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Progressivism:
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Not a single, unified movement
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Sought to restore economic opportunities and correct injustices of American life
Wanted government to be more responsive to the people

Generally wanted to soften the harsh conditions from industrialization
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Social Gospel Movement and Settlement
Houses
› Help the poor through community centers, churches, and social services
Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)
› Opened libraries, sponsored classes, and built swimming pools and other recreational facilities to serve young men (and give them something positive to do)
Salvation Army
› Fed poor people, cared for children in nurseries, and sent out ‘slum brigades’ to instruct poor immigrants in middle-class values of hard work and temperance

Florence Kelley –
 worked to improve lives of women and children
 Chief inspector of factories for Illinois
 Pushed for Illinois Factory act of 1893 (prohibiting child labor and limiting women’s working hours)

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Believed Morality (not the workplace) held the key to improving people’s lives . . . Wanted immigrants and other poor city dwellers to help themselves by improving personal behavior
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Prohibition (banning alcoholic beverages)
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
› sang and prayed in saloons, urging them to stop selling alcohol
› Frances Willard expanded it nationally AND began opening kindergartens for immigrants, visiting inmates in prisons and asylums, and working for suffrage
Anti-Saloon League
› Pushed to close saloons . . . But created conflict with immigrants because Saloons played many roles within community (cashed paychecks, served meals, community gathering place, etc)

Economic crisis led some to question the US’s capitalist economic system . . . turning to socialism (such as labor leader Eugene Debs)

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Put their faith in experts and scientific principles to make society and the workplace more efficient
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Documented high costs of long working hours for both individual and society
Time and motion studies to improve efficiency by breaking manufacturing tasks into simpler parts . .. Scientific Management

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A response to political bosses and the corruption surrounding them
City commission of experts (Hurricane in Galveston)
Council/Manager – people elect a city council to make laws who appoint a manager (with training and experience in public administration rather than necessarily politics)
Mayors who addressed changes w/o reorganizing government:
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Fairer tax structures
Lower fairs on public transit
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Rooted out corruption
Work relief system for unemployed
City workers built schools, parks, etc
Dismissing corrupt and greedy private owners of utilities and converting to publically owned
Wanted citizens to play more active role in city government

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Many states passed laws to regulate railroads, mines, mills, telephone companies and other large businesses
Reform Governors
› Robert LaFollette – major target: Railroads, taxed them at same rate as other businesses, forbid issuing free passes to state officials, etc
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Protecting Working Children
› Worked to protect workers and end child labor
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(success on some level in nearly every state)
Keating-Owen Act – forbid transport of goods across state lines that had been produced by child labor (declared constitutional)
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Limiting Working Hours
› Reduce hours for women (sometimes men too)
› Workers compensation (to help families of those injured or killed on the job)

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Reforming Elections
› Secret Ballot
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Initiative – bill originated by the people (rather than legislature)
Referendum – vote (by the PEOPLE) on an Initiative
Recall – enabled voters to remove a public official
› from elected position by forcing them to face another election if enough voters requested it
State primary systems started (allowing people instead of political machines to choose candidates)
Direct Election of Senators
› 17 th Amendment – people vote for their US Senators
(instead of state legislatures choosing them)

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Farm women
› Hadn’t changed much in last century – everything from household chores to raising livestock and helping in fields
Women in Industry
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1900 – 20% of women had jobs (25% of those in manufacturing
MANY in garment industries (typically poorest paying and least skilled jobs in the industry)
Filling new jobs in offices, stores, and classrooms
New business schools opened for bookkeepers, stenographers, typists, etc
Domestic Workers
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Typically without formal education or industrial skills
Servants, cooks, laundresses, maids

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Women in Higher Education
› Women’s college became more popular in late 1800s .
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. . Great education but still expected to fulfill traditional domestic roles
Nearly half of college educated women never married, retaining independence and contributing to social reforms
Women and Reform
› Workplace reform, housing reform, educational improvement, and food and drug laws
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NACW (National Association of Colored Women) managed nurseries, reading rooms, and kindergartens
Suffrage –
 Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, NAWSA,
Lucy Stone, and Julia Ward Howe
 TONs of conflict when African Americans granted vote and NOT women . . .

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Finally saw success as a result of:
› Increased activism of local groups
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Use of bold new strategies to build enthusiasm for the movement
Rebirth of the national movement under Carrie
Chapman Catt
Catt’s strategies in national movement:
 Painstaking organization
 Close ties between local, state, and natioanl workers
 Establishing a wide base of support
 Cautious lobbying
 Gracious ladylike behavior.
During WWI:
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