TEST #5 Lecture Notes
Progressivism
VUS8
Working Conditions
 Working conditions in the American industries were many times
awful and very dangerous
 Many children were forced to work
 Families needed the children to work and make $ or the family could
not survive
 Most people worked at least a 10 hour workday
 People were paid barely enough for survival
 No money was left over for luxuries
 Most $ went toward housing, food, and clothing
 Workers had no job security
 Workers had no benefits
 Many people refer to these type of factories as sweatshops
 Company towns began to rise up around factories
 Towns run by the company (factory) owners
 Most of the money earned by workers was given back to the
owners when people purchased items in the town
 As more immigrants came to the US, the labor supply
increased
 This increase caused a competition for jobs
 This competition caused wages to be lower for the workers—
actually like by the factory owners
Unions
 Because working conditions were so bad, many of the
workers and some government officials began to speak out
 Workers realized they needed to ban together in order to get
changes
 The workers will create labor unions
 Unions will favor restricting immigration
 Reduction in labor supply would increase wages
 1.) Knights of Labor:
 The 1st national labor union to remain active for more than a
few years
 Formed in 1869 by a group of tailors
 1880s: the union grew into a national organization
 Will eventually accept all employed people
 Farmers
 Merchants
 Unskilled workers
 Proposed laws to cut the workday down to 8 hours
 Proposed equal pay for men and women
 2.) American Federation of Labor (AFL):
 Led by Samuel Gompers
 The largest labor organization
 Represented about 1.5 million workers
 Organized from skilled workers
 Became a national union in the early 1900s
 Called for reforms, but did not trust the government
 Saw a strong union as more capable of working with industry
owners than the government
 Advocated using strikes to improve wages and hours
 Used boycotts as a means of peaceful protest
Samuel Gompers
 3.) American Railway Union:
 Led by Eugene V. Debs
 United railway workers
 4.) Industrial Ladies Garments Workers Union:
 Union created for seamstresses
 Fought to get an 8-hour workday for the workers
Labor Strikes
 For unions to get changes, most had to go on strike—a work
stoppage
 The unions wanted to help the workers get reduce hours and
more pay
 Strikes could become very violent
 1.) Haymarket Square:
 1886: workers went on strike in Chicago
 Striking workers held a protest at Haymarket Square in
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Chicago
They were protesting after the Chicago police had shot 4
strikers
The rally turned violent and became a riot after a bomb
exploded and police opened fire on the crowd
7 police were killed
4 labor leaders will be executed for their crimes
Haymarket Square Riot
Haymarket Square Video
 2.) Homestead Strike:
 1892: steelworkers were striking in Homestead, PA at one
of Andrew Carnegie’s steel plants
 A battle broke out between the striking steel workers and the
strike breakers
 When it was over 13 people were dead
Homestead Strike Video
 3.) Pullman Strike:
 1894: Railway workers, led by Eugene V. Debs, refused to
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switch the Pullman Company’s rail cars from one track to
another
Federal troops were brought in by the U. S. Attorney General
Many people in the US began to fear an international
conspiracy
Anti-labor sentiment began to grow in the US
Many saw a need for the American Government to get
involved in industry
Progressivism
 Progressivism was the name given to the different reform movements that
attempted to fix problems associated with immigration, city growth, and the
increasing power of giant corporations
 The movement was spurred on by several things:
 The excesses of the “Gilded Age” (Glittered with wealth, but rotten to the core)
 Income disparity between the classes—the rich were getting richer and the poor were
getting poorer
 Practices of the Robber Barons (powerful business men and bankers)
 They used whatever means necessary to make themselves rich
 Bad working conditions for labor
 Child labor
 Long hours
 Low wages
 Lack of job security
 Lack of benefits
 Company towns
 Employment for women
 The progressive reformers wanted to do a lot:
 A government controlled by the people
 Government regulation of big business
 To get rid of social injustices
 Pass laws protecting workers and the poor
 Reform town and state governments
 1.) Muckrakers:
 Writers who were involved with the spirit of reform
 These writers tried to motivate the public on certain issues
 Upton Sinclair
 Wrote the book The Jungle
 He wrote about the disgusting conditions under which food,
especially meat, was prepared
 Ida Tarbell
 Wrote History of the Standard Oil Company
 Book described how John Rockefeller amassed his power and
wealth
 Florence Kelley
 Exposed the hazards of child labor
 Showed that children were working in the most hazardous
conditions in factories
 She wanted the federal government to outlaw child labor
 She organized boycotts against goods manufactured by children
 Jane Adams
 Created Hull House (a settlement house)
 Immigrants and the poor could come and learn English, talk
about politics
 Hull House also took care of the sick and injured
Florence Kelley
Jane Adams’ Hull House
 2.) Meat Inspection Act:
 Brought about by Sinclair’s The Jungle
 1906: President T. Roosevelt pushed the Meat Inspection Act
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through Congress
Strict standards were set for meat-packers
A system of federal meat inspection was created
Outlawed the use of misleading labels
Outlawed the used of dangerous chemical preservatives
 3.) Pure Food and Drug Act:
 Passed on the same day as the Meat Inspection Act
 The act was a response to falsely labeled drugs for the healing
of all sorts of ailments
 Prohibited the manufacture, sale, or shipment of impure or
falsely labeled foods in interstate commerce
 Contents had to be accurately labeled
 4.) National Parks:
 Some parts of the American wilderness were being run by
industry and big business
 Many conservationists (Johan Muir) persuaded the federal
