The Progressive Movement
 Introduction
 Background
 Three Wings
 Journalists
 Leaders and
Accomplishment
 State and Local
 President
 Others
 Amendments
 Conclusion
Bellwork
 Commager argued that
there were six
fundamental problems
facing America as it
moved into the 20th
century. What are they
and give a historical
example for each one.
Commager’s Six
 Business Ethics
 Control of Monopolies




and Trusts over resources
and labor
Unequal distribution of
wealth
Urbanization
Corruption in
government
Inequality and denial of
rights to African Am.
Three Wings
 Social Justice
 Improve living/working
condition
 Democracy
 Eliminate corruption in
politics and promote
involvement of more
people in the political
process
 Business Reform
 Concerned that growth of
Big Business was hurting
American people and
Consumers
Social
Justice
City/State
President/
Nat. Leg.
Amendme
nts
Women
Reformers
Democracy
Business
Reform
The Progressive Movement
 A reform movement designed to solve problems in U.S.
society
Muckrakers
 Investigative reporters who exposed facts (not
sensationalists like Yellow Journalists)
Muckrakers
 Jacob A. Riis
 How the Other Half Lives
 Exposed: Poverty in NY Slums
Tenements were mostly found in New York and were generally four
to six stories tall with a store frequently on the first floor. Tenements
consisted of a stairwell in the center of the building, a living room
that was ten feet by twelve feet, one or two dark closets used as
bedrooms and usually four families living on a floor, but that was not
always the case. There have been reports of 180 people in two
tenements, way over the maximum limit.
Muckrakers
 Lincoln Steffens
 “The Shame of Cities” - McClure
 Exposed: Corruption in business and politics
Because, I heard, the American people won’t “stand for” it. You may blame the
politicians, or, indeed, any one class, but not all classes, not the people. Or you
may put it on the ignorant foreign immigrant, or any one nationality, but not on
all nationalities, not on the American people. But no one class is at fault, nor any
one breed, nor any particular interest or group of interests. The misgovernment
of the American people is misgovernment by the American people….
… Because politics is business. That’s what’s the matter with it. That’s what’s the
matter with everything….
Muckrakers
 Ida M. Tarbell
 The History of the Standard Oil Company
 Exposed: corruptions within corporations
Rockefeller and his associates did not build
the Standard Oil Co. in the board rooms of
Wall Street banks. They fought their way to
control by rebate and drawback, bribe and
blackmail, espionage and price cutting, by
ruthless ... efficiency of organization.
Muckrakers
 Upton Sinclair
 The Jungle
 Exposed: sanitation within meat packing industry
“(A) man could run his hand over these
piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of
the dried dung of rats. These rats were
nuisances, and the packers would put
poisoned bread out for them, and they
would die, and the rats, bread, and
meat would go into the hoppers
together.”
Muckrakers
 David G. Phillips
 The Treason of the Senate
 Exposed: 75 of the 90 senators accepted bribes from R.R.
and trusts
“Treason is a strong word, but not too strong
to characterize the situation in which the
Senate is the eager, resourceful, and
indefatigable agent of interests as hostile to
the American people as any invading army
could be.”
Muckrakers
 Ray Stannard
 Following the Color Line
 Exposed: Jim Crow Laws and southern inequality
The discrimination is not made openly, but a
Negro who goes to such places is informed
that there are no accommodations, or he is
overlooked and otherwise slighted, so that
he does not come again.
Muckrakers
 John Spargo
 The Bitter Cry of the Children
 Exposed: Child Labor
The coal is hard, and accidents to the hands, such as cut,
broken, or crushed fingers, are common among the boys.
Sometimes there is a worse accident: a terrified shriek is
heard, and a boy is mangled and torn in the machinery, or
disappears in the chute to be picked out later smothered
and dead. Clouds of dust fill the breakers and are inhaled
by the boys, laying the foundations for asthma and
miners' consumption.
The Progressive Movement
 Introduction
 Background
 Three Wings
 Journalists
 Leaders and
Accomplishment
 State and Local
 President
 Others
 Amendments
 Conclusion
Social Reformers – City and State
 Settlement Houses
 Provides Daycare, education and healthcare for the poor
Settlement Houses
 Jane Addams (1860-1935)
 Established Hull House
 Chicago
 Shelter for poor and
homeless
 Day care for working
women
 Educate people
(immigrants)
 Pioneer social worker
Social Reformers – City and State
 Settlement Houses
 Provides Daycare, education and healthcare for the poor
 Women’s Rights
 Birth Control
Women’s Rights
 Margaret Sanger
 1916 – Opened Birth
control clinic in NY –
Arrested
 1922 – Founded
American Birth Control
League (ABCL) –
Planned Parenthood
Democracy Reformers – City and State
 New Voting rights
New Voting rights
 Direct Primary – People select party candidates
 Initiative – voters propose legislation
 Referendum –approve legislation through ballot vote
 Recall – remove officials from office
Democracy Reformers – City and State
 New Voting rights
 Wisconsin
Progressive Reformers - Wisconsin
 Bob LaFollette (1855-
1925)
 Wisconsin Idea
 Conservation of natural
resources
 Direct election of U.S.
Senators
 Income taxes on
corporations and
personal incomes
Business Reformers – City and State
 State governments regulate business
State governments regulate business
 30 states outlawed child labor
 25 states passed laws making employers liable for
deaths or injuries to workers while on the job
Check Up!
 Business Ethics
 Control of Monopolies




