THE PROGRESSIVE
MOVEMENT
1890 - 1920
OBJECTIVES:
 1. Causes of the Progressive
Movement
 2. Analyze the role Journalists
played in the Progressive
Movement
 3. What were some of the social
reforms
 4. What were some of the political
reforms
ORIGINS OF
PROGRESSIVISM
 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
1.PROTECT SOCIAL
WELFARE
 Industrialization in the late
19th 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
2. 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)
3. 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
4. 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
American Lifestyles at the
turn of the Century
 Annual wage of American
workers: $400-$500
Cook: $5/week or $260/year
Maid: $3.50/week or
$180/year
Factory worker:14-18 Cents
MILLIONAIRES
 1900: 1% of population
owned over 80% of the
wealth
 Andrew Carnegie earned over
$23,000,000 (no income Tax )
Expenditures of the
wealthy
 Houses (mansions)
 “Country” Houses: Newport,
Rhode Island, Long Island
 Art objects
 Entertainment (lavish)
Breakers: Rockefeller
Carnegie Mansion
PROGRESSIVES
 Middle-class, white urban
dwellers
 Political leaders
 Writers
 Former Populists
So who do they target to
improve society?
 The progressive movement
sought to use modern ideas
to improve society.
 They realized that if they
wanted society to improve,
they would have to get help
from the government.
 The laissez-faire attitude of
the government would have
to end.
Change needed:
 Government had to play a
greater role in regulating
business, public health and
safety
MUCKRAKERS
 Journalists whose writings
began in the late 1800s
 Exposed corruption in
business and politics
MUCKRAKERS CRITICIZE BIG
BUSINESS
Ida Tarbell
Some view
Michael
Moore as a
modern
muckraker
 Though most progressives
did not embrace socialism,
many writers saw the truth in
Debs’ criticism
 Journalists known as
“Muckrakers” exposed
corruption in business
 Ida Tarbell exposed
Standard Oil Company’s
cut-throat methods of
eliminating competition
THE JUNGLE
 UPTON SINCLAIR
The Jungle; Upton Sinclair
 Described in gory detail the
unhealthy practices in
meatpacking plants
POPULAR MAGAZINES
 McClure’s
 Cosmopolitan
PROGRESSIVES
 Jacob Riis
 Exposed
 Tenement housing
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
Social Reforms:
 Social Gospel: Guides for
reform
 Settlement Houses
 Community Center
 Improvement in education
Settlement Houses
 Jane Addams
Social Reforms
Social Reforms
 Safer working conditions
 Shorter work days
FRANCES PERKINS
 DAUGHTER OF FACTORY
OWNER
 PUSHED FOR SAFETY
MEASURES AFTER
TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST CO
FIRE
RISE of SWEATSHOPS
 Violates 2 or more of the basic
labor laws:
 Child Labor
 Minimum wage
abuse/overtime
 Fire safety
Sweatshops Today?
 Department of Labor:
Over 50% of U.S. garment
factories are sweatshops.
NY,Ca, Dallas, Miami,
Atlanta
Nike, Gap
Garment Sales controlled
by:
 5 corporations:
 Wal-Mart
 JC Penney
 Sears
 May Company: Lord & Taylor,
Hechts
 Federated Dept Stores: Macy,
Steins, Bloomingdales
More Changes
state level,
 minimum wage laws for women
workers,
 industrial accident insurance,
restricted child labor,
factory regulation

National Changes

laws establishing federal
regulation of meat-packing,
Drug
 railroad industries
 anti-trust laws.
 lowered the tariff,
 legislation to improve
working condition
Progressive changes

