Transition from
the
Gilded Age
to the
Progressive Era
Industry
Cost & Benefit of Laissez-faire
 COST:
Limiting
government
control reduces
the possibility of
regulation and
corruption
manifesting
 BENEFIT:
allows the
market to govern
itself, based on
supply and
demand
Technology & Manufacturing
 Technology
contributed to longer workdays and
higher levels of production
Light
bulbs
Innovations
Led
Led
Assembly
line production
in manufacturing and machinery
to the need for laborers to maintain factories
to the production of more products, lower
prices, more available jobs, higher wages =
economic prosperity
First steps towards government
regulation of businesses
 Anti-Trust
Acts: the Federal laws forbidding
businesses from monopolizing a market or
restraining free trade
Example: Sherman Anti-Trust Act - law to
prevent the artificial raising of prices by large
combinations of companies by restricting
trade or supply
First steps towards government
regulation of businesses
Interstate
Commerce Commission  was
government’s first large-scale attempt to
regulate business in the interest of society at
large
Hepburn
Act  tried to strengthen the ICC by
giving it the power to set railroad rates and ensure
that companies did not compete unfairly
Social
Reforms
Pure Food and Drug Act

1906 - Prevented the manufacture,
sale or transportation of
adulterated, misbranded,
poisonous or deleterious foods,
drugs, medicines, and/or liquors
Meat Inspection Act
 1906
- Required federal inspection of
meat sold through interstate commerce
and required the Agriculture
Department to set standards of
cleanliness in meatpacking plants
Triangle Shirtwaist Company
1911
- fire swept through the Triangle Shirtwaist
Company in NYC
150
women workers were trapped by locked
doors and died
Outrage
at the deaths caused NYC to pass
strict codes
Fire
hazards
Unsafe
machinery
Working
conditions
Zoning
laws
Building
Health
codes
codes
Immigration
Cause
 Immigrants
sought
a better life in the
United States, to
escape poverty,
religious
discrimination, etc.
Effect
 Increased
population, cities
over-crowded,
unskilled labor
force for factories,
etc.
Changing Role of Women
Cause


Due to
industrialization,
many women
changed from
homebound
producers to wageearning consumers
Gained right to vote
Effect

Became social and
even political
reformers

Worked outside of
the home

Affected the
economy

Voice in politics
Child Labor

Reformers established National Child Labor Committee
(1904) to work towards abolishing child labor

The Bitter Cry of the Children by John Spargo (1906)

Jane Addams helped secure passage of the Child
Labor Law, which restricted the use of child labor in
factories
Other
limits on Child Labor:
Minimum
age
Maximum
work hours
Compulsory
education laws
Government
Changing Role of Federal
Government
 Americans
began to look to the federal
government to solve the nation’s economic
and social problems
ICC
could set rates
Agricultural
Bureau
Department could inspect food
of Corporations could monitor business
Attorney
general could rapidly bring antitrust
lawsuits under the Expedition Act
Elimination of Spoils System

Spoils System (also called Patronage)
 Government jobs went to supporters of the winning party in
an election
 People believed this system prevented government from
addressing the nation’s issues and corrupted government
employees
Rutherford
B. Hayes
Attacked the practice of patronage by appointing
reformers to his cabinet and replacing officials who owned
their jobs to party bosses
Pendleton Act 1883
Allowed the president to decide which federal jobs would
be filled according to rules laid down by a bipartisan Civil
Service Commission
Once appointed, a civil service official could not be
removed for political reasons
“Laboratory of Democracy”
 Robert
La Follette, governor of Wisconsin,
pressured the state legislature to require each
party to hold a direct primary
Direct
Primary: All party members could vote
for a candidate to run in the general election
Electoral Changes
 To
force state legislatures to respond to voters,
three new reforms were introduced in many
states:
Initiative:
allowed a group of citizens to introduce
legislation and required legislature to vote on it
Referendum:
allowed proposed legislation to be
submitted to the voters for approval
Recall:
allowed voters to demand a special
election to remove an elected official from office
before his/her term expired
Progressive Era Reforms
 16th
Amendment: Income Taxes
 17th
Amendment: Direct Election of
Senators
 18th
Amendment: Prohibition
 19th
Amendment: Women’s Suffrage
Progressive Era Reforms
 16th
Amendment: Income Taxes
 1895
Supreme Court declared a
federal income tax unconstitutional
 Authorized an income tax that is levied
on a district (local) basis
 17th
Amendment: Direct Election of Senators
 18th Amendment: Prohibition
 19th Amendment: Women’s Suffrage
Progressive Era Reforms
 16th
Amendment: Income Taxes
 17th
Amendment: Direct Election of
Senators
 In 1913, this amendment was changed
to state that people, instead of state
legislatures, elect U.S. senators
 18th
Amendment: Prohibition
 19th Amendment: Women’s Suffrage
Progressive Era Reforms


16th Amendment: Income Taxes
17th Amendment: Direct Election of Senators
 18th
Amendment: Prohibition
 1919 - Prohibited the production, sale,
or transportation of alcoholic
beverages in the U.S.
 Later repealed by the 21st Amendment
because it proved to be too difficult to
enforce

19th Amendment: Women’s Suffrage
Progressive Era Reforms



16th Amendment: Income Taxes
17th Amendment: Direct Election of Senators
18th Amendment: Prohibition
 19th
Amendment: Women’s Suffrage
 1920 - Guaranteed women the right to
vote
 Many already had the right to vote in
state elections but this amendment
made their right to vote in all state and
national elections constitutional