Chapter 18 Section 2
Progressive Legislation
Summarize the Progressives’ views on
regulating business.
• Progressives sought
government regulation
to protect workers’
rights and business
competition.
• They opposed
government control
– Except in the cases of
companies that supplied
services like water and
electricity
Social Welfare Program
• Progressives believed that
government ought to
increase its responsibility
for the well-being of
people
• Social welfare programs
would help insure a
minimum standard of
living
– Unemployment benefits
– Accident and health
insurance
– Social security for disabled
and elderly
Municipal
• Many of the earliest
Progressive reforms
were made at the city,
or municipal, level
Give examples of government reforms and
social welfare programs at the municipal
and state levels during the progressive era.
• Municipal- public baths
in Detroit; free
kindergarten in Toledo
• State- workers’ accident
insurance, child labor
legislation
Home Rule
• A system that gives
cities a limited degree
of self-rule
– Allows cities to escape
domination by state
governments controlled
by political machines or
by business or rural
interests
Direct Primary
• An election in which
citizens vote to select
nominees for upcoming
elections
Initiative
• A process in which
citizens can put a
proposed new law
directly on the ballot in
the next election by
collecting voters’
signatures on a petition
Describe the effect of each of these
reforms: a.)home rule; b.)direct relief; c.)
initiative.
• Home rule- frees cities
from domination by
state governments
• Direct primary– voters,
not party leaders,
choose candidates
• Initiative- voters
introduce a bill, then
vote on it in the next
election
Referendum
• A process that allows
citizens to approve or
reject a law passed by
the legislature
Recall
• Procedure that permits
voters to remove public
officials from office
before the next election
Holding Company
• A firm that buys up
stocks and bonds of
smaller companies
• In doing so, it creates a
monopoly
• Railroads tended to do
this
What reforms did Theodore Roosevelt
achieve under his square deal?
• Antitrust activism;
railroad regulation;
transforming Interstate
Commerce Commission
into first regulatory
agency; Pure Food and
Drug Act; Meat
Inspection Act;
protecting the
environment
Choose 2 constitutional amendments passed during
the Progressive Era and explain how they expanded
the role of government in citizens’ lives.
• 16th AmendmentCongress could create
an income tax
• 17th Amendment- direct
election of senators
• 18th AmendmentProhibition
• 19th AmendmentWomen’s suffrage