Chapter 8 “The Progressive Era” Vocabulary
Section 1: The Drive for Reform
1. Progressivism – movement that responded to the pressures of industrialization and urbanization by
promoting reforms.
2. Muckraker – writer who uncovers and exposes misconduct in politics or business.
3. Lincoln Steffens – A muckraker; managing editor at McClure’s, a magazine known for uncovering social
problems; published The Shame of the Cities in 1903, a collection of articles on political corruption.
4. Jacob Riis - A muckraker; a photographer for the New York Evening Sun; turned his camera on the
crowded, unsafe, rat-infested tenement buildings where the urban poor lived; published several works
between 1890 and 1903, including How the Other Half Lives.
5. Social Gospel – reform movement that emerged in the late nineteenth century that sought to improve
society by applying Christian principles.
6. Settlement House – Community center organized at the turn of the twentieth century to provide social
services to the urban poor.
7. Jane Addams – A leading figure in the settlement house movement; opened Hull House, a settlement
house in Chicago, in 1889; inspired other college-educated, middle-class women to become social
workers.
8. Direct Primary – Election in which citizens themselves vote to select nominees for upcoming elections.
9. Initiative – Process in which citizens put a proposed new law directly on the ballot.
10. Referendum – Process that allows citizens to approve or reject a law passed by a legislature.
11. Recall – Process by which voters can remove elected officials from office before their terms end.
Section 2: Women Make Progress
12. Florence Kelley – Believed that women were hurt by the unfair prices of goods they had to buy to run
their homes; helped found the National Consumers League (NCL) in 1899; helped form the Women’s
Trade Union League (WTUL) that tried to improve conditions for female factory workers.
13. National Consumers League (NCL) – Group organized in 1899 to investigate the conditions under which
goods were made and sold and to promote safe working conditions and a minimum wage.
14. Temperance Movement – Movement aimed at stopping alcohol abuse and the problems created by it.
15. Margaret Sanger – Believed that family life and women’s health would improve if mothers had fewer
children. Opened the country’s first birth-control clinic in 1916; founded the American Birth Control
League in 1921 to make information available to more women.
16. Ida B. Wells – Former slave, who worked as a school teacher and bought a local newspaper, renamed
Free Speech; wrote about the mistreatment of blacks, and helped organize women’s clubs to fight for
African American rights.
17. Suffrage – the right to vote.
18. Carrie Chapman Catt – President of the NAWSA in 1900, studied law, and worked as one of the
country’s first female school superintendents; best known for her “winning plan” and her “society plan.”
19. National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA ) – Group founded in 1890 that worked on
both the state and national levels to earn women the right to vote.
20. Alice Paul – Raised in a Quaker home; helped organize women to recruit other across the nation;
formed the National Woman’s Party (NWP), which used public protest marches.
21. 19th Amendment (1920) – Constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote.
Section 3: Struggle against Discrimination
22. Americanization – Belief that assimilating immigrants into American society would make them more
loyal citizens.
23. Booker T. Washington – Most famous late 19th century black leader who argued that African Americans
needed to accommodate themselves to segregation, instead of trying to overturn the Jim Crow Laws.
24. W.E.B. DuBois – Black leader who criticized Booker T. Washington’s willingness to accommodate
southern whites; argued that blacks should demand full and immediate equality and not limit
themselves to vocational education.
25. Niagara Movement – Group of African American thinkers founded in 1905 that pushed for immediate
racial reforms, particularly in education and voting practices.
26. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) – Interracial organization
founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination and to achieve political and civil rights for
African Americans.
27. Urban League – Network of churches and clubs that set up employment agencies and relief efforts to
help African Americans get settled and find work in the cities.
28. Anti-Defamation League – Organization formed in 1913 to defend Jews against physical and verbal
attacks and false statements.
29. Mutualistas – Organized group of Mexican-Americans that make loans and provide legal assistance to
other members of their community.
Section 4: Roosevelt’s Square Deal
30. Theodore Roosevelt – Became president in 1901; Assistant Secretary of the Navy during McKinley’s
Presidency; formed the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War; became president after
McKinley was assassinated; best known for his “Square Deal” program.
31. Square Deal – President Theodore Roosevelt’s program of reforms to keep the wealthy and powerful
from taking advantage of small business owners and the poor.
32. Helpburn Act – 1906 law that gave the government authority to set railroad rates and maximum prices
for ferries, bridge tolls, and oil pipelines.
33. Meat Inspection Act – 1906 law that allowed the federal government to inspect meat sold across state
lines and required federal inspection of meat processing plants.
34. Pure Food and Drug Act – 1906 law that allowed federal inspection of food and medicine and banned
the interstate shipment and sale of impure food and the mislabeling of food and drugs.
35. John Muir – California naturalist, whose efforts had led Congress to create Yosemite National Park in
1890; he was interested in preservation.
36. Gifford Pinchot – Led the Division of Forestry in the U.S. Department of Agriculture during Roosevelt’s
presidency; recommended that the forests be preserved for public use; he was interested in
conservation.
37. National Reclamation Act – 1902 law that gave the government the power to decide where and how
water would be distributed through the building and management of dams and irrigation projects.
38. New Nationalism – Former President and Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt’s plan to
restore the government’s trust busting power.
39. Progressive Party – Political party that emerged from the Taft-Roosevelt battle that split the Republican
Party in 1912.
Section 5: Wilson’s New Freedom
40. Woodrow Wilson –Democratic candidate; helped by William Jennings Bryan to win the Democratic
nomination; Doctoral thesis, Congressional Government; known best for his ideas in the program called
“New Freedom.”
41. New Freedom – Woodrow Wilson’s program to place government controls on corporations in order to
benefit small businesses.
42. Sixteenth Amendment – 1913 constitutional amendment that gave Congress the authority to levy an
income tax.
43. Federal Reserve Act – 1913 law that placed national banks under the control of a Federal Reserve
Board, which runs regional banks that hold the reserve funds from commercial banks, sets interest rates,
and supervises commercial banks.
44. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – Government agency established in 1914 to identify monopolistic
business practices, false advertising, and dishonest labeling.
45. Clayton Antitrust Act – 1914 law that strengthened the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.