Rise of Progressivism
The Progressive Impulse
 Worldvision:
 Direct, purposeful human intervention in social and
economic affairs was essential to ordering and bettering
society
 Birth of Modern American “Social” Liberalism
 NOT Classical Liberalism

Minimal govt + economic freedom
 How does the conservative world vision compare to
the progressive one?

Wisdom of the Ages
3 Main Varieties of Progressivism
• i)Progressives varied on how to intervene + reform• “anti-monopoly” (fear of concentrated power,
limit + disperse wealth, power)
–
Rooted in Populism : but also appealed to some middle
class.
• ii)Social cohesion– welfare of single person
–
–
–
dependent on welfare of society (collectivism)
Anti-Individualism
Initiative focused on “Victims” of Industrialization
iii) Faith in Knowledge
 Rooted in
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
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Renaissance Humanism
Scientific Revolution (Scientific Method, Experimentation)
Enlightenment
principles of natural + social sciences
 “intelligent social organization”
 Modernized Govt.
 larger role in

• Improving and shaping society

Make society more:
•
•
•
•

“Stable”
Fair
Equitable
Humane
Are there any limitations to this kind of “social” engineering?
Muckrakers
 Crusading Journalists
 who exposed

social, economic, political injustices and corruption
 At first targeted trusts
 (particularly RR barons)- Ida Tarbell’s study on Standard Oil.
 Later, attention toward Govt + political machines
Lincoln Steffens- The Shame of the Cities
 Exposed political corruption
 Aroused sentiment for urban reforms
 Government, Labor Unions, Corporations
 Is the media biased today? What are some of the
The Social Gospel
 Muckrakers moralistic tone
 prompted outrage at social + econ injustice,
 led to rise of Protestant Social Gospel

fusion of religion w/ reform
Primary goal: Redemption of US Cities
 Salvation Army
 Christian social welfare organization;


ministers left parish to serve in troubled cities;
Charles Sheldon: In His Steps (1898)
 Most successful novel of the era
 Father John Ryan
 expanded scope of Catholic social welfare groups
 iii)Religion w/ reform
 gave Progressivism moral component
The Settlement House Movement
 Rejection of Social Darwinism/Genetics Argument
 Poor Environment
Reason for poverty
 Does this adequately explain cause of poverty?

 Hull House 1889- Jane Addams
Hull House, Chicago 1889
 Jane Addams
 Became national model
 Helped assimilation of
immigrants
 Asked help of MiddleClass
 College Educated
Women
 Helped originate


Social Workers
Studies, Statistics, Reports
that pushed for reform
The Allure of Expertise
 Society should be in the hands of “enlightened
experts”
 Thorstein Veblen


Critical of industrial tycoons: “the leisure class”
Argued
that class of highly skilled engineers should rule the economy.
 Only they could understand the “machine process” of modern
society.

 Scientific Management/Taylorism
 Social Science:
 Scientific techniques for society’s problems.
 Spawned generation of bir
Jacob Riis: Photographer
Women, Professions, Reform
 What types of professions were women working in?
 Why were women so influential to the new reform
movements?

“New Woman” What socio-economic factors led to this trend?
Work sphere
 Children and schooling
 New domestic tools
 Middle-class status/domestic help
 Family size
 Professional/Single women

Clubwomen
 Women’s Clubs Origins
 Cultural/Intellectual outlet for middle-class to upper-class
 Social improvement
 Often excluded blacks

African-American Clubs
 Focused on issues important to blacks like segregation, lynching
 Importance
 Moved the sphere of influence out of the home
 Generally rejected radical notions of feminism


“Traditional gender roles were exploitative and obsolete”
Influenced much social change
Child work laws
 Social/Community projects
 Food and Drug Laws
 Prohibition/Temperence
 Pensions for widowed mothers (now part of Social Security)
 Children’s Bureau
 Women’s Trade Union League
 Suffrage

