Progressivism
and the Age of Reform
This political cartoon shows
President Theodore Roosevelt as
a hunter who’s captured two
bears: the “good trusts” bear
he’s put on a leash labeled
“restraint,” and the “bad trusts”
bear he’s apparently killed.
Essential Questions
• Why did the Progressive Era begin? What social, economic, and
political factors contributed to the movement toward Progressive
reform?
• How did the issues prominent during the Progressive Era, and the
changes that occurred then, affect the lives of immigrants, African
Americans, and women?
• How did the social and moral values of white middle- and upperclass citizens influence Progressive Era reform agendas?
• In what ways did Progressive reforms depend on the work of
individual activists? In what ways did they depend on the
participation of larger groups of people?
• What impact did political leadership have on shaping Progressive
reforms?
The Gilded Age
• 1870s and 1880s
• U.S. as world’s main
industrial power
• Industrialists and
financiers formed
trusts
• “Robber barons”
• Criticism of unfair
practices and poor
worker treatment
A cartoon criticizing “robber barons” such as
Gould and Vanderbilt for their treatment of
workers
Standard Oil and Trusts
John D. Rockefeller
• Founded by John D.
Rockefeller in 1867
• Controlled 90 percent of U.S.
oil-refining and soon almost
the entire petroleum industry
• Other industries followed
his model
• Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
had little impact for a decade
after its passage
The Panic of 1893
• Overspeculation during the
1880s
• Banks, railroads, and other
companies failed
• Unemployment,
homelessness, and financial
ruin
• Reform-minded Americans
began to organize
The New York Stock Exchange
during the Panic of 1893
Progressivism: An Overview
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“Making progress”
A variety of organizations and interests
Not a cohesive movement
Three broad categories: social, economic,
and political reform
Progressivism: State and Local
• Many changes could be more
easily attained
• Local: high schools, playgrounds,
less corruption, better sewage,
beautification, settlement houses
• State: reduced overcrowding,
safety measures in factories,
workers’ compensation, restricted
child labor, minimum wage
• Wisconsin and La Follette
Robert La Follette
Women and Progressive Reforms
• Women became much more
involved in social and political
causes
• Mainly middle- and upper-class
women
• Aimed to increase “moral
behavior” of lower classes
• Organizations such as YWCA
and National Consumers League
A YWCA poster
Muckrakers
• Journalists who exposed
corruption and social
injustices
• Term coined by Theodore
Roosevelt
• Works published in popular
magazines
• Riis, Steffens, Tarbell, Baker
et al.
Magazines like this one often
published muckraking articles
Jacob Riis
• Photographed and wrote
about conditions in tenements
and factories, and on the
streets
• How the Other Half Lives
(1890)
• Set the stage for Progressive
urban reforms