Unit Questions: The Progressive Era
1. Use textbook pp. 494-495… What was the Progressive Movement? How was it connected with
industrialization and urbanization? List and briefly describe the four goals of the Progressive Movement.
2. Explain some of the following problems that stemmed from Industrialization, Urbanization, and Immigration
in the late 1800s and early 1900s…..
A. Education (Use textbook pp. 468-469) Address why was it so important, how it was lacking, and how it
was provided for African Americans and Immigrants.
B. Discrimination & Nativism (Use textbook pp. 442-443; 474-477) Address who was discriminated
against, and what sorts of discrimination took place.
C. Working Conditions & Income Inequality (Use textbook pp. 426-427, p. 498-499) Describe some of the
working conditions and explain why there was income inequality.
D. Food & Drug Purity (Use textbook pp. 508-509) Address why these problems were able to develop
during the Industrial Age, and describe a few examples.
E. Environmental Problems (Use textbook pp. 509-510, pp. 414-415) Describe how America’s
development resulted in exploitation of the environment. Use examples.
F. Equality For Women (Use textbook pp. 502-503) Address some of the inequalities in education, pay, job
opportunities, and voting rights.
G. Substance Abuse (Use textbook pp. 495-496) Describe why many people wanted prohibition.
H. Control Over the Political System… Use prior unit notes to describe the balance of control over the political
system… Explain whether that balance shifted in favor of big business or average voters during the
Industrial Age. Explain why.
3. Explain what the idea of laissez-faire capitalism is.
4. How can progressive reformers be described? What was their social background, and what was their
education level? Explain why this was important. What were muckrakers? (Use textbook pp. 494-496)
The Importance of Government Intervention in Solving Social Problems
5. Use the words of the Preamble of the Constitution to justify the goals of the Progressives. (Textbook p. 146)
6. What were some of the most important criticisms of laissez-faire capitalism? (Reference Eugene Debs’
“Personal Voice”.) (Textbook p. 496) How was laissez-faire contrary to the ideas in the Preamble?
7. The Supreme Court of the United States often supported the concept of laissez-faire, and stopped the
government regulation of business, holding that regulation was unconstitutional and in violation of the 14 th
Amendment and the 5th Amendment. Read the 14th Amendment Section 1, and the 5th Amendment, and write
which specific parts might bar government regulation of business. (Textbook p. 161, p. 158)
8. Explain how the Supreme Court used the Preamble rather than the 14 th Amendment to support its decision in
Muller v. Oregon (1908). (Textbook pp. 499-500)
9. Progressives wanted to reform government. Who was Robert La Follette? What was his goal regarding
corporations? What are initiatives, referendums, and recalls? What was their overall purpose? What were the
goals behind the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution? (Textbook p. 498, p. 500)
Use textbook pp. 499-500, 506-508, 517-518
10. What was the Keating-Owen Act of 1916? What progress was made with workers’ compensation?
11. Who was Teddy Roosevelt? What was his Square Deal? Why was Roosevelt nicknamed the “Trustbuster”?
12. What was the job of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)? Why was the Federal Income Tax created in 1913
helpful to workers? How does the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 help control banks?
Use textbook pp. 508-510
13. What was the book The Jungle about, and what role did it play in the passage of the Meat Inspection Act of
1906? How did the Meat Inspection Act (1906) and the Pure Food And Drug Act (1906) support the ideas of the
Preamble? What were some of Roosevelt’s environmental achievements? Explain what is meant when it is said
that Roosevelt saw himself as “Steward of the People”?
Use textbook pp. 495-496, 502-504, 518-520
14. What role did women Progressives have in achieving Prohibition? What strides were made in the education
of women, and how did this help contribute to the Progressive movement? What was suffrage, NAWSA, and who
were some of its leaders? How did Alice Paul help get the Nineteenth Amendment passed in 1919? What was it?
Use textbook pp. 467-471
15. What was the important role of schools according to education reformers like William Harris? Why did the
government need to be involved with education? How did education requirements increase in the late 1800s?
16. Who were W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington? How were their education views different?
17. How important was the role of education in the entire Progressive Movement? Explain why.
The Progressive Era
Enduring Understandings:
1. Laissez-faire capitalism, industrialization, and rapid urbanization can
result in many social problems, but social justice and welfare can be
achieved using the power of democratic government.
2. The basis of a well-functioning democracy is a citizenry that is
educated with scientific investigation, empirical evidence, and proven
facts.
3. Government protection of private property rights must be balanced by
the government’s attempt to achieve the general welfare.
Essential Question:
Do citizens have a responsibility to use the government to promote the
general welfare of society?