THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
ORIGINS OF PROGRESSIVISM
As America entered into the 20 th
century, middle class reformers
addressed many social
problems: work conditions,
rights for women and children,
economic reform,
environmental issues, and social
welfare were a few of these
issues
FOUR GOALS OF REFORMERS
1) Protect Social Welfare
2) Promote Moral Improvement
3) Create Economic Reform
4) Foster Efficiency
PROTECT SOCIAL WELFARE
• Industrialization in the late 19 th
century was largely
unregulated
• Employers felt little
responsibility toward their
workers
• As a result Settlement homes
and churches served the
community
• Also the YMCA and Salvation
Army took on service roles
PROMOTE MORAL DEVELOPMENT
• Some reformers felt that the
answer to societies problems
was personal behavior
• They proposed such reforms
as prohibition
• Groups wishing to ban
alcohol included the
Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU)
CREATE ECONOMIC REFORM
• The Panic of 1893
prompted some Americans
to question the capitalist
economic system
• As a result some workers
embraced socialism
• Eugene Debs organized
the American Socialist
Party in 1901
Debs encouraged workers to reject
American Capitalism
FOSTERING EFFICIENCY
• Many Progressive leaders put
their faith in scientific
principles to make society
better
• In Industry, Frederick Taylor
began using time & motion
studies to improve factory
efficiency
• Taylorism became an
Industry fad as factories
sought to complete each task
quickly
CLEANING UP LOCAL GOVERNMENT
• Efforts at reforming local
government stemmed from
the desire to make
government more efficient
and responsive to citizens
• Some believe it also was
meant to limit immigrants
influence in local
governments
REGULATING BIG BUSINESS
Under the progressive
Republican leadership
of Robert La Follette,
Wisconsin led the way
in regulating big
business
Robert La Follette
PROTECTING WORKING CHILDREN
• As the number of child
workers rose, reformers
worked to end child labor
• Children were more prone
to accidents caused by
fatigue
• Nearly every state limited
or banned child labor by
1918
EFFORTS TO LIMIT HOURS
• The Supreme Court and
the states enacted or
strengthened laws
reducing women’s hours
of work
• Progressives also
succeeded in winning
worker’s compensation to
aid families of injured
workers
ELECTION REFORM
• Citizens fought for, and
won, such measures as
secret ballots, referendum
votes, and the recall
• Citizens could petition and
get initiatives on the ballot
• In 1899, Minnesota passed
the first statewide primary
system
DIRECT ELECTION OF SENATORS
• Before 1913, each state’s
legislature had chosen its
own U.S. senators
• To force senators to be
more responsive to the
public, progressives
pushed for the popular
election of senators
• As a result, Congress
passed the
17th Amendment (1913)
The Election of 1896
The Election of 1900
McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan in the Election of 1900.
Theodore Roosevelt ran as McKinley’s Vice-President.
PRESIDENT WILLIAM
MCKINLEY
President McKinley was shot by anarchist
Leon Czolgosz as he shook hands and met people
at the Pan American Exposition held in Buffalo,
NY, during the summer of 1901. His wounds were
not considered life-threatening, and although it
appeared McKinley was recovering, gangrene
developed which eventually caused McKinley to
die. McKinley died on September 14, 1901. Vice
President Theodore Roosevelt became the new
President.
IMMIGRATION
1.
Between 1870 and 1920 26 million immigrants came to live in the
United States.
2.
After 1900, most came from southern and eastern Europe.
Italian Immigrants
Eastern Europe
IMMIGRATION
1820-1890
 Reasons so many immigrants came to America include political,
economic, and religious reasons
 Factory jobs were plentiful during America’s Industrial Revolution
 Many Irish immigrated because of a potato famine
 Political turmoil in Germany caused thousands of Germans to
immigrate
 300,000 Chinese came to work on the railroads or to seek gold in
California
 90,000 Japanese also immigrated to the West coast
 Canada, Sweden, and France sent thousands of immigrants
 In big cities, many immigrants ended up in ramshackle conditions or
tenements
The U.S. has a history of racism and
discrimination against numerous groups of
people.
CHINESE EXCLUSION
ACT
Preamble. Whereas,
in the opinion of
the Government of
the United States
the coming of
Chinese laborers to
this country
endangers the good
order of certain
localities within the
territory thereof:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress
assembled,
That from and after the expiration
of ninety days next after the
passage of this act, and until the
expiration of ten years next after
the passage of this act, the
coming of Chinese laborers to the
United States be, and the same is
hereby, suspended; and during
such suspension it shall not be
lawful for any Chinese laborer to
come, or, having so come after
the expiration of said ninety days,
to remain within the United
States.
