Chapter 18: The
Progressive Reform Era
(1890-1920)
The goals of the Progressives (Populists) could be
summed up into four beliefs:
• Government should be more accountable to
its citizens
• Government should curb the power and
influence of wealthy interests
• Government should be given expanded
powers so that it could become more active
in improving the lives of its citizens
• Government should become more efficient
and less corrupt so that they could
competently handle an expanded role
Origins of Progressivism
• In 1906, writer and journalist
Upton Sinclair published
The Jungle, a novel about
how meat was processed
and the accidents, illnesses,
and painful deaths that
occurred within the meat
packing industry.
Muckrakers
• A muckrake is a rake or pitchfork used to
clean poo and hay out of stables.
• Teddy Roosevelt used the term muckraker
to refer to journalists who raked filth into
the public eye.
• Upton Sinclair: wrote The Jungle to
expose deplorable conditions in the
meatpacking industry. Called attention to
the problems, and helped promote reform.
Progressive Legislation
• Progressives believed
that government ought
to increase the
responsibility for the
well being of people
and sought more
social welfare
programs, looking at
all levels of
government –
municipal, state,
and federal.
Municipal Reform
• Direct Primary – An election in which
citizens select nominees for upcoming
elections
• Initiative – a process in which citizens
can put a proposed new law directly on
the ballot in the next election
• Referendum – a process that citizens
use to reject or approve a law passed
by the legislature
State Reforms
• Recall – A procedure that permits
voters to remove public officials from
office before the next election and
before their term expires
Federal Reforms
• Pure Food and Drug Act – Forbid the
manufacture, sale, or transportation of
food or drugs containing harmful
ingredients
Federal Reforms
• Meat Inspection Act – Government
inspection of meat shipped from one state to
another
• Department of Labor – A federal agency that
supports laws that benefit workers
• 16th Amendment – Collection of income tax
• 17th Amendment – Allowing the direct
election of Senators (instead of State
legislatures selecting Senators to the U.S.
Senate)
• Meat Inspection Act and the Food and
Drug Act
1906
• Woodrow Wilson believed that his duty as
President was to offer major
legislation to Congress,
to promote it publicly, and
to guide it to passage.
Reforms During Wilson’s
Administration:
Wilson’s Reforms
Clayton Anti-Trust Act – Limited the power of
monopolies and clarified the Sherman AntiTrust Act
Federal Trade Commission – Created the
Agency (FTC) that investigates fraudulent
practices and used the courts to enforce its
policies
Federal Reserve Act (System)- Created a three
level banking system that controlled the
nation’s money supply and regulated member
banks
Wilson’s Reforms
Adamson Act – Reduced railroad workers
workday from 10 hours to 8 hours with no
cut in pay
Federal Workmen’s Compensation Act –
Benefits paid to federal employees injured
on the job
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act – Outlawed
products sold interstate produced by child
labor
Reforms During Wilson’s Administration:
• 18th Amendment – Prohibition – no sale or
manufacture of
alcoholic beverages
• 19th Amendment –
Women receive the
right to vote
(suffrage)
Suffrage At Last
• For roughly 70 years, women’s organizations
actively campaigned for suffrage, or the right
to vote.
• In 1848, American women’s organizations
demanded the right to vote at the Seneca
Falls Convention in New York.
• The Seneca Falls Convention made famous
the names of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton.
• In 1872, Susan B. Anthony joined the
caused and would take the suffrage cause
into the 20th Century.
• Anthony led a group of women to the polls in
Rochester, New York where voting was illegal
for women; she was arrested for this act of
civil disobedience – a non-violent refusal to
obey a law in an effort to change it.
• In 1890, Anthony, Stanton, and Lucy Stone
were joined by younger leaders in forming the
National American Woman Suffrage
Association
• In 1918, Congress proposed the suffrage
amendment.
• In August, 1920, the 19th Amendment
became law and women now had the right to
vote.