Chapter 11
The Progressive Reform Era
(1890 – 1920)
Section 1
The Origins of Progressivism
Setting the Scene
• Upton Sinclair – author
of The Jungle
– exposed the meatpacking
industry: depicting the
violent accidents, horrible
illnesses, and painful
deaths that came to
packinghouse workers
– described how meat – and
what was called meat –
was processed on the way
to their dinner tables
• “It seemed they must have
agencies all over the country, to
hunt out old and crippled and
diseased cattle to be canned.
There were cattle which had
been fed on ‘whisky-malt,’ the
refuse [garbage] of the
breweries, and had become
what the men called ‘steerly’ –
which means covered with boils
… It was stuff such as this that
made the ‘embalmed beef’ that
had killed several times as many
United States soldiers as all the
bullets of the Spaniards [in the
Spanish-American War].”
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)
The Progressive Era
• The Roots of Twentieth-Century Reform
– new groups had their roots in movements such as
nativism, prohibition, purity crusades, electoral reform,
charity reform, social gospel philosophy, and the
settlement houses
• wanted to combat slums and congestion and work to expand
public services, such as pure water, schools, and healthcare
– Progressive Era – period from about 1890 to 1920
• The Progressives: Their Goals and Beliefs
– social, moral, economic, and political goals
• 1. Government should be more accountable to its citizens.
• 2. Government should curb the power and influence of
wealthy interests.
• 3. Government should be given expanded powers so that it
could become more active in improving the lives of its
citizens.
• 4. Governments should become more efficient and less
corrupt so that they could competently handle an expanded
role.
Igniting Reform:
Writers and Their
New Ideas
• Two Early Reformers
– Henry George (Progress and Poverty) – effort to explain
why poverty continued to plague such an advanced
civilization
– Edward Bellamy (Looking Backward) – a man falls asleep in
a society of harsh working conditions and poverty; and
wakes up in the year 2000, where government takes over
largest companies and people live in a utopia
• The Muckrakers
– muckraker – a journalist who uncovers wrongdoing in
politics or business
• “those who earn their livelihood by telling scandalous
falsehoods about honest men” – per TR Roosevelt
Progressive Reform Organizations
• The Labor Movement
– unions were troubled with injunctions – court
orders that prohibit certain activity
– they continued to fight for better working
conditions through collective rather than
individual bargaining
Labor Parade
• Socialists
– socialism – an
economic and
political philosophy
favoring public or
government control
of property and
income
• wanted to free the
existing
government of
corruption and
refocus its energies
toward guarding
the welfare of
workers and the
poor
• Women’s Groups
– National Consumers’
League (NCL) –
investigated the
conditions under
which goods were
made and sold
• believed they
needed the right to
vote in order to
influence
government actions
Two Women Reformers
• Florence Kelley
– helped to pass a law
prohibiting child labor,
limiting working hours
for women, and
regulating sweatshop
conditions
• Mother Jones
– Mary Harris Jones –
organized union workers,
both men and women
(“Join the union, boys!”)
• helped found the
International Workers of
the World (IWW)
Progressive Reforms Meet With Resistance
• Progressives wanted increased government
involvement in people’s lives
– housing, health care, and even content in the movies
– many felt that Progressives were insensitive to the
poor and provoked a lot of resistance
Section 2
Progressive Legislation
Setting the Scene
• fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company
– added pressure to expand workplace protections: fire
inspectors, compulsory fire drills, unlocking and
fireproofing exits, require automatic sprinklers in
buildings more than seven stories high
A horse-drawn fire engine on their
way to the factory.
An Expanded Role for Government
• social welfare programs
– help ensure a
minimum standard of
living
– unemployment benefits,
accident and health
insurance, social security
system for the disabled
and elderly
Municipal Reforms
• municipal – city or local level
• home rule – system that gives cities a limited
degree of self-rule
• Attacking the Bosses
– were against political bosses, argued for a civil service
system based on merit instead of favors
• New Forms of
Municipal Government
– September 8, 1900 –
Galveston hit by a
hurricane, left 6,000
people dead
– city created an
emergency commission
to handle the relief
effort, would become a
model for later systems
• Cities Take Over Utilities
– regulate water, gas, and electricity
• pioneer city control or ownership of these utilities
• Providing Welfare Services
– Hazen S. Pingree – provided public baths, parks, and work-relief
programs
– Samuel M. Jones – opened playgrounds, free kindergartens, and
lodging houses for the homeless
• believed all people could be good citizens if social conditions were good
State Reforms
• More Power to Voters
– direct primary – election where citizens vote to select
nominees for upcoming elections (voters select their parties
candidates)
– initiative – process where citizens can put a proposed new
law directly on the ballot in the next election by collecting
voters’ signatures on a petition (voters can put bills before the
legislature)
– referendum – process that allows citizens to approve or reject
a law passed by the legislature (voters can vote on bills
directly)
– recall – procedure permits voters to remove public officials
from office before the next election (voters can remove
elected officials from office)
– Seventeenth Amendment – provided for the direct election
of senators; instead of having them chosen by the state
legislature
• Reforms in the Workplace
– worked to curb workplace hazards
– created workers’ accident insurance and
compensation systems
– Muller v. Oregon – women’s long work hours in
laundries harmed their health
• Wisconsin’s Reform Governor
– Robert M. La Follette (“Fighting
Bob”) – made continual efforts to
clean up government and
produce social welfare reforms
– “It can be shown that Wisconsin
is a happier and better state to
live in, that its institutions are
more democratic, that the
opportunities of all its people are
more equal, that social justice
more nearly prevails, that human
life is safer and sweeter – then I
shall rest content in the feeling
that the Progressive movement
has been successful … [T]here is
no reason now why the
movement should not expand
until it covers the entire nation.”
Robert M. La Follette
Federal Reforms
• “bully pulpit” – an ideal
platform from which to
guide or rally the American
public to support moral,
worthy causes
• TR’s “Square Deal”
– worked through arbitration
with United Mine Workers
and resolved with a “square
deal” for both sides
• Antitrust Activism
– holding company – a
firm that buys up stocks
and bonds of smaller
companies; can create a
monopoly
– TR did not wish to
destroy trusts that did
not harm the public; did
believe that government
should regulate them
• Railroad
Regulation
– Hepburn Act
moved the
Interstate
Commerce
Commission (ICC)
to a more active
role with
legislative and
judicial powers;
could set and
limit railroad rates
• Protecting Public Health
– Pure Food and Drug Act & Meat
Inspection Act
• began requiring accurate labeling of
ingredients, strict sanitary conditions, and
a rating system for meats
• A New Labor Department
– Children’s Bureau and a Women’s
Bureau
• Protecting the Environment
– Yellowstone in Wyoming – first national park (1872)
– United States Forest Service
– National Reclamation Act (1902) – used money from
the sale of public lands to build irrigation systems in
arid states
• New Constitutional Amendments
– 16th Amendment – federal income tax
– 17th Amendment – direct election of senators
– 18th Amendment – banned alcohol
Section 3
Progressivism Under Taft
and Wilson