Unit III. The Progressive
Era
Key Vocabulary
1.
2.
3.
Progressivism- Period of dramatic change
where reformers set out address major
social, political and economic problems.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Ida Tarbell
A. Regulating Big Business
1. Benefits of Big
Business
a. Created new jobs
b. New affordable
products
c. Wealth was used for
philanthropy
(generosity to
charity)
- mil. Of $ were
donated to libraries,
hospitals, the arts,
research, universities,
2. Sherman Anti-Trust Act
(1890)
Law developed to
stop trusts and
monopolies from
using underhanded
methods.
a. ex. controlling
prices, trade or
supply
2. Purpose was to
protect competition
1.
3. ‘Busting Trusts’
Even though
congress tried to
fight monopolies in
big business w/the
Sherman Anti-Trust
Act, it was not
strictly enforced.
b. Pres. Theodore
Roosevelt made it
his mission to break
up trusts &
monopolies.
a.

Monopoly, right, blasts
Competition, center. Uncle
Sam, far left, readies to fire a
tiny cannon from Fort
Legislation. Congress passed
the Sherman Antitrust Act in
1890.
c. Began with Northern
Securities Co., the largest
railroad trust by having the
Justice Dept. file a law suit
for violating the anti trust
act.
d. Ida Tarbell helped to
expose the monopolies in
the oil busin.
e. Both the railroads & oil
bus. Were broken up into
smaller businesses.
f. Roosevelt’s work pushed
the idea that gov’t
regulation (enforcement of
laws) was needed.
B. Reform in Politics
1. Political Machines
a. organized group
that controlled the
activities of a
political party in a
city
b. offered services to
voters & businesses
in exchange for
political or financial
support.
c. People received city jobs,
or political appointments
in exchange for their
votes this is known as
patronage or the spoils
system
d. “Bosses” controlled most
aspects of the city (police
& fire dept., sanitation,
licenses, inspections etc.)
& gained citizen support
by solving problems in
communities
2. Corruption Sparks Reform
a. political machines committed voting fraud to win
elections.
b. took “kickbacks” (illegal payments) for helping
companies get contracts.
c. accepted bribes to allow for illegal activities.
d. William Marcy
Tweed A.K.A. “Boss
Tweed”- Head of
Tammany Hall (NY
Democratic Political
Machine.) pocketed
over $200 mil.
e. With the help of
political Cartoons by
Thomas Nast, Boss
Tweed was indicted
on 120 counts of
fraud & extortion
f. Robert La Follette
fought for pol. Reform
in Wisconsin &
influenced other states
to reform their corrupt
gov’ts.
g. Oregon passed:
 initiative- citizens enact
laws by popular vote.
 Referendum- allowed
voters to overturn an
existing law.
 Recall- allowed voter to
remove an elected
official from office
3. Presidents Attack Political Corruption
a. Pres. Rutherford B.
Hayes fired useless or
corrupt employees
b. Pres. James A. Garfieldfought the Stalwarts (ppl
that oppossed pol.
Reform) & gave jobs to
reformers. (later
assassinated by lawyers
who he turned down for
a job)
c. Chester A. Arthurpassed the Pendleton
Act which called for
civil servants to be
given jobs based on a
merit system
C. Social Reformers Mobilize
1. Social Reformers were
mostly young educated
men & women from the
middle class
2. Focused on eliminating
poverty especially among
immigrants
3. Many were influenced by
the Social Gospel Mov’t
which preached salvation
through service of the
poor.
4. Settlement House Movement
a. Settlement Housescommunity centers in
slum areas that
provided educational,
cultural & social services
b. Jane Adams- founded
Hull House in Chicago
after living in the 1st
English settlement
house.
D. Workers Rights
1890’s - 1920’s
1. Child Labor Reform
a. In the early 1900’s over a million children worked
in mines & factories
b. Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones)- led the
“March of the Mill Children” to gain support for
child labor laws.
c. By 1903 43 states passed laws outlawing the
hiring of children
2. Improving Adult Working
Conditions
a. Adult workers also faced
poor working conditions
with long hours, low pay
and dangerous work
environments
b. States like Oregon passed
laws limiting women to a 10
hour work day
c. Others like Maryland passed
laws to assist workers that
had been injured on the job
d. Labor unions &
reformers helped to
get shorter work
days, improvements
in factory safety.
E. Environmental Reform
1. John Muir
• The first modern
environmentalist
• Environmentalism was
the idea that we should
protect and conserve the
countries natural
resources
• Lived in the Yosemite
Valley in California
• Saw first hand what
loggers, miners and
farmers were doing to
the land
• Began lobbying the
federal government to
protect the wilderness
2. Theodore Roosevelt
Helps the
Environment
– Increased the national
forest from 47 million
acres to 195 million
acres
– Doubled the number
of national parks
Roosevelt’s conservationism even
led the banning of Christmas
trees in the White House
F. Protecting Health
1.
Horror in the Meat
Packing Industry
a. Upton Sinclair- Wrote
“The Jungle” (1906)
b. the book exposed the
horrible living & working
conditions & sanitation
conditions of the meat
packing industry
“…there would be meat that
tumbled out on the floor
in the dirt & sawdust”
Burns Meat Packing Co.
c. Sinclair’s work led to
the Meat Inspection
Act (1906)
-called for strict
cleanliness
requirements & the
creation of federal
meat inspection
programs.
"There is one kind of prison
where the man is behind bars,
and everything that he desires is
outside; and there is another
kind where things are behind
bars, and the man is outside."
2. Pure Food & Drug Act
a. Before this law
companies falsy
advertised & added
harmful chemicals to their
products.
b. PFDA was passed same
year as Meat Insp. Act &
stopped the sale of
contaminated foods &
medicines
c. called for truth in
labeling
1. Women’s Suffrage
Movement
a. Susan B. Anthony,
Alice Paul were
leaders in the fight
for women’s voting
rights.
b. Their efforts led to
the passage of the
19th amend.
(women’s right to
vote)
H. How the Media Exposed
Corruption
1. muckrakers used
yellow journalism
(writing about scandal
& sensation)
2. Ida Tarbell (Rockefeller
oil), Lincoln Steffens
(political corruption),
Henry Demarest Lloyd
(Big Business, power of
the wealthy)
3.
Discussion Questions

The Labor Movement
– What are your thoughts on the changes that the labor
movement brought about?
– Do you think government should be involved in the
regulation in the work place?

Environmentalism
– Do you think the ideas behind environmentalism were
correct?
– How do you think the movement towards preserving the
environment has impacted the world you live in today?

Read your two primary source documents
– How do these two documents connect to each other?
– In what ways do the documents represent the fulfillment of
the ideals of the progressive era?