STANDARD OIL
3.
4.
Standard Oil owned by John D. Rockefeller controlled 95% of
oil refining in the United States.
It appeared that industrialization was threatening the future
of the nation.
Companies like Standard Oil squeezed out all
its competition and became monopolies.
SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT
OF 1890
• This law was the first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit
abusive monopolies
• A monopoly is a situation in which there is a single supplier or seller of a
good or service for which there are no close substitutes
• Monopolies control prices of goods and services
• Prices stay higher with no competition-Corporations get bigger
• No President enforced this law until Theodore Roosevelt became President
The Government is cutting down trusts and
corporations that form monopolies
WOMEN TAKE THE LEAD
5.
The most well-known woman reformer was Jane Addams who
tried to bring the poor and the rich, the immigrant and the
native born all under one roof. She established Hull House
which provided new comers with English lessons, employment
advice, and child care.
6.
Progressivism simply meant the quest for progress in problems
that were plaguing American society in politics and the
economy.
A CLASH OF CULTURES
7.
Often, the nation’s poor, especially immigrants, wanted no part
in the nation’s progressive reform.
8.
Progressives wanted parks and playgrounds to be built while
immigrants and workers preferred ball fields and sandlots.
9.
Many immigrants also worried that progressive reformers
wanted to destroy their ethnic cultures.
WOMEN IN PUBLIC LIFE
Before the Civil War,
American women were
expected to devote their
time to home and family.
By the late 19th and early
20th century, women were
visible in the workforce.
DOMESTIC WORKERS
Before the turn-of-thecentury, women without
formal education
contributed to the
economic welfare of their
families by doing
domestic work.
Altogether, 70% of women
employed in 1870 were
servants.
WOMEN IN THE WORK FORCE
• Opportunities for women
increased especially in the
cities
• By 1900, one out of five
women worked
• The garment trade was
popular as was office
work, department stores,
and classrooms
WOMEN LEAD REFORM
• Many of the leading
progressive reformers were
women
• Middle and upper class
women also entered the
public sphere as reformers
• Many of these women had
graduated from new
women’s colleges
Colleges like Vassar and Smith
allowed women to excel
WOMEN AND REFORM
• Women reformers strove to
improve conditions at work
and home
• In 1896, black women formed
the National Association of
Colored Women (NACW)
• Suffrage was another
important issue for women
THREE-PART STRATEGY FOR
WINNING SUFFRAGE
Suffragists tried three approaches
to winning the vote:
1) Convince state legislatures to
adopt vote (Succeeded in Wyoming,
Utah, Idaho, Colorado)
2) Pursue court cases to test 14 th
Amendment
3) Push for national constitutional
Amendment
JANE ADDAMS
Jane Addams is remembered primarily as a
founder of the Settlement House Movement.
She and her friend Ellen Starr founded Hull
House in the slums of Chicago in 1889. She
is also remembered as the first American
Woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
HULL HOUSE
A nursery at Hull House
Hull House, located on Chicago’s
west side helped thousands of immigrants
and poor live decent lives.
TEDDY ROOSEVELT’S SQUARE
DEAL
McKinley was assassinated by an
anarchist in Buffalo in September
of 1901
When President
William McKinley was
assassinated 6 months
into his second term,
Theodore Roosevelt
became the nation’s
26th president. He
promised a “square
deal” for all
Americans.
THE MODERN PRESIDENT
When Roosevelt was thrust
into the presidency in 1901, he
became the youngest
president ever at age 42.
He quickly established
himself as a modern president
who could influence the
media and shape legislation.
ROOSEVELT AND THE ROUGH
RIDERS
• Roosevelt grabbed national
attention by advocating war
with Spain in 1898
• His volunteer cavalry
brigade, the Rough Riders,
won public acclaim for its
role in the battle at San Juan
Hill in Cuba
• Roosevelt returned a hero
and was soon elected
governor of NY and later
McKinley’s vice-president
Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders
1902 COAL STRIKE
• In 1902 140,000 coal miners in
Pennsylvania went on strike for
increased wages, a 9-hour work
day, and the right to unionize
• Mine owners refused to bargain
• Roosevelt called in both sides and
settled the dispute
• Thereafter, when a strike
threatened public welfare, the
federal government was expected
to step in and help
MUCKRAKERS & BOSSES
10.
Muckrakers were journalists who exposed the waste and greed
of the modern United States.
11.
Their investigations began in the slums and led upward to
urban political bosses who took bribes for city construction
contracts or awarded them to their friends.