local level,
 expand high schools,
 construct playgrounds,
 municipal government.
Progressives reform
Government
 Progressive Robert
La Follette
establishes a direct
primary, in which, the
citizens can vote
directly for a
candidate instead of
a party leader.
 Progressives also
fought for 3 other
changes:
 The initiative allowed
citizens to put a
question on a ballot to
be voted on by the
people.
 The recall citizens to
remove a public
official before their
terms end.
 The referendum
allows citizens to vote
on or reject laws.
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)
Constitutional
Amendments
 Amendment 16: income tax
(1913)
 Amendment 17: direct election
of senators,
 Amendment 18: Prohibition
(1919)
 Amendment 19: Women’s
Suffrage (1920)
SECTION 2: 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-ofthe-century 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
The Man
 In 1901, Teddy
Roosevelt became
the youngest
President of the U.S.
at age 43.
 Roosevelt was a
hero of the SpanishAmerican War.
 He led a cavalry unit
known as the Rough
Riders.
Roosevelt becomes
President
 In the 1900 election, President William
McKinley selects Roosevelt to become his
Vice-President.
 A few months into McKinley’s term, he was
assassinated, leaving Roosevelt as
President.
 Roosevelt quickly took advantage of his
position, making instant changes to expand
the power of the President and pushing his
Progressive agenda.
Teddy Roosevelt
 Trust busting
 Labor Relations
 Coal Strike 1902
 Square Deal
 Conservation
SECTION 3: 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 nations 26th
president
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
 Big Business dominated
the country when he took
office
 Took on Nickname of
“Teddy the Trust Buster”
The Square Deal
 Roosevelt’s first goal was to
keep wealthy business owners
from preying on small
businesses and the poor.
 “When I say I believe in a
square deal, I do not mean to
give every man the best hand. If
good cards do not come to any
man, or if they do come, and he
has not got the power to play
them, that is his affair. All I
mean is that there shall be no
crookedness in the dealing.”
Teddy Roosevelt
Trust-busting and
Regulating
 Roosevelt’s first goal was
to take on industry.
 The first dispute he
settled was between
mine owners and
workers.
 Roosevelt threatened to
bring in federal troops to
run the mines. The mine
owners gave in.
Roosevelt takes on the
railroads
 Roosevelt creates the
Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC) to keep on
eye on interstate shipping
rates.
 The Elkins Act would fine
railroads for overcharging
people for freight costs.
 The ICC created the Hepburn
Act which would place a limit
on shipping costs, tolls, and
ferry costs.
Roosevelt splits the
railroads
 Due to its’ dirty business practices, Roosevelt forced
the railroads to split into smaller companies to force
competition and lower prices.
 He did not force this on all of the big businesses,
only those that practiced less scrupulous business
tactics.
Roosevelt takes on the food
industry!
 In response to The
Jungle, Roosevelt
pushes through the Meat
Inspection Act, so that
the gov’t could check out
all meat products
crossing state lines for
health concerns.
 The Food and Drug Act
did the same for
medicines. Today, we
have the FDA.
Roosevelt: the
Environmentalist
 Roosevelt felt that nature
should be preserved, but
not at the expense of man.
 He allowed for the use of
nature’s resources and
protected a large amount
of land against use.
 He also made regulations
against overusing forests
and instead became more
prudent about when and
how they could be used.
Who owns the water?
 Water became highly
demanded for strip
mining and irrigation
farming.
 With the rise in demand,
so came claims to water.
 Roosevelt helped to
enact the National
Reclamation Act, which
allowed the federal gov’t
to control how and
where water could be
distributed.
Conservation under
Roosevelt
 150 National Forests
 51 Fed. Bird reservations
 5 National Parks
 18 National Monuments
 7 conservation conferences
National Parks
 Yellowstone: 1st National Park
1872
 National park system has 84
million acres
 Delaware only state without a
National Park
Teddy the Muckraker
 Meat Inspection Act 1906
 Pure Food and Drug Act
Creation of FDA
Testing of all food and drugs
Warning labels
Roosevelt Corollary
 “A
Civilized nation had the
right to stop chronic
wrongdoing throughout the
western hemisphere.”
Great White Fleet
 To impress upon Japan that the US navy
could shift from the Atlantic to the pacific.
PANAMA CANAL




1904-1914
$352,000,000
80,000 workers
30,000 deaths
Roosevelt 1901-1908
 Picks his Secretary of War
William Howard Taft as the
next nominee for president
in 1908
SECTION 4: 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 LOSES POWER
 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
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
1912-1920
CLAYTON ANTITRUST
ACT
 In 1914 Congress
enacted the Clayton
Antitrust Act which
strengthened the
Sherman Act
 The Clayton Act
prevented companies
from acquiring stock
from another company
(Anti-monopoly)
 The Act also supported
workers unions
FEDERAL TRADE
COMMISSION FORMED
Today the FTC has been working on
protecting consumers from ID theft
 The FTC was formed
in 1914 to serve as a
“watchdog” agency
to end unfair
business practices
 The FTC protects
consumers from
business fraud
FEDERAL INCOME TAX
ARRIVES
 Wilson worked hard to
lower tariffs, however
that lost revenue had
to be made up
 Ratified in 1916, the
16th Amendment
legalized a graduated
federal income tax
WOMEN WIN SUFFRAGE
 Native-born, educated,
middle-class women grew
more and more impatient
 Through local, state and
national organization,
vigorous protests and
World War I, women finally
realized their dream in
1920
The 19th Amendment gave women
the right to vote in 1920
LIMITS OF
PROGRESSIVISM
 While the
Progressive era was
responsible for many
important reforms, it
failed to make gains
for African
Americans
 Like Roosevelt and
Taft, Wilson retreated
on Civil Rights once
in office
The KKK reached a membership of 4.5
million in the 1920s