The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• How did intellectuals, novelists, and
journalists help lay the groundwork for the
progressive movement?
– “progressive movement” – a widespread
yearning for reform and an exciting sense of
new social possibilities.
• Yearning found many outlets and focused on a
wide array of issues.
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
– Urban Growth (early 20th century)
• Immigration &
• Rapidly growing middle class transformed U. S.
Cities (most native born, white, and Protestant)
– Community leaders and worker of Progressive
movement
– 1900-1920, white collar work force grows from
5.1 million to 10.5 million (more than double
the work force as a whole)
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
– White collar jobs, secretaries, civil engineers,
and people in advertising increase
phenomenally.
• Owners of businesses, professionals such as
lawyers, doctors, and teachers
– Professional groups arose,
• American Bar Association (grew)
• New, Association of Advertising Agencies (1917)
• American Association of University Professors
(1915).
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
– Middle class women
– Opportunities and frustration
– Often became schoolteachers, secretaries,
typists, clerks, and telephone operators
– 949,000 in 1900 to 3.4 million in 1920
– Even though # still small, the # of college
educated women more than tripled in this 20
year period
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
• “New Woman”
– Divorce rate grew 1/12 in 1900 to 1/9 in 1916
– Middle class women joined white-collar
workers, and college graduates in leading
women’s movement
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
• Initial reform impetus came from
– Women’s clubs
– Settlement houses,
– Private groups like
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Playground Assoc. of America
National Child Labor Committee,
National Consumer’s League
American League for Civic Improvement
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
• Also important to the reform movement on
issues affecting factory workers and slum
dwellers
– Urban immigrant political machines
– Workers themselves
• Some corporate leaders mold reform
measures to serve their own interests.
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
• Progressivism could be described as a
series of political and cultural responses to
industrialization and its by-products:
immigration, urban growth, the rise of
corporate power, and widening class
divisions.
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
• Progressivism contrasted with Populism
– Progressivism’s strengths lay in the cities
– Many more journalists, academics, social
theorists, and urban dwellers
• Progressives were reformers not radicals
– Wished to remedy the social ills of industrial
capitalism,
– Not uproot the system itself
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
• Disagreements
– Many wanted stricter regulation of business,
from local transit companies to the almighty
trusts
– Others wanted to protect workers and the urban
poor.
– Others tried to reform the structure of
government, (esp. at municipal level)
– Others fought for immigration restriction or
various social-control strategies
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
• Progressives believed that all social
problems could be resolved through careful
study and organized effort.
– High regard for science and expert knowledge
• Science and Technology had produced the
new industrial order, and such expertise
would also solve the social problems
spawned by industrialism.
– Wanted research data, expert opinion, and
statistics to support causes.
The Progressive Era, 1900-1917
• Many Faces of Progressivism
• Is progressivism a stage that all industrial
societies pass through?
• Driving Factors
– Human emotion
– Indignation
– Intense moralism
– Fear of the alien
– Hatred of unbridled corporate power,
– Raw political ambition