FAMOUS MUCKRAKERS
Upton Sinclair wrote the book The Jungle, exposing the underbelly of the
Meatpacking industry of early 1900’s America. This book led to the
Passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
Ida Tarbell published The Rise of
the Standard Oil Company in 1902,
providing insight into the
manipulation of trusts.
ELECTION OF 1904
In the election of 1904, Theodore Roosevelt promised the American people that he
never run for re-election again. That was a promise he would regret in 1912.
POLITICAL BOSSES
12.
Bosses also provided valuable services to immigrants. In turn,
the immigrant was expected to vote for the boss and his party.
13.
Progressives attempted to limit the power of bosses but failed
to oust them; however, it did lead to laws about how elections
should be handled. The secret ballot was introduced to keep
bosses from knowing who voted for them.
14.
Voter registration laws prevented bosses from stuffing ballot
boxes with invented names or paying people to vote multiple
times. New laws required cities to award police, fire, and
teaching jobs according to merit.
POLITICAL BOSSES
• A person who wields the power over a particular political region or
constituency
• May dictate voting patterns
• May dictate appointments
• Wield influence over the region
• May not hold political office
TRUSTBUSTING
• By 1900, Trusts – legal
bodies created to hold
stock in many companies –
controlled 80% of U.S.
industries
• Roosevelt filed 44 antitrust
suits under the Sherman
Antitrust Act
FIGHTING THE TRUSTS
15.
A trust is a large business working in one sector of the
economy. People wanted to bust trusts because they were
causing prices to go up.
Examples of Trusts
• Standard Oil Company (95% of oil industry)
• American Sugar Refining Company (98% of
sugar industry
• Northern Securities Company (Railroad
company)
A trust is a legal body that has stock in many
companies, often in 1 industry
WORKMAN’S
COMPENSATION
17.
Another progressive reform for workers was Workers’
Compensation to help workers who were injured on the job.
Workman’s Comp helps people
who have been hurt while on the job.
THE JUNGLE
16.
Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, exposed the gruesome filth
in the meat-packing industry in the United States.
THE JUNGLE LEADS TO FOOD
REGULATION
• After reading The Jungle
by Upton Sinclair,
Roosevelt pushed for
passage of the Meat
Inspection Act of 1906
• The Act mandated
cleaner conditions for
meatpacking plants
MEAT INSPECTION ACT
18.
President Roosevelt backed two important reform bills in The
Meat Inspection Act which required refrigeration and other
health precautions in the meat industry and the Pure Food and
Drug Act which banned false labeling on packages.
After President Theodore Roosevelt read Upton Sinclair’s Book The Jungle,
he immediately began legislation to regulate and purify America’s food supply.
PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT
The Pure Food and Drug Act took
medicines with cocaine and other
harmful ingredients off the
market
• In response to unregulated
claims and unhealthy
products, Congress passed
the Pure Food and Drug
Act in 1906
• The Act halted the sale of
contaminated foods and
medicines and called for
truth in labeling
ROOSEVELT, THE
CONSERVATIONIST
19.
Roosevelt also added more than 100 million acres to the
national forest system.
ROOSEVELT AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
• Before Roosevelt’s
presidency, the federal
government paid very
little attention to the
nation’s natural resources
• Roosevelt made
conservation a primary
concern of his
administration
Roosevelt, left, was an avid
outdoorsman – here he is with author
John Muir at Yosemite Park
ROOSEVELT’S ENVIROMENTAL
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Yellowstone National
Park, Wyoming
• Roosevelt set aside 148
million acres of forest
reserves
• He also set aside 1.5
million acres of waterpower sites and he
established 50 wildlife
sanctuaries and several
national parks
The Grand Canyon
The Petrified Forest in Arizona
Yellowstone National Park
Sequoia National Park
ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK, ND
PELICAN ISLAND, FL
FIRST WILDLIFE REFUGE
IN U.S.
Pelican Island, FL
ROOSEVELT AND WILSON
20.
Roosevelt’s handpicked successor to the White House,
William Howard Taft broke up more trusts than Roosevelt.
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
(1909-13)
Taft busted up more trusts than
Roosevelt, but he failed to carry
out all of Roosevelt’s progressive
policies which created a rift between
the two once good friends. As a result,
Roosevelt went back on his promise
to never run for President again. He
made that pledge to the American
people when he ran for his own term
of office in 1904.
Taft is the only President
who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
PROGRESSIVISM UNDER PRESIDENT
TAFT
• Republican William Howard
Taft easily defeated Democrat
William Jennings Bryan to
win the 1908 presidential
election
• Among his accomplishments,
Taft “busted” 90 trusts
during his 4 years in office
Taft, right, was Roosevelt’s War
Secretary
TAFT AND HIS TUB
Taft once got
stuck in the
White House
bathtub and
had to have a
specially made
tub. It was large
enough for 4
men to sit in it.
