The Origins of
Progressivism
“What was wrong with life the
way we knew it?”
Objectives
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To understand how modern America emerged from
the 19th century;
To examine how the progressive movement
managed to increase the power of the government to
regulate business and protect society from the in
justices fostered by big business;
To explain the 4 goals of progressivism;
To summarize progressive efforts to clean up
government;
Identify progressive efforts to reform state
government, protect workers and reform elections.
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Some concerns…
Unsafe
factory conditions
Child labor
Role of large corporations in
America
Lack of government response
to ordinary people
Four Goals
Protecting
social welfare
Promoting moral improvement
Creating economic reform
Fostering efficiency
Protecting Social Welfare
 Social
Gospel and settlement houses of
1800s
 YMCA
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Libraries, sponsored classes, built
swimming pools, handball courts
 Salvation Army
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Soup kitchens, nurseries, “slum brigades”
to teach middle-class values of hard work
& temperance
Promoting Moral Improvement
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Morality, not working conditions,
are what is making lives of the poor
bad
 They need to improve their personal
behavior
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Stop drinking
WCTU
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Frances Willard made this
group the largest women’s group
in the country by 1911
Why did the prohibition movement
appeal to so many women?

Your answer?
WCTU
 Opened
kindergartens for children of
immigrants
 Visited inmates in prisons and
asylums
 Worked for suffrage
(People who may not have accepted
their ideas appreciated their services
and were sometimes swayed to their
way of thinking)
Problems w/ WCTU
 Conflict
between culture of the
immigrants and demands of WCTU
 Saloons were places where people got
reasonably good, hot meals, at
reasonable prices, and could cash their
paychecks
 Taking the saloons away made life
harder for some
Creating Economic Reform
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The Panic of 1893 – had left the country in a
very severe economic situation

People began to ?? Capitalism
• They liked the ideas of socialism- political/economic system
based on government control of business & property & equal
distribution of wealth
• Eugene Debs (Knights of Labor) compared capitalism to a
man w/a wheelbarrow competing w/RR in going across
country – Not an even deal at all!
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But the real problem is that the govt and
politicians give BB favorable treatment, even
when they use their power to limit
competition
Muckrakers
 Journalists
who exposed the
corrupt side of business and
public life

Mass-circulation magazines
M. Tarbell – expose on
Standard Oil’s cutthroat methods
of eliminating competition
 Ida
Fostering Efficiency
 Experts
to make life and workplace
more efficient
 New law in Oregon – Louis D. Brandeis
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Costs to society and the individual when
women work excessively long hours
Scientific data to prove his point
 “Brandeis
Brief” became the model for
later reform legislation
Frederick Winslow Taylor
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Time and motion studies
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Improve efficiency by breaking manufacturing into
simpler parts
Management fad – “Taylorism” - to see how
quickly each task could be done
 Assembly line introduced
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Sped up production; people work like machines
High turnover rate; injuries due to fatigue
Henry Ford: 8-hour day, $5-day – downside:
boring and exhausting
CLEANING UP LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
 Kickbacks

Make government
more responsive to
constituents
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Nativists distrust
immigrants’
participation and
want to correct ills
of “boss politics”
 Cronyism
 Patronage
 Favors
 bribes
What precipitated change?
Galveston, TX – natural disaster
 Political disaster to follow –
botched relief/ rebuilding job
 TX legislature appoints a 5-man
commission to take over
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Each expert takes over 1 department
– soon everything is back to normal
Commission was so effective that
Galveston adopted this system of
govt
 By 1917, 500 cities had
commissioners
Council-manager system
 People
of town elect a council
 Council hires a professional manager
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Professional training
Experience in public administration
 By
1925, 250 cities had managers
Reform Mayors
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Some mayors introduced local reforms:

Pingree of Detroit, MI
• Fairer tax structure
• Lower fares for public transport
• Rooted out corruption
• Set up a system of work relief for unemployed
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Built schools, parks, lighting plant
Johnson of Cleveland, OH
• Socialist who tried progressive
reforms
• Got rid of corrupt, greedy
private owner of utilities
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Converted utilities to
public ownership
Reform at State Level
Robert M. La Follette – WI
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Regulate BB – drive them out of politics, but
not out of business
Treat BBmen just like any other people
Major target: RR
• Taxed RR `at same rate as other businesses
• Set up commission to regulate rates
• Forbade RRs from issuing passes to state officials
WHY??
 Aycock
of NC, Hogg of TX – reformers
Why were children working?
 Immigrants/rural
migrants thought their
children were part of the family economy –
should work
 Often, adults’ wages were so low, kids had
to work
 Why hire children:
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Worked for less
Small hands made them more adept
w/small parts and tools
As young as four
Protecting Working Children

Industrial settings = lots of
injuries for children due to fatigue
 Health problems/ stunted growth
in industrial environment
 National Child Labor Committee,
1904 goes out to investigate
conditions
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Organized special exhibits to
dramatize plight
Joined by labor unions who claimed
child labor lowered their wages
National Legislation
(1916) – prohibited
transporting across state lines goods
produced by child labor
 Keating-Owen Act
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Why use this argument?
 1918
SC declares Keating-Owen
unconstitutional!

Interfered w/states’ rights to regulate labor
 Eventually
reformers get laws to ban
child labor and set maximum hours!
Efforts to Limit Work Hours

Muller v. Oregon: poor working women need
state’s help ag powerful employers

Brandeis convinced SC to uphold Oregon’s law for
10-hour day for women
Other states copy…
 Bunting v. Oregon: 10-hour day for men!
 Workmen’s comp for families of those hurt/killed
on the job
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
1902, MD passes a law requiring payment of death
benefits
Reforming Elections
William S. U’ren (Oregon)
 Secret ballot (aka “Australian ballot)
 Initiative – citizens could ask to have a bill that
originated from them (not legislature) on the ballot for
direct vote of the people
 Referendum – a vote on an initiative
 Recall – removal of elected official before end of term
– special election (vote of confidence)
 By 1920, 20 states had apoted U’ren’s ideas
 1899, Minnesota – first statewide primary system
(people choose candidates, not political machine)
 2/3 of states had primaries by 1915
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Direct Election of Senators
17th amendment: stemmed from direct primary
 Before 1913, state legislatures chose senators
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More power in hands of bosses and wealthy
businessmen
Progressives want direct election
 At first, Senate is opposed – we’d have to pay
more attention ton what the people want!
 States began to let people chose candidates in
primaries
 Finally, Congress approves 17th A