Women’s Suffrage
 Argued in terms of “natural rights”, that women were
equal to men.
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Challenged the view that a woman’s “sphere” of influence is
different than that of a man’s.
Women are an equal part of society
 Anti-Suffrage
 Saw threat to the “natural order” of patriarchal civilization
 Powerful movement with both men and women

Connected arguments to:
 divorce, promiscuity, neglect of children
National American Woman Suffrage
Association
 Led by:
 Anna Howard Shaw (social worker)
 Carrie Chapman Catt (journalist)
 1893- 13,000 members
 1917- 2 million
 New Strategy
 Maternalistic/less threatening argument that didn’t challenge
the existing “spheres”.
 Women could lend their sensitivities to society’s problems but
still remain relatively domestic
Other Arguments for Suffrage
 Temperance movement
 Pacificism/Anti-War
 WWI helped suffrage movement
 Minority males/immigrants/uneducated
 Why not educated women?
 Passed in many states prior to 1920
 19th Amendment – 1920
 Gave women political rights nationally
Equal Rights Amendment
 Alice Paul
 Argued that 19th amendment didn’t go far enough
 Wanted amendment to prohibit ALL discrimination based on
gender.
 Not supported by most prominent suffragists
The Assault on Parties
 Reformers
 Govt. needs to be reformed BEFORE using Govt. to reform
society.
Corruption
 Waste
 Inefficiency

 Early Reform
 Secret Ballots

Chipped away at party boss power
 Party Reform: 2 Strategies
 Increase direct power of people


Go around partisan institutions
Give more power to non-elective officials
 New Forms of Governance
 Commission Plan- Galveston, Texas 1900


Mayor and council replaced by an elected non-partisan
commission
City Manager Plan
Elected officials hire outside “manager” often with a business or
engineering background.
 Supposed to remain untainted by “corrupting” influences

 City reformers
 Many elected within existing political structure
 Tom Johnson/Newton D. Baker- Cleveland, Ohio
Challenged powerful streetcar interests
 Deemed “best governed city” in America

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Hazen Pingree- Detroit
Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones- Toledo
Statehouse Progressivism
 Municipal reforms slow and difficult
 State Legislatures could do more good
 Often corrupt and influenced by bosses
 Initiative Reform
 Submit legislation directly to the voters
 Referendum
 Actions of Legislatures could be over-turned by electorate
 Primaries
 Selection of candidates taken to the voters
 Also, used in South to limit black voting
 Recall- leaders could be voted out of office
Other State Reforms
 Limitations on
 Lobbying by business
 Campaign contributions by business
 Free passes for politicians from railroads
 Creation of
 State Worker’s Compensation
 Pensions for widow’s with children
 Examples of Reformers
 Gov. Charles Hughes- New York

Regulated public utilities
Robert La Follette- Wisconsin
 Early political champion
of progressivism
 Charismatic and Fervent
 Accomplishments

Political reforms

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Initiative, referendum,
recall
Railroad regulation
Workplace laws
Parties and Interest Groups
 Decline of party power
 Voter Turnout
Late 1800’s - 80% + was typical
 1912- 59%
 Today- ???

 Special Interest Groups
 Groups organized to directly influence government


Are special interests a good or bad thing?
What are some of the most powerful lobbying groups today?
Sources of Progressive Reform
 Labor
 Pushed for and gained in California first then elsewhere:
Child labor laws
 Limited hours for women
 Workman’s Compensation


Triangle Shirtwaist Fire- New York 1911
Doors locked by employers to control workers
 146 died mostly women
 Resulted in strict regulations on factory owners

 Women
Contrasting Views
 Washington
 Advocated a less confrontational approach
 Blacks should immediately and directly influence their status
by working hard and becoming invaluable to the community
 Du Bois
 Advocated for immediate rights and equality
 Challenged the Atlanta Compromise
 Pushed blacks to achieve full university degrees in prominent
fields of study
 Started the Niagara Movement
Founded NAACP
 Primary strategy was lawsuits and the courts.

