http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nation
The Origins of Progressivism
Chapter 9 Section 1
The Americans:
Reconstruction through the 20th Century
http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/biopictures.htm
Sources of Progressive Reform
 A. Industrialization, with all its increase in productivity
and the number of consumer goods, created
 1) Unemployment and labor unrest
2) Wasteful use of natural resources
3) Abuses of corporate power
 B. Growing cities magnified problems of poverty,
disease, crime, and corruption
 C. Influx of immigrants and rise of new managerial
class upset traditional class alignments
 D. Massive depression (1893-1897) convinced many
that equal opportunity was out of reach for many
Americans.
http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/lec.prog.html
Who Were the Progressives?

A. New middle class composed of young professionals


1. Sought to apply principles of professions (medicine, law, business, teaching) to problems of society
2. Strong faith in progress and the ability of educated people to overcome problems
3. Rise in volunteer organizations organized to address issues (American Bar Association, U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National
Municipal League, eg.)
4. Mainly urban in residence and orientation
B. Muckraking journalists attacked corruption and scandal with a sense of moral outrage

1. Lincoln Steffens exposed city machines in The Shame of the Cities (1904)
2. Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil Trust abuses
3. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906) attacked the meat-packing industry

C. Political reformers (many opposed to traditional party politics)

D. Socialists--frustrated workers who promised to destroy capitalism. Led by Eugene Debs
(who polled 900,000 votes for president in 1912), socialists were rejected by most
Progressives as too extreme in their goals and methods
http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/lec.prog.html
Progressive Movement
 Aim was to return control of government
to the people, restore economic
opportunities, and correct injustices in
American Life.
 Many different opinions on both the
problems of society and the solutions.
4 Goals of Progressivism




Protect Social Welfare
Promote Moral Improvement
Create Economic Reform
Foster Efficiency
Protecting Social Welfare
 YMCA – Young Men’s Christian Association




Libraries
Classes
Swimming Pools
Handball Courts
 Salvation Army
 Soup Kitchens
 Daycares
 Slum Brigades to convert poor immigrants to middle-class values
and temperance.
 Women Reformers (See Next Slide)
 Florence Kelley
 Women Christian Temperance Union
Florence Kelley
 Advocate for improving the lives
of women and children
 Chief Inspector of Factories
(Illinois)
 Won passage of Illinois Factory
Act 1893
 Prohibited child labor and limited
women’s working hours
 Model for other states
http://www.boisestate.edu/SOCWORK/DHUFF/history/extras/kelly.htm
Promoting Moral Reform
 Prohibition
 the banning of alcoholic beverages
 Women Christian Temperance
Union
 Entered saloons – sang, prayed, and
urged saloonkeepers to stop selling
alcohol
 Largest women’s group in nation’s
history
 Motto – “Do Everything”
 Opened Kindergartens
 Visited inmates in prison
 Worked for suffrage for women
 Anti-Saloon League
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAsaloon.htm
http://www.wctu.org/
Opposition to Prohibition
 Conflict with immigrant
groups
 Saloons served several
roles for immigrant groups
 Inexpensive meals
 Cashed paychecks
 Provided rooms for
meetings and gatherings
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1110.html
Carrie Nation
 Worked for prohibition by
walking into saloons,
scolding customers, and
using her hatchet to
destroy the bottles of
liquor.
 Lived in Kansas
 See link to the right for
more information.
http://www.kshs.org/exhibits/carry/carry1.htm
Creating Economic
Reform
 Laissez-Faire Theory Denounced
 Belief that the government should leave the
economy alone
 Socialism
 An economic system in which the government owns
most of the means of production.
 Goal is for the government to reduce inequality.
 Involves government regulation of business.
 Problem: Monopolies
Socialism Grows
 Eugene V. Debs
 “Competition was natural enough at
one time, but do you think you are
competing today? Many of you think
you are competing. Against whom?
Against Rockefeller? About as I
would if I had a wheelbarrow and
competed with the Santa Fe railroad
from here to Kansas City.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs
 FROM - Debs: His Life, Writings and
Speeches
Muckrakers
 Journalist who wrote about the corrupt
side of business and public life in
mass circulation magazines.
 Ida M. Tarbell
 History of Standard Oil Company (see pg.
326)
 Described the companies cut-throat
business practices.
 Upton Sinclair and Lincoln Steffens
 See info on them later in section
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_M._Tarbell
Fostering Efficiency
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordism
 Fredrick Winslow Taylor
 Scientific Management
(Taylorism)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor
 Effort to improve efficiency in the
workplace by applying scientific
principles to make tasks simpler and
easier.
 Studied factory operations to see
how quickly each task could be
performed.
 Assembly Line
 Ford Motor Company and
Henry Ford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordism
Henry Ford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford
 Assembly Line – huge increase in
production
 Problems with Assembly Line
Process
 Required people to work like machines,
thus there was a high turn-over rate
 Injuries and worker exhaustion trying to
keep up the pace
 “Five Dollar Day” and 8 hour work
day employed to keep workers
happy and reduce strikes. (Unheard
of pay scale at that time.)
Clean Up Government
 Political Machine Politics / Corruption
 Inefficiency in Government
 Government not responsive to the
electorate
Reforming Local
Government




Mayor / City Council Form
Commission Form
Council – City Manager Form
Reform Mayors
 Hazen Pingree – Detroit
 Tom Johnson – Cleveland
 Gas and Water Socialism – public
ownership of utilities
Reform at the State Level
 Reform Governors
 Robert M. La Follette / attacked the railroads
 James S. Hogg
 Protecting Workers
 Keating – Owen Act 1916: prohibited the transportation of
goods produced with child labor across state lines.
(DECLARED UNCONSTITIONAL because it interfered with
interstate commerce.)
 State level reforms suceeded in banning child labor and setting
maximum hours in almost every state.
 Efforts to Limit Working Hours
 Muller v. Oregon
 Bunting v. Oregon
 Workers Compensation
Reform at the State Level
 Reform Elections
 Secret Ballot (Australian Ballot)
 Initiative - bill originated by the people rather than
lawmakers.
 Referendum – vote on an initiative.
 Recall – enabled voters to remove public officials
from elected positions by forcing them to face
another election before the end of their term if
enough voters ask for it.
 Direct Primary – voters choose candidates for public
office through special popular election.
 Direct Election of Senators
 17th Amendment (1913) – Popular election of U.S.
Senators