government to create 13 forest reserves with over 21 million
acres of land
 Pres. T. Roosevelt created 5 national parks
 1916: the National Park Service was created to run the 5
national parks
 5.) Settlement Houses:
 Many middle class reformers built places that provided
educational and social services to poor people
 1851: YMCA built housing for young men coming to the
cities
 The Salvation Army built shelters and opened up soup
kitchens to help the poor
 Jane Adams—Hull House
Progressive Changes in Government
and Economics
 There was a lot of economic instability after the Civil War
 Many believed in laissez-faire economics
 the government should stay out of business
 Andrew Carnegie believed in laissez-faire economics
 Laissez-faire economics was NOT a good idea
 Large industrialists drove out competition and began creating
monopolies
 The government began to step in to place controls over the
“robber barons” and runaway industry
 1.) Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC):
 Created out of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887
 Robber barons had monopolized railroad routes
 The barons could set the prices on the use of these routes as
high as they wanted
 Prices continued to increase
 The ICC was formed in response to these higher prices
 ICC oversaw interstate rail commerce
 ICC banned monopolistic practices
 2.) Federal Trade Commission (FTC):
 Created in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson
 Designed to stop unfair trading and business practices among
companies
 Prevented companies from working together to keep prices
high
 Trying to establish fair trade
 3.) Sherman Anti-Trust Act:
 1890: enacted by Congress
 Banned business activities that reduced competition
 Act was difficult to enforce because the details of the law
were confusing
 Supreme Court usually interpreted the Act in favor of the
businesses, not the government
 4.) Clayton Act:
 1914: Passed by Congress
 Designed to broaden the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
 Promoted competition by keeping companies from working
together in order to reduce competition
 Outlawed price fixing
 5.) 16th Amendment:
 Passed in 1913
 Allowed the federal government to tax income—the 1st
income tax
 6.) Federal Reserve Act:
 In the early 1900s, it became clear that the U. S. needed a
strong central bank to regulate the nation’s private banks
 1913: the Federal Reserve Act was passed by Woodrow
Wilson
 Created a network of public banks that could issue currency,
make loans, and regulate private banking
 7.) 17th Amendment:
 Called for the direct election of U. S. senators by popular
vote
 Before this amendment, state legislatures elected U. S.
Senators
 8.) 19th Amendment:
 Passed in 1920
 Pushed by women such as Susan B. Anthony
 Resulted from women’s work during World War I
 Gave women the right to vote (allowed for women’s suffrage)
Susan B. Anthony
 9.) Wisconsin Reforms:
 Reforms to the way state government was controlled
 Referendum—direct vote (of the people) in which an entire
electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular
proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution,
a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected
official or simply a specific government policy
 Initiative—a means by which a petition signed by a certain
minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote
 Recall—voters can remove an elected official from office
through a direct vote
 10.) Local Government—City Manager:
 Many city mayors had become very corrupt
 Many cities began moving away from elected mayors because
they had become too corrupt
 Hired (appointed) city managers began to replace the
elected mayors
 First occurred in Staunton, VA
 The city managers performed the same duties as what a
mayor would
Leaders of the Progressive Changes
 Theodore Roosevelt—”Square Deal”
 Based on 3 principles: conservation of natural resources, control of
corporations, and consumer protection
 Aimed at helping middle class citizens and involved attacking
plutocracy and bad trusts while at the same time protecting business
from the extreme demands of organized labor
 Promotion of anti-trust suits
 Woodrow Wilson—”New Freedom”
 Called for less government
 Added new controls such as the Federal Reserve System and the
Clayton Antitrust Act
 Business Reform
 Banking Reform
Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt
Woodrow Wilson
African Americans
 After the Civil War, there was lots of discrimination toward
African Americans and feed slaves
 Many laws existed limiting the freedoms of African
Americans
 Intimidation and crimes were directed against African
Americans—lynchings
 Many prominent African Americans began the push to end
racism during the progressive period
 1.) Booker T. Washington:
 A major leader against racism
 Son of slave parents
 Created the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881
 School designed to teach African Americans vocational skills
 He believed African Americans could achieve economic
prosperity, independence, and the respect of whites
 He accepted social separation (segregation)
Booker T. Washington
 2.) W. E. B. Dubois:
 Believed education was meaningless without equality
 Created the NAACP (National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People)
 Wanted African American children to have equal
opportunities in education
W. E. B. Dubois
 3.) Ida B. Wells:
 Led an anti-lynching crusade
 Called for the federal government to take action against
crimes against African Americans
Ida B. Wells
 Jim Crow Laws made it legal to segregate blacks and whites
 Blacks were forced to:
 Ride in separate rail cars
 Use separate restrooms
 Eat in different sections of restaurants
 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson
 Supreme court decision that ruled the segregation was legal as
long as the facilities were equal
 Basically said the Jim Crow laws were legal
 During the early 20th Century (1900s), many African
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Americans began what is termed the “Great Migration”
Many African Americans began moving to northern cities
They were looking for jobs
Trying to escape the poverty in the South
Trying to escape discrimination in the South