African-Americans and Reform
Early NAACP Victories
 Guinn vs. U.S. 1915- Grandfather clause in
Oklahoma unconstitutional
 Buchanan vs. Worley 1917- struck down residential
segregation
 Strategy: Educate an elite group of AfricanAmericans who can fight for benefit ALL blacks.
NAACP and National Association of Colored WomenIda B. Wells
Crusaded against lynching
Crusade for Social Order and Reform
 Moral Issues to “regenerate society”.
 Alcohol
 Prostitution
 Limit divorce
 Restrict immigration
The Temperance Crusade
 Problems for working class families
 Scarce wages spent on drinking
 Violence
 Murder
 Problem for wives and mothers
 Hurt worker efficiency
 Primarily pushed for by women
 Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
 Largest women’s group at that time
 Emphasized connection with violence and poverty
 1916- 19 states had banned alcohol
 1920- 18th Amendment
 Ratified by every state except Connecticut and Rhode Island
Immigration Restriction
 Views of reformers
 Help new arrivals adapt
 Assimilation had failed, limit the flow
 New Theories from the “experts”
 Immigration was “polluting” the racial stock
 Eugenics- An effort to grade races and ethnic groups
according to their qualities.

Advocated for forced sterilization
 Criminals
 Mentally retarded
Argued that human inequalities were hereditary
- Immigration was adding to the unfit
Nativism
 Madison Grant- The Passing of the Great Race 1916
 Nativists- Argued for protecting racial purity

Wanted to protect the Nordic stock from
 Eastern Europeans, Asians, Hispanics
 Dillingham Report
 Some groups can’t or won’t assimilate
 Pushed for restrictions based on nationality
 Others who rejected Nativism still argued for
restrictions
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Overcrowding
Crime
Unemployment
 Prominent names supported Nativism
 Theodore Roosevelt
 Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge
 Business Leaders Opposed Nativism
 Source of cheap labor
 WWI helped Nativism gain strength
Challenging the Capitalist Order
 Reformers targeted corruption within corporate
America
 Eugene Debs- Leader of the Socialist Party
 Varied Goals
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European Marxism
Small scale private business, large scale nationalization of
large industry
Gradual reform through electoral process
Militant direct action, revolution

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
Socialism and the IWW (Wobblies)
 William “Big Bill” Haywood
 Single Union for all workers
 Rejection of “wage slave” system
 Strikes over political change
 Championed the unskilled worker

Migratory workers in the West (hard to organize unions)
 Timbermen, miners, others
 1917 Strike- shutdown timber industry
• Govt. needed wood for World War I
• Leaders imprisoned, laws outlawing the organization
• Effectively ruined the IWW

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Terror tactics (ex. Attack on railroad lines)
Socialism declined as result of Anti-Radical sentiment after
WWI
Decentralization and Regulation
 Most reformers believed reform could take place
WITHIN a capitalist system

Problem: Large combinations, trusts, monopolies
 Louis Brandeis
 Lawyer and Supreme Court Justice
 Other People’s Money- 1913

Book about the “curse of bigness”
 Inefficient
 Threat to Freedom
 Encouraged abuse of power
 Govt. needs to regulate competition to avoid “bigness”
Good vs. Bad Trusts
 Some Progressives believed
 BIG was NOT bad. Big = Efficiency
 Competition hurt efficiency
 Govt. should help “good” trusts and punish the
“bad”.

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
Strong oversight
Modern government was essential
Nationalism
Nationalist Argument
 Many reformers were businessmen
 Herbert Croly- 1909
 Book: The Promise of American Life
One of the most influential progressive documents
 Argued for larger role for Govt. to influence and bring order to the
economy

 Walter Lippman- 1914
 Book: Drift and Mastery
 Businesses need to learn new ways of:

Cooperation and Self-regulation
 President Theodore Roosevelt
 Became the most powerful symbol of reform at national level