TAFT’S BATHTUB
A Replica of the Taft Bathtub
TAFT LOSES POWER
21.
Roosevelt felt betrayed by Taft when he failed to support certain
progressive programs, resulting in Roosevelt’s decision to
recapture the White House in 1912. Roosevelt ran under the
Progressive Party.
• Taft was not popular
with the American
public nor reform
minded Republicans.
• By 1910, Democrats had
regained control of the
House of
Representatives.
Taft called the Presidency, “The
lonesomest job in the world”
1912 ELECTION
• Republicans split in 1912
between Taft and Teddy
Roosevelt (who returned after
a long trip to Africa)
• Convention delegates
nominated Taft
• Some Republicans formed a
third party – The Bull Moose
Party and nominated
Roosevelt
• The Democrats put forward a
reform - minded New Jersey
Governor, Woodrow Wilson
Republicans split in 1912
ELECTION OF 1912
22.
Although it was a three person race for the 1912 election, the
real race was between Theodore Roosevelt and the Democratic
nominee Woodrow Wilson.
23.
Wilson promised to free the nation of trusts and bring back the
nation of small businesses.
Woodrow
Wilson
Theodore Wm. Howard
Roosevelt
Taft
WOODROW WILSON
(1913-1921)
• Set up a federal banking
system through the Federal
Reserve Act
• Passed the Clayton AntiTrust Act to reign in big
business
• Set up Federal Trade
Commission to stop unfair
trade practices
• Was President when the 16
Amendment place an income
tax on Americans
• Led the United States
through World War I
WILSON’S NEW FREEDOM
• As America’s newly elected
president, Wilson moved to
enact his program, the
“New Freedom”
• He planned his attack on
what he called the triple
wall of privilege: trusts,
tariffs, and high finance
W. Wilson U.S. President
1913-1921
FREEDOM? WHOSE
FREEDOM?
24.
Wilson ordered the segregation of black Americans in federal
buildings.
• Many historians consider Wilson a racist
• He put segregationist white southerners in charge of many executive
departments
• He reduced the number of African-American appointees to political
positions
• He segregated Federal buildings
• He imposed full segregation in the nation’s capital
VIOLENCE CONTINUES
25.
Between 1885-1907, more Americans were lynched in the US
than were legally executed, most of whom were black.
The Tuskegee Institute has recorded 3,446 blacks and 1,297 whites
were lynched between 1882 and 1968.
WASHINGTON AND DUBOIS
26.
Two black Americans, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B.
Dubois, viewed America’s race problem in different ways:
Washington, President of Tuskegee Institute, believed that
blacks should develop vocational skills. Du Bois demanded
immediate and equal rights for African Americans in schools,
housing, and employment.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
• He was the dominant leader in the African-American community in the
United States from 1890 to 1915
• He was born into slavery and not highly educated
• In 1881 he became the first leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama
which was a school for African-Americans to learn different trades
• Washington believed if black people could learn a trade or a skill that they
could live peacefully in mostly segregated America
W.E.B. DUBOIS
• Graduated from Harvard where he was
the first African-American to earn a
doctorate
• He became a professor of history,
sociology, and economics at Atlanta
University
• He founded the NAACP (National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People)
• Fought for full equal rights for blacks
NAACP FORMED TO PROMOTE
RIGHTS
• In 1909 a number of African
Americans and prominent white
reformers formed the National
Association for the Advancement
of Colored People
• The NAACP had 6,000 members
by 1914
• The goal of the organization was
full equality among the races
• The means to achieve this was the
court system
1964 Application
SOCIALISM IN AMERICA
27.
Socialists believed that American workers not their bosses
should own the nation’s industries.
28.
Law enforcement authorities tried to silence the Socialists by
jailing them.
29.
Socialist Presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs was jailed and
sentenced to prison for opposing the draft during World War I.
WHAT IS SOCIALISM?
• A socialist economic system consists of a system of production and
distribution organized to directly satisfy economic demands and
human needs, so that goods and services would be produced directly
for use instead of for private profit driven by the accumulation of
capital
• Socialism calls for public ownership of all major industries such as
manufacturing, banking, energy companies, media services,
transportation services, and medical services
• It tries to take power from those who hold the wealth of a country
WOMEN SUFFRAGISTS
30.
Suffragists were women who worked for women’s right to vote.
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution outlawed denying
the right to vote based on gender. Passed in 1920, women
finally achieved a precious right that had been denied for
a long time.