the
prices of imported products,
foods and non-foods increase.
Ballinger-Pinchot Affair; land
conservation project.
Good and Bad Trusts
o One well-known Trust
that TR broke up was
the Northern
Securities, a large
abusive company.
o TR Steps in on a coal
miners strike to help
negotiate a deal btw
owners and miners.
Hepburn Act – Designed so
the Fed Gov’t would regulate
interstate trading, make sure
trade was fair and no illegal
activities were going on.
Pure Food and Drug Act –
o Designed to protect
food production &
processing and drug
regulation, all to keep
the public safe from
disease and harmful
drugs.
Sought the conservation and
control of land development.
To protect forests, open land,
preserve farm land & rivers.
o Pinchot oversaw that land
was being used the
proper way, eg that
mining wasn’t destroying
the land it was mined
from. Early
environmentalist.
o Ballinger was more lacks
about the conservation
rules he favored big
business with awarding
contracts.
Bull Moose comeback in
election of 1912 fails. Split in
Republican party allows
Wilson to win.
-
-
-
Clayton Antitrust Act – helped
Unions Legalized. Wilson
outlined the specific behavior that
big biz was abusing/breaking.
-
Department of Labor was
created
Underwood Tariff Reform, it
reduced tariffs previously
increased by Taft.
Women’s Bureau created:
opens up women’s issues and
getting a voice in gov’t.
Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) & Federal Reserve
System both set up to regulate
business and hear violations.
Roosevelt & the 1910 Midterm
Election: Roosevelt tried to get Taft supporters out of office.
-
Mann-Elkins Act – public
utilities being regulated by the
gov’t; communication, gas,
sewage, water, education,
electricity.
Standard Oil & Trust-busting
-
o
Large oil companies
being split up for issues
of fair pricing.
-
Continued Conservation and
land development
-
Federal Income Tax: 16th
Amendment, gov’t needs the $ to
fund all the programs.
Election of Senators: 17th
Amendment; direct election of
Senators by the people.
-
Children’s Bureau: intended to
be ‘ears/eyes’ of public, to
track orphans, abused &
homeless kids.
Woodrow Wilson
1913 – 1921
‘New Freedom’ – Political
Platform
Intellectual/distant personality,
Dr. and Princeton President.
Racist and a Xenophobe (fear
of foreigners), he segregated the
gov’t and Post Office by race.
1912 Republican split allowed
Wilson to win White House.
Absorbs/Adopts Eugene Deb’s
(Socialist) platform and
brought in some of his issues.
Big Biz v. Trusts: Wilson’s
philosophy was more anti-trust
than TR and Taft.
-
-
-
-
William Taft
1909 – 1913
Hand picked by Roosevelt to
continue his Progressive ideas
-
-
-
Louis Brandeis appointment to
the Supreme Court. Louis a
famous progressive lawyer.
Reflects on how committed
Wilson was to reform.
-
Prohibition – 18th Amendment
outlaws alcohol.
Women’s suffrage – 19th
Amendment women’s right to
vote.
-
6
1. Robert LaFollete – The ‘Insurgent Senator’ from Ohio. On the Senate floor, he used his ‘roll-call’, he
‘called out’ the senators who didn’t vote for progressive reforms and address their lack of participation
with trying to improving working conditions for the average worker. He had strong belief on consumer
rights.
2. W.E.B. DuBois – novel ‘The Soul’s of Black Folk’ and ‘The Crisis’. DuBois replaced Booker T.
Washington as a civil rights leader. NAACP – struggle for educational, political and economic equity.
First AA to graduate from Harvard U.
3. Florence Kelley – Consumer rights advocate, concerned with child and female labor. Boycott goods
made by child labors. Organized National Consumer League.
4. Francis Perkins – Labor rights, i.e. Triangle Fire, went to Tammany Hall to petition them for change. She
becomes the Secretary of Labor depression under FDR.
5. Helen Keller – Concerned about working conditions and disease. Focused on improving health standards,
living rights and suffrage.
6. Jane Addams – was a suffragist, created Hull House and settlement houses, worked for immigrants.
7. Eugene Debs – Socialist who ran for president 5 times, in the election of 1912. Earned 1 million votes.
Big labor organizer.
