Chapter 17
The Progressive Era
Progressivism or
Progressive Movement –
Reformers, who aimed
to return control of the
government to the
people, restore economic
opportunities, and
correct injustices in
American life.
Four Goals of Progressivism:
1. protecting social welfare – the YMCA and
Salvation Army are examples of organizations
that assisted in this area. Florence Kelly became
an advocate for improving the lives of women and
children.
2. promoting moral improvement – reformers
wanted personal behavior to improve.
Prohibition, the banning of alcoholic beverages,
was one such program.
Four Goals of Progressivism:
3. creating economic reform –many workers
began to embrace socialism. Muckrakers were
journalists who wrote about the corrupt side of
business and public life in mass circulation
magazines during the early 20th century.
4. fostering efficiency – progressive leaders
wanted experts to make the workplace more
efficient. Scientific Management was the
application of scientific principles to increase
efficiency in the workplace.
Muckrakers – journalist and other writers who
dramatized the need for reform.Their investigations
uncovered a wide range of ills in America in the early
1900’s. (a muckrake is a tool used to clean manure and
hay out of an animals’ stable)
Lincoln Steffens – editor of
McClure’s, a magazine known for
uncovering social problems. He
published The Shame of the Cities,
a collection of articles on political
corruption.
Jacob Riis – a photographer for
the New York Evening Sun. He
photographed crowded, unsafe,
rat-infested tenement buildings.
He published, How the Other
Half Lives.
Upton Sinclair – wrote, The
Jungle where he reveled the
unsanitary conditions of the
Chicago stockyards.
Reforms
Social Gospel Movement –
preached salvation through
service to the poor.
Settlement Houses – community
centers in slum neighborhoods
that provided assistance to people
in the areas.
Jane Adams – one of the most
influential members of the
movement. She along with Ellen
Gates Starr founded Chicago’s
Hull House.
Reforming Elections
Direct Primary – an election in which citizens pick
candidates themselves vote to select nominees for
upcoming election.
Initiative – a bill originated by the people rather than
lawmakers-on the ballot.
Referendum – the voters, not the legislature, accepted
or rejected the initiative.
Recall – enabled voters to remove public officials
from elected positions by forcing them to face
another election before their term was up.
Women Make Progress
Florence Kelly – believed that
women were hurt by the unfair
prices of goods they had to buy to
run their homes.
National Consumers League
(NCL) – Kelly helped found this
organization which is still active
today. Pushed for labels, working
conditions and payment for
unemployment.
Temperance Movement – led by the Women’s Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU). They promoted the practice
of never drinking Alcohol. They also pushed for laws to
help mothers keep families safe and healthy.
Margaret Sanger – believed that
family life and women’s health
would improve if mothers had
fewer children. She opened the
first birth-control clinic. She was
jailed as a “public nuisance”
several times.
Suffrage – the right to vote
Carrie Chapman Curtis – She
studies law and was one of the
first female school
superintendents. She traveled
around the country urging
women to join the National
American Women’s Suffrage
Association (NAWSA).
Alice Paul – she was known as a
social activists, these women grew
more daring in their strategies to
win the right to vote.
Nineteenth Amendment – this
finally gave women the right to
vote. On November 2, 1920
women were allowed to vote for
the first time in a presidential
election.
Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt
became youngest president in
American History at age 43
when McKinley was
assassinated.
Square Deal – This is what he called
his proposed reforms. The goals were
to keep the wealthy and powerful from
taking advantage of small business
owners and the poor.
New Laws under Roosevelt:
•Hepburn Act – railroads
•Enforcing the Sherman Antitrust Act
•Meat Inspection Act
•Pure Food and Drug Act
Environment –
Yellowstone National
Park is established in
1872.
John Muir – His efforts led
congress to establish Yosemite
National Park in 1890.
Gifford Pinchot – led the
Division of Forestry in the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Changes in Water Policy
•Los Angeles Aqueduct
•National Reclamation Act – gave the federal government
the power to decide where and how water would be
distributed.
William Howard Taft –
Roosevelt used his power to
get Taft elected, but they
differed in their beliefs. This
led to the Progressive Party
in 1912.
Woodrow Wilson – he
became president after Taft
and Roosevelt split the
Republican vote.
Lowering Tariffs & Raising Taxes
Underwood Tariffs Act – cut tariffs,
businesses could not over charge.
16th Amendment – created a
graduated income tax.
Federal Reserve Act – placed banks
under the control of a Federal Reserve
Board, which set up regional banks to
hold the reserve funds from
commercial banks.