The Progressive
Era
1900-1932
Overview
 Origins
of the
Progressive movement
 Challenge to Social
Darwinism
 Fight for Social Reforms
 Fighting for Children
 Political Reform
 Social Inequality
 Confronting Racism
 TR, Taft, Wilson
 Busting
Trusts
 Protecting
Consumers, Workers
and Environment
 National
Government
 Inspired
by two
reform movements
of the late 1800s
 Populism
 Social
Gospel
 Populism
and
Progressivism
 Improve
conditions
for farmers and
industrial workers
 Curb the power of
big business
 Expand economic
opportunities
 Social
Gospel
Movement
 Based
on the idea
that social reform
and Christianity
went hand in hand
 Applied Christian
teachings to social
and economic
reform
 Take responsibility
for those who were
less fortunate
 Progressivism
strongly opposed
social Darwinism
 Natural
 Argued
Selection
that
wealth and big
business hurt
Americans and
Democracy
 Believed
that
Government
should play an
active role in
defending the
rights of average
citizens against the
power of big
business
 No
not really
 Believed
in private
enterprise
 Balance the
interests of workers
and owners
 Promote order and
efficiency

Help the needed
but don’t cripple
them
 Went
after
moderate political
goals
Fighting for Social Reforms
Living Conditions
 Living
Conditions are
awful
 Progressives want to
clean up the cities

Cleaner and more
livable
 New
York passes the
Tenement House Act
in 1901

Courtyard and
bathroom in each
apt.
 Garbage
should be a
government
responsibility
 White Wings= cleaners
of the city
Working conditions
 Some
success
 Tried to limit the hours
 Efforts to protect
women fared better

Supreme court rules
that women have a
set number of hours a
week
 Reformers
pushed for
worker’s
compensation
 1916
2/3 of the
states had worker's
comp and paid
workers even when
they were hurt
 Pushed
for laws to
restrict or ban child
labor
 Florence Kelly
 National
Child
Labor Committee
 NLCC=
191239
States child labor
laws
 No
Child under 14
can work

Some even the #
of hours
 Decline
in labor =
increase in
education!
 1870= 500 HS
 1910= 10,000 HS
 Americanization of
Students
 Protested
the
treatment of
children by the
criminal justice
system.
 Juvenile offenders to
be sentenced to
reform school or
rehabilitation
centers
 Didn’t get a trial
always
 Tried
to identify and
address the causes
of juvenile
delinquency
 Judge Ben Lindsey
 Local
Government
 New
progressive
mayors
 Changed the
police
departments
 Set regulations
 Officials hired
based on skills
 State
Government
 Secret
Ballot
 Direct Primary
 Recall
 Direct Initiative
 Referendum
Women
African Americans
 Seneca
 1900
Falls
 National American
Woman Suffrage
Association
 State Level 1898
 1920 Women get the
vote

19thAmendment
4/5 of AA lived in
the south as farmers


Strict segregation
Booker T. Washington
Tuskegee Institute
 Vocational School


1909 NAACP

W.E.B Du Bois


The Crisis
Protested Lynching
Booker T. Washington
W.E.B Du Bois
 Work
 Push
hard and
improve their
economic condition
 Be patient
 Take advantage of
current opportunities
 Accommodation
hard for civil
rights through political
action
 Protest
 Fight for equality
 Theodore
Roosevelt
 Age
42
 Teddy or TR
 Square Deal
Regulating big business
 Protecting Workers
 Protecting Consumers

 Strong
president
 Benefit
all Americans
 William
Taft
 Member
of TR cabinet
 Former Judge
 1908
 Quiet and Reserved
 Reluctant, lackluster and cautious
 Continued reforms
Limited big business
 Added land to the conservations

 Payne-Aldrich
Bill
 Governor
of NJ
 New Freedom
 Eliminate
all trusts
 Give voice to the average citizen
 Restrict corporate influence
 Reduce corruption in Government
 Laws on banking and tariffs
 Backs
reforms and helps creates change.
 Centered
around Progressive reform
 TR comes back into the running with the Bull
Moose party
 Wilson and Taft
 Wilson
= Democrat
 Taft= Republican
 The
spilt between Taft
and TR made it easier
for Wilson to win the
election
 TR
started it
 Sherman
Anti-trust act
 Regulate Monopolies
 J.P. Morgan's Northern
Securities Company
 Set standards for RR
companies
 Hepburn Act –
Shipping rates
 Under
Taft the Justice system brought 90
lawsuits against trusts
 Strict interpretation of the Sherman AntiTrust Act
 Clayton
Antitrust act
 Stricter
than Sherman
 Can’t lower prices in
one market and not
the other
 Protected labor Unions

Exempt from antitrust laws
 Federal
Trade
Commission of 1914
 TR
 Meat
Inspection Act and the Pure Food and
Drug Act

Pure Food

FDA test and approve drugs before they are on the
market
 TR
 Arbitration-
 Taft
outside advice during strikes
and Wilson
 Taft=

Department of Labor
Children's Bureau
 Wilson=
Keating- Owned Child Labor Act
 Together=
Supported an 8 hour workday
Protecting the Environment
 Preservation-
Protection of the wilderness
 Conservation- Limited use of resources
 TR- Favored conservatism=
 NATIONAL
PAKS!!!
 U.S. Forest Service
 Taft-
Added 2.7 Million acres to Nation
Wildlife Refuge System
 Wilson – National Park Services
Reforming National Gov.
 Financial
Reforms
 Stabilize the Banks
 Taft= urged congress to reform banks
 Wilson= Federal Reserve Act 1913
 Federal







Reserve Act
Divided the country into 12 regions each with a
federal reserve bank
Central bank of America
Private banks are still private but all obey the same
laws
safety net
Lend money
Sets monetary policy
Set interest rates regulate how much a bank can
lend
 16th
Amendment(1913)
 Federal
Income tax
Fund government programs
 Graduated Tax

 17th
Amendment (1913)
 Established

 18th
Replaced election of senators by state legislatures
Amendment(1919)
 Established
 19th
direct election of U.S. Senators
prohibition = no Alcohol
Amendment (1920)
 Guaranteed
women the right to vote