Four Goals of
Progressivism
Progressivism
•  By 1900, America could no longer hide its
problems of unsafe working conditions,
child labor, and political and corporate
corruption.
Progressivism
•  The progressive movement emerged as
an urban reform movement, in response to
such economic, political, and social
corruption.
1. Protecting Social Welfare
•  Florence Kelley was an advocate for
improving the lives of women and children.
•  Later became chief inspector of factories
for Illinois.
1. Protecting Social Welfare
•  The Illinois Factory Act of 1893 prohibited
child labor and limited women’s working
hours.
•  Other states soon followed.
1. Protecting Social Welfare
•  The example set by the Social Gospel and
settlement house movement inspired
similar reform activities.
•  Young Men’s Christian Association
opened libraries, sponsored classes, and
built swimming pools and handball courts.
Protecting Social Welfare
•  The Salvation Army fed poor people in
soup kitchens, and cared for children in
nurseries.
YMCA, Boise, Idaho
YMCA Basketball Team, 1914
Salvation Army, WWI
Christmas Turkeys, 1903
2. Promoting Moral Improvement
•  Some reformers felt that poor people
should improve their personal behavior.
Promoting Moral Improvement
•  The Prohibition movement started in 1874,
by the Women’s Christian Temperance
Movement
–  Criticized the use of alcohol
Promoting Moral Improvement
•  By 1911, the WCTU had 245,000
members, the largest women’s group our
nation had ever seen.
Promoting Moral Improvement
•  Carry Nation was famous for walking into
saloons, scolding customers, and
smashing bottles of liquor with a hatchet.
Carry Nation, 1890
Promoting Moral Improvement
•  The Anti-Saloon League, in 1895, began
working to pass laws to make the sale,
production, and use of alcohol illegal.
Promoting Moral Improvement
•  Between 1900-1917, voters in almost half
the states voted to ban alcohol.
•  Some tensions arose between League
members and immigrants.
3. Creating Economic Reform
•  Many Americans began to question the
fairness of free-market capitalism.
•  Big business received special treatment
from government, and politicians could
use power to limit competition.
Creating Economic Reform
•  Eugene V. Debs criticized the uneven
balance among big business, government
and ordinary people under capitalism.
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
•  “Competition was natural enough at one
time, but do you think you are competing
today? Many of you think you are
competing. Against whom? Against
Rockefeller? About as I would if I had a
wheelbarrow and competed with the
railroad from here to Kansas City.”
4. Fostering Efficiency
•  Henry Ford introduced the assembly line
to speed production of automobiles.
Fostering Efficiency
•  To keep workers happy and to prevent
strikes, Ford reduced the workday to 8
hours, and paid workers $5 a day.
Henry Ford
Ford Assembly Line
Ford Model T, 1908
Henry Ford
•  Reduced the production time of the Model
T from 12 hours to 2 hours in 1913.
•  “Everybody will be able to afford a car, and
about everyone will have one.”
•  Buyers can have “any color as long as it’s
black.”
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair
Muckrakers
•  Newspaper or magazine journalists who
exposed the widespread corruption in
business and politics.
–  20th century tattle-tales
–  Remember John D. Rockefeller, and Boss
Tweed?
Ida M. Tarbell
•  Writes “History of the Standard Oil
Company”
•  “Mr. Rockefeller has systematically played
with loaded dice, and it is doubtful if there
has been a time since 1872 when he has
run a race with a competitor that started
fair.”
Ida M. Tarbell
Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
•  In 1906, Sinclair writes The Jungle.
•  His original intention was to “reveal the
breaking of human hearts by a system that
exploits the labor of men and women for
profits.”
Upton Sinclair
•  What shocked readers most, was the
sickening conditions of the meatpacking
industry.