HIST 202 – U.S. HISTORY
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Evaluate the Progressive’s record. Was
progressivism really progressive? Be sure to
explain three (3) social and three (3) political
reforms as part of the progressives’ policies.

Gather the following information from sources:
 Interpretation of the documents
 Evidence of progression or regression
 Evaluation of progressivism
 ***These documents/events are fair game for Exam
#2 - HINT
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Grew out of:
 Industrialization
 Immigration
 Urban Expansion
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Progressivism is
PROGRESS!!
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National movement
born out of state
reforms
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Progressive presidents:
 Theodore Roosevelt
 William Howard Taft
 Woodrow Wilson
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Country was changing
RAPIDLY!
 Industrialized
 Non-agrarian
 Melting pot of
immigrants
 Innocence was lost

Participants were
extremely diverse:
 Women
 Liberal educators
 Early civil rights
crusaders
 Middle-class reformers
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Middle-class
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Shop owners
Lawyers
Doctors
Ministers
Religious
 Social Gospel

Liberals

Frederick W. Taylor
 Conducted research in
factories
 Timed output cycles
 Discovered ways to
organize people in
efficient manner
 Progressives…govt. can
be more efficient

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Made Americans wake
up!!
Origins
 Henry Demarest Lloyd
 Wealth Against
Commonwealth (1894)
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Magazines
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McClure’s
Collier’s
Cosmopolitan
Authors contributed
stories
Books
 Lincoln Steffans – The
Shame of the Cities
 Jacob Riis – How the
Other Half Lives

Reasons:
 Some stories were hard
to beat
 Magazines were asked to
tone down the stories
 Corporations had public
relation departments
 Legal problems
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Secret ballots
(“Australian Ballot”)
Direct election of
Senators – 17th
Amendment (1913)
Direct primaries
 Robert LaFollette (Wis.)
 Let the people decide

Initiative
 Method that voters could compel legislators to
consider a bill

Referendum
 Allowed voters to vote on the issue

Recall
 Allowed voters to get rid of corrupt officials

Settlement house
reformers
 Jane Addams
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Believed in social justice
Better schools
Better courts
Divorce laws
Criminal reform
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Get rid of political
machines and bosses
Get control of public
utilities
Voters elect city
managers and
commissioners
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Governors
 Battled with corporate
interests
 Fraudulent companies
 Corrupt railroads
 Tax reform
 Robert LaFollette

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
 March 25th 1911
 146 women perished in
flames
 71 injured
 Blamed poor working
conditions
 No fire plans
 Fire escapes were
damaged or locked!!!

Progressivism shot into
gear under Teddy

1902 Coal Strike
 Expanded T.R.’s power as
president

Standard Oil trust
 “Bad trusts”
 “Good trusts”

Consumer protection
 Pure Food and Drug Act
(1906)
 Meat Inspection Act (1906)

Environmental protection
 Newlands Reclamation Act
(1902)
 U.S. Forest Service (1908)
 150 million acres of land for
parks

Won election of 1908
 Defeated William
Jennings Bryan
 Busted the most trusts in
history
 U.S. Steel
 Angered Teddy
 Split Republican party
 Progressives
 Republicans
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Woodrow Wilson – D
William Howard Taft – R
Theodore Roosevelt – P/BM
Eugene V. Debs – S
Split in Republican Party
Economic policies
First time “3rd Party places
2nd in polls
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Pledged “New Freedom”
Attacked the “triple wall of
privilege”
 Tariffs
 Underwood Tariff (1913)
 Banking
 Federal Reserve Act (1914)
 Trusts
 Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)
 Federal Trade Commission
(1914)
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2nd rate citizens
“Separate but equal”
Progressive presidents
paid little mind to
 Thought there were
more pressing issues
 Shared in the racist
sentiment
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Authorized in 1912 – still
governor of NJ
Appointed doctors to
determine if “lesser
beings” should procreate
Stripped freedoms away
from those who didn’t
understand
Mentally retarded,
criminals, “idiots”, African
Americans in South
DuBois
Washington

Mass migration of
blacks from South to
northern cities
 1910-1930
 Aided by the Urban
League (1911)

Causes
 Deteriorating race
conditions
 Crops decimated by boll
weevil
 Job opportunities in cities
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1905 – Niagara
Movement
 Dubois
 Met at Niagara Falls,
Canada
 1908 – NAACP
 1920 – 100,000 members
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Liberal thinkers educated
Wanted equal rights as
men
Suffragist Movement
 Carrie Chapman Catt –
National American
Woman Suffrage Assn.
(NAWSA)
 Alice Paul – National
Woman’s Party
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Wilson was VERY
reluctant
1920 – guaranteed
women’s right to vote
Aided in women’s rights
for
 Property
 Divorce
 Birth control
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WWI ends
Progressivism
 Worried about the war
 Many reforms were in
place
 Reformers thought their
jobs were done