Warm-up
1. What happened in colonial New England town
meetings (covenant community)?
2. What do the battles of Lexington and Concord and
Fort Sumter have in common?
3. What two things did James Madison write?
4. What did the Compromise of 1877 end?
5. What’s one difference between W.E.B. DuBois and
Booker T. Washington?
Gilded Age and Progressive Movement
Gilded Age (1877-1890): period of rapid
industrialization, economic growth, immigration, and
urbanization
Progressive Movement (1890-1920): Solving the social
problems of immigration, urbanization and
industrialization.
Problems of the Gilded Age
• Agricultural expansion was accomplished through wars
against the native Americans, leading to new federal Indian
policies.
• Industrial development brought great fortunes to a few and
raised the standard of living for millions of Americans but
also brought about the rise of national labor unions and
clashes between industry and labor.
• Social problems in rural and urban settings gave rise to thirdparty movements and the beginning of the Progressive
Movement.
Causes of the Progressive Movement
1. Excesses of the Gilded Age
• Income disparity: rich people
are really rich; poor people are
really poor
• Robber Barons: businessmen
who abused workers to benefit
themselves (ex: Rockefeller,
Carnegie)
• Corruption: abuse of power
Causes of the Progressive Movement
2. Working Conditions
• Dangerous working conditions
• Child labor
• Long hours, low wages, no job
security, no benefits
• Company towns took advantage
of families keeping them as wage
slaves
• Inequality in employment of
women
Progressive Presidents
• Theodore Roosevelt’s “Square
Deal”: Emphasized social reform
and attacked unfair business
practices
• William Howard Taft was actually
seen as a Progressive failure.
• Woodrow Wilson’s “New
Freedom”: Emphasized reform for
banking, taxes, and business.
Goals of the Progressive Movement
• Government controlled by
people
• Guaranteed economic
opportunities through
government regulation
• Elimination of social injustices
Progressive Accomplishments
Progressive
Accomplishments in
Local Governments
• New government
positions to meet needs
of increasing
urbanization (city
commissioner and
council manager)
• Attempted to fight
corruption and respond
to the people’s needs.
Progressive Accomplishments in State
Governments
• Referendum: all citizens of a state get to vote on a piece of
legislation
• Initiative: state citizens get to propose legislation to the
state
• Recall: state citizens get to remove an elected official
before his term is expired (similar to impeachment)
What are all 3 of these increasing? Think about what
Andrew Jackson did.
Progressive Accomplishments in Elections
• Primary elections: people of a
political party get to decide their
candidate in elections
• 17th Amendment: U.S. Senators
are elected (previously were
chosen by state legislatures)
• Secret ballot: voters’ choices are
anonymous
What word that starts with “c” do these limit?
Progressive Accomplishments in Child Labor
• Muckrakers (literally “poop”
rakers) exposed problems in
society like child labor by writing
news articles and publishing
photographs.
• Helped push child labor laws in
many states, which banned the
use of children as workers
Impact of Labor Unions
Labor unions were formed to
demand rights for workers:
better pay, fewer hours, safe
working conditions, and benefits.
Labor Unions
• Knights of Labor: America’s first
major union
• It accepted all workers—skilled
and unskilled.
• American Federation of Labor
(founded by Samuel Gompers):
a craft union which only
accepted skilled laborers and
was more prone to violence.
Labor Unions
• American Railway Union (founded by
Eugene V. Debs): skilled and unskilled
workers in railroad
• had a successful but violent strike in
1894 (Pullman Strike)
• Industrial Ladies’ Garment Workers
Union: demanded better conditions
in textile industry.
• Gained popularity after Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911
Labor Strikes
• Haymarket Square, 1886, Chicago
• Homestead Strike, 1892, outside of
Pittsburgh
• Pullman Strike, 1894, Chicago
• These strikes were all violent and led to
public fear of labor unions. While many
were sympathetic to union causes, they
did not like the perceived lawless and
anarchist tendencies.
An anarchist threw a bomb into a Chicago
crowd protesting for an 8-hour workday
during the Haymarket Square Riot.
7 policemen and 4 civilians were killed.
Gains of Labor Unions
• Limited work hours
• Regulated work
conditions
• Preserved rights of
unions to organize
Antitrust Laws
• Trust: a monopoly; one business controls
everything
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890): Prevents
any business structure that “restrains
trade” (monopolies)
• unsuccessful as it was difficult to enforce.
• Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914): Expands
Sherman Anti-Trust Act; outlaws pricefixing; exempts unions from Sherman
Act
Women’s Suffrage
• Was a forerunner of modern protest
movement
• Benefited from strong leadership (Susan
B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton)
• Encouraged women to enter the labor
force during World War I
• Resulted in 19th Amendment to the
Constitution, which gave women the
right to vote
Anthony and Stanton: “A Friendship that
Changed the World
What if you lived in the 1890s and 1900s?
Create a short story of your life if you lived during the Progressive Era.
Include in your story the following:
• As a lower-class worker, how did luxurious lifestyles of the rich of the
Gilded Age and your poor working conditions affect you?
• How did the presidencies of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson affect
you as a worker?
• How did you gain more voting rights as a citizen of your state? Think of
referendum, recall, etc.
• How did labor unions and child labor laws affect you and your workplace?
• Say you work for Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. How did Anti-Trust
Laws affect you?
• How did the 19th amendment affect you or women around you?