AP US History
The Early Progressive Era
1. What were the goals of urban reform during the early Progressive era?
Three goals of urban reform
Wanted to explore the social aspects through political and social changes to follow
the rapid industrial development that had just occurred
 Decrease the social discrepancy between the upper class and lower class,
particularly Jim Crow laws which made segregation both defacto and dejure
 Called for women’s suffrage
 Boost the living conditions for working class, poor, immigrants
 Making municipal governments more effective in running cities and putting
political machines out of power
2. How was city government reformed?
Progressives largely wanted to restore democratic ideals in this era particularly
because they believed that the people would make honest decisions instead of being
influenced by corrupt officials if given a fair chance.
 Ex.) Tom L Johnson devoted himself to tax reform and three-cent trolley fares
o Fought hard for public ownership
 Ex.) Samuel M. introduced a comprehensive program of municipal reform
o Free kindergartens, night schools, public playgrounds
3. What were the most important reforms at the state level?
The cities and states also fought hard to get rid of corrupt leaders and rulers trying
to take over the government without legitimate or democratic votes.
Political
 Adopting the secret ballot system
o States originally had system where other people could see who they
voted for
 Gave advantage to corrupt men and political machines who
would easily punish people for not voting
o 1888: Massachusetts became first state to try secret ballot; closed
curtains, no one would see
o 1910: all voting done in this way
 Direct primaries and election of US senators
o Previously chosen by state legislatures, but changed to a voting
system
o Introduced in 1903 by Robert La Follette, governor of Wisconsin
 Initiative, referendum, recall system
o Enabled the “recall” system, which allows voters to remove a corrupt
politician from office with majority vote
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Reform leaders arose in other cities to return the power of private companies
back to the government
o Operate gas lines, electric power plants, urban transportation systems
Had to see who would get control of the government; wanted to give
common people control through things like the initiative, referendum, and
direct primary
o Ex.) Practice temperance and prohibition
 Prohibitionists were determined that they could clean up
morals and politics by abolishing alcohol
 Persuaded many state legislatures to prohibit sale of alcoholic
beverages
Social
 Improved the minds of settlement house workers and civi minded volunteers
o Jane Addams and Frances Kelly: lobbied very much for working class
and immigrants with success
o Liberalized divorce laws, safety regulations for tenements and
factories, got better schools and juvenile courts
 Believed that criminals could change and become effective citizens
o System of parole, limited death penalty
 Improvements in health care
o Smallpox vaccination implements
o Doctors in the middle working class started to improve
Economic
 Meat producing industries on the rise
 Railroads increasing more and more production, getting recognition from the
world
o More regulatory powers emerged; limited freight rates, illegal rebates
to shippers, and made sure all processes were safe
 New state laws: mine safety and purity of food
 Robert La Follette: income tax
4. What were the major objectives of the IWW?
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
 Vacuum left by policies of the AFL filled by a more radical organization called
IWW (also called the Wobblies)
o Sought to organize all workers (especially the less skilled) in order to
destroy capitalism and put in place a system of industry run and
owned by workers
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o Founder of IWW Bill Haywood even claimed that working class and
employing class have nothing in common
Led protests against ordinances that banned free speech
o 1912: led a strike that gripped the attention of the nation; about
10000 immigrants from a dozen nations joined to protest a pay cut
Believed that capitalism would be overthrown through direct actin of
workers like strikes
o Those who believed otherwise instead pushed for the Socialist Party
5. What was the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act and why was it declared
unconstitutional?
The Child Labor Act was enacted in 1916 and was favored by settlement house
workers and labor unions alike.
 Prohibited shipment in interstate commerce of products manufactured by
children under age 14; who worked in dangerous conditions or for
excessively long hours
 1918 court case Hammer vs. Dagenhart: declared the Child Labor Act
unconstitutional
o Federal government’s power to regulate interstate commerce does
not extend to the production of goods
6. What conflicts emerged as a result of late 19th and early 20th century
immigration?
 Flow of immigration an unprecedented amount
o Increased competition for jobs and put downward pressure on wages
 Many more new and “alien” immigrants, which spurred the controversies
and ambivalence about accepting them into society
o Feared that cities were being taken over by immigrants
o Tried to blend them with Americans by “Americznizing” them—
sending them to school, adopting their culture, etc.
 Acts to discourage and restrict immigration
o The Immigration Restriction League (founded by elite New
Englanders in 1894) made it harder for immigrants to be naturalized
 Did not want a sort of “race suicide” by reproducing with different
immigrants and soon enough not having any pure blooded Americans left in
the nation itself