and Trusts over resources
and labor
Unequal distribution of
wealth
Urbanization
Corruption in
government
Inequality and denial of
rights to African Am.
 Prompt: Identify with
evidence which of
Commager’s six
problems that were
addressed at the
State/Local level.
Women of the Progressive Era
 http://www.nwhm.org/o
nlineexhibits/progressiveera/i
ntroprogressive.html
The Progressive Movement
 Introduction
 Background
 Three Wings
 Journalists
 Leaders and
Accomplishment
 State and Local
 President
 Others
 Amendments
 Conclusion
Bellwork
 Each of the following is a quote from Theodore Roosevelt.
What does the each quote tell you about his character and
values?
 “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a
freight car; but if he has a university education, he may
steal the whole railroad.”
 “We don’t wish to destroy corporations, but we wish to
make them…serve the public good.”
 “The destruction of a species (is equal to the loss of) all the
works of some great writer.”
 “No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn
between stealing an office and stealing a purse.”
Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt
 Background
 Wealthy New York
family
 Spend summers in
Wyoming for his health
 Lived as a cowboy
following his wife death
Progressive Presidents
 Theodore (Teddy)
Roosevelt
 Fought in Spanish-
American War
 VP for McKinley; TR
took over after his
assassination
 Served as Pres from
1901-1909
United Mine Workers (1902)
 Mine workers waged a
strike over wages/hours
and recognition of union
 Mine owners refused to
meet with union leaders
 Roosevelt invited both
parties to WH to mediate
dispute
 Strikers didn’t achieve all
their goals, but Roosevelt
defended labor’s right to
organize
Roosevelt’s Progressivism
 Square Deal
 Regulation of
corporation
 Consumer Protections
 Conservation of Natural
Recourses
Roosevelt’s Progressivism Regulation of Corporations
 Department of Commerce (1903) – manage commerce
in the nation
 Elkins Act (1903) and Hepburn Act (1906) – Regulate
R.R. fares
 Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) – Gave government the
power to break up trust
 Northern Securities Company (1902)
 Filed 44 Anti Trust Law Suits
Northern Securities Case (1904)
 Northern Securities Company - monopoly over
railroads in NW
 Supreme Court ordered the company be dissolved
 Roosevelt =“Trust-Buster”
Roosevelt’s Progressivism –
Consumer Protection
 Meat Inspection Act (1906)
 Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
 Required labeling of
ingredients
 Sanitary requirement for
meat Funding
 for inspectors
Roosevelt’s Progressivism –
Conservation
 National Reclamation Act (1902)
 Also known as Newlands Act
 216 Million Acres Nat. Forest
 5 National Parks
Check Up!
 Business Ethics
 Control of Monopolies