8. Ida B. Wells – Human rights advocate, focused on anti-lynching.
9. Alice Paul – Primarily a suffragist, used civil disobedience as method to get point across, was arrested for
it too, (i.e. goes on hungry strike while in prison in protest for women’s rights, she was force-fed to keep
her from dying.)
10. Ida Tarbell – novel ‘The History of Standard Oil’ exposed monopolies and trusts (eg: Rockefeller)
11. Upton Sinclair – wrote ‘The Jungle’ and exposed the horrible working conditions for the workers in meat
packing plants and the unsanitary conditions the meat was handled in.
12. Henry Ford – use the application of assembly line to car manufacturing. He was a labor reformer, paid
workers $5/day – paying people better, you get better workers and products.
13. Lincoln Steffens – novel ‘The Shame of Cities’ focused on political corruption mostly in St. Louis, but
the corruption is in every big cities.
14. Margaret Sanger – Advocated for sex education for women and women’s rights.
15. Anthony Comstock – Fought Sanger called her teachings pornography and had her arrested.
16. Lillian Ward – Prohibitionist anti-alcohol, part of the temperance movement.
17. Teddy Roosevelt – He reads ‘The Jungle’ and pushes for the creation of ‘meat inspection act’ and ‘pure
food and drug’ acts. Called the journalists who wrote sensational headlines ‘Muckrakers’ because they
stirred up the muck for headlines and paper sales.
7
18. William Taft – 27th President of U.S. Hand picked by TR to continue progressive ideas. Taft often goes
against many of TR’s ideals left to him.
19. Woodrow Wilson – 28th president of U.S., see chart below.
20. William Randolph Hearst – Media mogul, owned lots of newspapers and radio stations, used newspapers
to effect change. His papers had stories about all the good/bad and ugly of the progressive era. Stories
about poor working conditions, child labor and unions struggling appeared in his papers.
21. Jacob Riis’ novel ‘How the other half lives’ drew attention to the urban overcrowding conditions, crime
and poverty. He is known for using photography to convince.
22. Mother Jones – Fought for Labor rights especially mine workers.
8
9
6. Conserving Natural Resources
TR put 148 million acres of government land
under federal protection from being sold or
deforested.
He created 5 National Parks, 18 National
monuments and pushed for the Newlands
Reclamation Act. This act helped build
irrigation systems in the desert to help farmers.
1. Increased Power of the Federal
government.
It was a new idea that the “Fed
government needed to manage
certain areas of society to develop
as a nation” page 544
TR “the President was the most
powerful”
Needed government to lead reform
social, political and economic areas
2. “Feds would step in if a strike threatened
the public welfare”
Miners went on strike halting coal production.
TR threatened to seize the mine and have the
army run it.
TR sends in a team of arbitrators to work with
owners and miners union.
Outcome: for the first time government
supports labor rights. Labor got an increase in
salary and a nine hour day.
TR seen as a strong supporter for the ‘little
man’
Gifford Pinchot, Newlands Reclamations Act
5. Protecting Health
Meat Inspection Act 1906 and the Pure Food
Theodore Roosevelt’s
Program was called the
The Square Deal
1901 – 1909
and Drug Act (FDA) – oversaw meat packing
facilities to make sure conditions were sanitary
for both the workers and the meat.
Stopped the use of dangerous dyes and
chemicals used on food. Pushed for labeling of
certain products like canned food and
prescription medication.
Upton Sincliar’s novel “The Jungle” raised
awareness about the horrible conditions in the
meat packing factories.
4. Regulating Transportation/RxR
Elkins Act 1903 – RxR’s had to have
set rates for transportation and couldn’t
change (raise) rates without notifying
the public.
Hepburn Act 1906 – “gave Interstate
Commerce Commission (ICC) power
to set maximum railroad rates” p 545
RxR’s must have standard billing
procedures and open accounting books.
Coal Strike
3. Regulating Trusts
TR sued Northern Securities RxR which had a
monopoly over the western RxR business. And
TR won!
TR believed that Bad Trusts should be
destroyed and Good Trusts should be
regulated/controlled.
Sherman Antitrust Act – gave president
power to sue companies believed to be
monopolies, however this act was limited in its
wording
Sherman Antitrust & Northern Securities
Pure Food/Drug Act, The Jungle
Elkins Act & Hepburn Act
10
11