What is Progressivism?
■From
1890s
to
1914,
progressives
Democrats, Republicans, & Socialists all
addressed
rapid economic
&
found reasonsthe
to support
progressivism
social changes of the Gilded Age
■Progressive reform had wide
appeal but was not a unified
movement with a common agenda
■Progressive reforms included
prostitution,
poverty,
child
labor,
Some
reformers targeted
local
community
problems,
others
aimed
for state changes,
factory
safety,
women’s
rights, &
others wanted&national
reforms
temperance,
political
corruption
Social Gospel taught
Optimism &What
belief is
in Progressivism?
Christians that it was
progress (“investigate,
■But,
Progressivetheir
reform
hadto end
duty was
educate,
& legislate”)
poverty & inequality
distinguishing characteristics:
Looked to the
Desire to “humanize”
government to help
industry & urbanization
achieve goals
Their actions
impacted the entire
nation; not regions
like the Populists
Progressive
Themes
Led by educated
Change the environment middle-class “experts”
in order to change people
who developed
(no Social Darwinism)
“rational” solutions
Industrial Exploitation Case Study:
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911)
Reforming
America’s Cities
Reforming America’s Cities
■Progressive reform 1st began in
cities in the 1890s to address
factory, tenement, labor problems:
–Early reformers realized that
private charity was not enough
to cure all social ills
–The Social Gospel movement
was a new religious philosophy
that focused on improving
society & saving individual souls
The Female Dominion
■Some of the 1st reformers were
educated, middle-class women:
–Women found reform was a way
to improve their communities &
to break out of their traditional,
19th century social roles
–Led by Jane Addam’s Hull House
in Chicago, settlement houses
were built in slums, offering
health care, baths, & cheap food
Hull House in Chicago
The Female Dominion
■Women were key leaders in:
–Charity Org Society—collected
data on poverty & slums; led to
the NY Tenement Commission
–Nat’l Conference of Social Work
used professional social workers
& called for minimum wages,
maximum hours, widow pensions
■In the 1930s, the gov’t passed the
National Child Labor Laws
MembershipThe
grewFemale Dominion
in the WCTU
■Women’s groups, like the WCTU,
helped gain key reforms:
–Prohibition—Shocking reports of
alcohol abuse led 19 states to
outlaw booze & the passage of
the 18th Amendment (1920)
–Prostitution—By 1915, almost
all states banned brothels & the
Mann Act banned the interstate
transport of “immoral” women
Standardizing Education
■Psychologist William James
promoted the idea that one’s
environment dictates behavior
■School leaders applied these
ideas to reform pubic education:
–Schools became a primary
vehicle to assimilate immigrants
–John Dewey promoted “creative
intelligence,” not memorization
or strict teaching
Muckraking Journalism
■New “muckraking” journalism
drew attention to social problems,
such as urban poverty, corruption,
& big business practices:
–Popular monthly magazines, like
McClure’s & Collier’s, used
investigative journalism & photos
–Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half
Lives (1890) was the 1st exposé
of urban poverty & slums
Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives
included photographs!
Muckraking Journalism
■Other groundbreaking exposés:
–Henry George’s Progress &
Poverty (1879) showed the
growing gap between rich & poor
–Lincoln Steffan’s Shame of the
Cities (1902) exposed corrupt
political machine bosses
–Ida Tarbell’s History of Standard
Oil (1904) revealed Rockefeller’s
ruthless business practices
Attacking Political Machines
■Mugwumps were reformers who
strove to end corruption among
political machines in cities:
–The Gilded Age saw the height
of urban machines whose
politicians controlled lawmaking,
police depts, & the courts
–The “Good Gov’t” movement
found ways to shift power from
bosses to mayors & city councils
Nast’s Favorite Target: Boss Tweed
Tweed’s Downfall:
“Those damn pictures”
Thomas Nast was the Gilded Age’s
most important Mugwump cartoonist
Most
cities formedReform
Many
cities
used
Progressive
in the
Cities
committees to focus on
“gas & water
■Political
progressivism
began
in
improving
quality
of life socialism”
to control
public
utility costs
cities
in
response
to
corrupt
Many mid-sized or
Galveston,
Texas was
machines
& deteriorating
smallpolitical
cities hired
a
st city to use a city
the
1
non-partisan
city
urban conditions
manager to oversee commission rather than
a mayor
& city council
government”
reformers
the ■“Good
city bureaucracy
created the National Municipal
League in 1894 to find ways to
make
city
governments
less
These urban reforms were less democratic
political
lessefficient
partisan
but much&more
& less corrupt
Progressive Reform in the States
■Progressive reformers impacted
state governments too:
–A New York corruption scandal
linked politicians & utility
suppliers leading NY to form a
utilities regulatory board
–Most states created regulatory
commissions to oversee state
spending & initiate investigations
Reform
in the
States
AllowedProgressive
citizens to create
laws
by petitioning
to■Progressives
have an issue placed
on a state
ballot
&
helped
make
state
allowing
voters
(not
politicians)
to
decide
governments more democratic:
–Western states were the 1st to
allow public initiatives,
referendums, & recalls
–Passage of the 17th amendment
Allowed
to vote onfor
an the
issuedirect
(such as
in citizens
1912 allowed
tax increases)
suggested
by the state legislature
election
of Senators
–By
1916,
most
statesremove
had direct
Allowed
voters
to directly
an
elected official
by popular
primaries
to allow
votersvote
to
choose candidates, not parties
TR called
Wisconsin
Action
in thethe
States
“Laboratory of Democracy”
■The
most
significant
state
reform
California, Missouri, Iowa, &
was copied
governor
Robert plan
La Follette’s
Texas
La Follette’s
“Wisconsin Idea”:
–Used academic “experts” from
the University of Wisconsin to
help research & write state bills
–Wisconsin was the 1st state to
use direct primary & income tax,
create industrial commissions,
set utility prices, & regulate RRs
Working-Class
Reform
From
1901
to of
1920,
14.5 work
million
“new”
By
1914,
60%
the
U.S.
force
was
Immigration
to
the
USA,
1901-1920
European,
Mexican,
&
Asian
immigrants
foreign born; Most immigrant laborers
were
traveled tolived
America
to join&the
force
unskilled,
in poverty
in U.S.
ethniclabor
conclaves
MexicanMexican
immigrants
worked in Western
Immigration
farms, railroads, & mines as well as
to
the
USA,
1900-1920
Southern & California agriculture
Working with Workers
Ledbusinesses
to an increase used
in production
& to
■Many
violence
a more stable & loyal workforce
break up strikes, but others
improved workers’ conditions:
–Henry Ford introduced an 8-hour
workday & the “five dollar day”
–The Amoskeag textile factory in
NH used paternalism & benefits,
like playgrounds & health care
Amoskeag
built
playgrounds
&
baseball
Amoskeag
hired
whole
families
Amoskeag
Company
…and
providedTextile
company
housing
fields for families & their children