and Trusts over resources
and labor
Unequal distribution of
wealth
Urbanization
Corruption in
government
Inequality and denial of
rights to African Am.
 Prompt: Identify with
evidence which of
Commager’s six
problems that were
addressed by Roosevelt
and congress during his
administration.
So remember…
The Progressive Movement
 Introduction
 Background
 Three Wings
 Journalists
 Leaders and
Accomplishment
 State and Local
 President
 Others
 Amendments
 Conclusion
Bellwork
 Which political party best represent the progressive
ideal in the early 1900s?
William H. Taft (1909-1913)
 Hand-Picked successor
to Roosevelt
 Filed 90 anti-trust suits
 Broke of Standard Oil
Company (1911)
Election of 1912
Election of 1912
Election of 1912
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
 Former Governor of New Jersey and
Professor
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
Role of Government
 Underwood Tariff Bill (1913); –
established income tax
 Federal Reserve Act (1913) –
established Fed to manage
money supply. Regulate
economy.
 Federal Farm Loan Act (1916) –
Low interest rate loans for
farmers
 Workingmen’s Compensation
Act (1916) – disability for federal
workers
Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
Role of Government
Regulation
 Underwood Tariff Bill (1913); –
 Federal Trade Commission Act
established income tax
 Federal Reserve Act (1913) –
established Fed to manage
money supply. Regulate
economy.
 Federal Farm Loan Act (1916) –
Low interest rate loans for
farmers
 Workingmen’s Compensation
Act (1916) – disability for federal
workers
(1914) - to issue “cease and desist”
orders to corps. to stop unfair
trade practices
 Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914) –
added to the list of objectionable
business practices. Legalized
strikes and picketing
 Adamson Act (1916) – 8hr work
day for R.R. (interstate Commerce
only)
 Keating Owen Act (1916) –
Outlawed sale of goods across
state line produced by child labor
Check Up!
 Business Ethics
 Control of Monopolies




and Trusts over resources
and labor
Unequal distribution of
wealth
Urbanization
Corruption in
government
Inequality and denial of
rights to African Am.
 Prompt: Identify with
evidence which of
Commager’s six
problems that were
addressed by Taft and
Wilson during their
administration.
Essay Drill
 Analyze the effectiveness of Progressive Era reformers
in addressing problems of the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. In your answer, focus on
reform efforts in the following areas.
 State government
 federal government
 The workplace
 Living conditions in cities
The Progressive Movement
 Introduction
 Background
 Three Wings
 Journalists
 Leaders and
Accomplishment
 State and Local
 President
 Others
 Amendments
 Conclusion
th
16
Amendment (1913)
 Granted Congress the
authority to impose an
income tax
 Initial regulations
included a maximum
rate of 7% on incomes
over $500,000
th
17
Amendment (1917)
 Direct election of U.S.
senators by voters in
each state
 Former system: state
legislatures choose each
state’s Senators
th
18
Amendment (1920)
 Prohibited Alcohol
th
19
Amendment (1920)
 Women’s suffrage
 Many states had granted
women full suffrage
prior to the national
amendment
 The majority of these
states were located in
west.
 Amendment was
nationally approved in
1920
Check Up!
 3, 2, 1
 List three problems fixed during the progressive era
 List two problems left unaddressed during the
progressive era.
 List 1 problem you believe exists within the U.S. today
 Direct Primaries
 The Jungle
 Initiative
 Meat Inspection Act
 Referendum
 Pure Food and Drug Act
 Recall
 Trust Busting
 17th Amendment
 Square Deal
 19th Amendment
 Children’s Bureau
 Child Labor
The Movement Ends
 The U.S. became
involved in WWI in 1917
 The Progressive
movement began to
wane after the war began
 The ideals of the
movement lived on and
there were some notable
accomplishments seen in
later years.
The Progressive Movement
 Introduction
 Background
 Three Wings
 Journalists
 Leaders and
Accomplishment
 State and Local
 President
 Others
 Amendments
 Conclusion
 Progressive movement
tried to solve many
problems facing the U.S.
in the early 1900s
 How successful were
they?
 What do you believe to
be their most important
accomplishment?
Websites of Interest
 Overview of Progressive




Movement
Jane Addams Hull House
Museum
The Jungle, by Upton
Sinclair
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt