If you could help people or fix things
in society (local or national) what or
who would you target?
PROGRESSIVE
ERA
1890s-1920
A21w
9.2.13
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Who were the Progressives?
► What reforms did they seek?
► How successful were
Progressive Era reforms in
the period 1890-1920?
►
Consider: political change, social change (industrial conditions, urban life, women, prohibition)
ORIGINS OF
PROGRESSIVE
REFORM
Progressivism
WHEN? “Progressive Reform Era”
1890s
1901
1917 1920s
WHO? “Progressives”
urban middle-class: managers & professionals;
women
WHY? Address the problems arising from:
industrialization (big business, labor strife)
urbanization (slums, political machines, corruption)
immigration (ethnic diversity)
inequality & social injustice (women & racism)
Progressivism
WHAT are their goals?
► Democracy – government accountable to the people
► Regulation of corporations & monopolies
► Social justice – workers, poor, minorities
► Environmental protection
► Moral development
HOW?
► Government (laws, regulations, programs)
HOW MUCH?????
►
Efficiency
value experts, use of scientific study to determine the
best solution
Fostering Efficiency
►
Many Progressive leaders put
their faith in scientific
principles to make society
better.
►
In industry, Frederick Taylor
began using time and motion
studies to improve factory
efficiency. “Taylorism”
became an industry fad as
factories sought to complete
each job quickly by breaking
tasks down into small parts &
using standardized tools.
Reform Darwinism
(opposite of Social Darwinism)
Lester Frank Ward – Said
human beings were different
than animals because we could
think and plan ahead
► People succeeded because of
their ability to cooperate, not
compete
► Government could regulate
economy, help poor, and
promote education better than
competition
► Those who agreed with this
idea became the reformers of
the early 1900’s
►
Literature: Naturalism & Realism
►
►
►
Realism focused on stresses and conflicts; explored social
class issues and human psychology
Naturalism themes: People failed in life because of things
they couldn’t control; Leaving society and economy
unregulated didn’t always lead to the best result
Authors included: Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Jack
London, and the “muckrakers”
Origins of Progressivism
“Muckrakers”-journalists and writers who exposed corruption
►
►
►
►
in politics and business (term first used by T. Roosevelt,1906)
Jacob Riis – How the Other Half Lives (1890)
Ida Tarbell – The History of the Standard Oil Co (1902)
Lincoln Steffens – The Shame of the Cities (1904)
Upton Sinclair – The Jungle (1906)
Ida Tarbell
Lincoln Steffens
MUNICIPAL
& STATE
REFORMS
MUNICIPAL REFORM
► Utilities - water, gas, electricity, sanitation
► Transportation
– trolleys
► Council-manager
Shoe line - Bowery
men with gifts
from ward boss
Tim Sullivan,
February, 1910
plan (Dayton, 1913)
MUNICIPAL REFORM
strong mayor system
COUNCIL
MEMBER
COUNCIL
MEMBER
COUNCIL
MEMBER
MAYOR
COUNCIL
MEMBER
COUNCIL
MEMBER
council-manager plan (Dayton, 1913)
COUNCIL
MEMBER
COUNCIL
MEMBER
COUNCIL
MEMBER
CITY
MANAGER
CITY SERVICES
COUNCIL
MEMBER
COUNCIL
MEMBER
CITY
SERVICES
STATE POLITICAL REFORM
► secret
ballot
► direct primary
► Robert M. LaFollette
(regulation of big business and the
Wisconsin Idea – a partnership
between government and experts at
University of Wisconsin)
► Initiative
► Referendum
► Recall
► Seventeenth
Amendment (1913)
Robert M. LaFollette,
Wisconsin Governor 1900-06
Direct Election Of Senators
► Before
1913, each
state’s legislature had
chosen U.S. senators.
To force senators to
be more responsive
to the public,
Progressives pushed
for the popular
election of senators.
► As a result, Congress
passed the 17th
Amendment in
1913.
STATE SOCIAL REFORMS
► professional
social workers
► Health codes
► Zoning laws
► Building codes
► settlement houses - education, culture, day
care
► child
labor laws
Enable education & advancement for working
class children
STATE SOCIAL REFORMS
► workplace
& labor reforms
eight-hour work day
workers compensation laws
minimum wage laws
child labor laws
unionization
improved safety & health conditions in
factories
Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire, 1911
►
http://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/legacy/index.html
►
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=triangle+shirtwaist+fa
ctory+story+of+us&FORM=VIRE2&adlt=strict#view=detail&mi
d=7ABC164FF736F2728A077ABC164FF736F2728A07
After watching the video clip and researching the website
above, answer the following questions.
►
If you were prosecuting a case against the Triangle Shirtwaist
factory, what evidence would you use to show that the
owners were culpable in this tragedy? (Provide 4 examples)
►
If you were a state legislator, what new laws/regulations
would you support to protect people from similar disasters?
(Provide at least 3 examples)
State Social Reform: Child Labor
Child Laborers in Indiana Glass Works,
Midnight, Indiana. 1908
Child Laborer, Newberry, S.C. 1908
“Breaker Boys” Pennsylvania, 1911
Shrimp pickers in Peerless Oyster Co.
Bay St. Louis, Miss., March 3, 1911
Public Education
► Education
for the workplace
With more and more jobs available that required an
education, public school systems saw a significant
rise in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
► Expanding
Higher Education
Many new colleges built
Traditionally, women’s educational opportunities
lagged behind men’s, but this began to change.
► Public
Libraries
Helping the Urban Poor
In early 1900’s, some public effort was made to
try to help the poor
Salvation Army
YMCA
Women’s clubs
Social Gospel
Revivalism
Settlement houses
Settlement Houses
► Hull-House
Jane Addams (1905)
– Jane Addams
Hull-House Complex in 1906
Promoting Moral Development
► Some
reformers felt
that the answer to
society’s problems
was personal
behavior. They
proposed such
reforms as
prohibition.
TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
Groups wishing to ban alcohol:
► Women’s Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU)
► Anti-Saloon League
Frances Willard (1838-98),
leader of the WCTU
Anti-Saloon League Campaign, Dayton
TEMPERANCE & PROHIBITION
► Eighteenth
Amendment
Prohibition on the Eve of
the 18th Amendment, 1919
SOCIALISM
ALTERNATIVES
Economic Reform
► Panic
of 1893 prompted
some Americans to question
the capitalist economic
system.
► As a result, some workers
embraced socialism. Eugene
V. Debs organized the
American Socialist Party
in1901 and ran for
Presidency 5 times, the last Debs encouraged workers to reject
American capitalism
from a jail cell.
SOCIALISM
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or “Wobblies”):
Radical labor union founded in 1905 with ties to
both socialist and anarchist labor movements. Wanted
workplace democracy/self-management.
Socialists parade, May Day, 1910
Eugene V. Debs, founder
NATIONAL
REFORM
Roosevelt, Taft & Wilson
as Progressive presidents
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
How effective were Progressive
Era reformers and the federal
government in bringing about
reform at the national level in
the period 1900-1920?
Assassination of President McKinley, Sept 6, 1901
Theodore Roosevelt:
the “accidental President”
Republican (1901-1909)
(The New-York Historical Society)
Roosevelt’s “Square Deal”
►
Formed upon 3 basic ideas: conservation
of natural resources, control of
corporations, and consumer protection.
It aimed to help middle class citizens,
and involved attacking plutocracy and
bad trusts while protecting business from
the most extreme demands of organized
labor.
Anthracite miners at Scranton, Pennsylvania, 1900
Trust-Busting
► By
1900, trusts – legal
bodies created to
hold stock in many
companies –
controlled 80% of
U.S. industries.
► Roosevelt filed 44
antitrust suits under
the Sherman AntiTrust Act
Roosevelt the “trust-buster”
► Northern
Securities Company (1904)
► Hepburn Railroad Regulation Act (1906)
strengthened Interstate Commerce Commission
“ONE SEES HIS FINISH UNLESS GOOD GOVERNMENT RETAKES THE SHIP”
Consumer Protection
► Upton
Sinclair’s The Jungle
► Meat Inspection Act (1906)
► Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
Chicago Meatpacking Workers, 1905
"A nauseating job, but it must be done"
Pure Food and Drug Act
► In
response to
unsubstantiated
claims and
unwholesome
products, Congress
passed the Pure
Food and Drug Act in
1906. The Act halted
the sale of
contaminated foods
and medicines and
called for truth in
labeling.
Roosevelt &
Conservation
► Used
the Forest Reserve
Act of 1891
► U.S. Forest Service (1906)
► Gifford Pinchot
► White House conference
on conservation (1908)
► John Muir
Theodore
Roosevelt &
John Muir
at Yosemite
1906
Theodore Roosevelt and
Gifford Pinchot, 1907
CONSERVATION:
National Parks and Forests
William
Howard Taft
President 1909-13
Republican
Postcard with Taft cartoon
Taft’s Progressive Accomplishments
► trust-busting
► forest
and oil
reserves
► Sixteenth
Amendment
► BUT:
Caused split in
Republican Party
Payne-Aldrich Tariff
Pinchot-Ballinger
Controversy
(1909)
(Taft has) “…completely
twisted around the policies I
advocated and acted upon.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
Election of 1912
► Woodrow
Wilson
► Progressive Party
(Roosevelt’s “Bull Moose Party”)
► “New
Nationalism”
Roosevelt’s political philosophy: only a powerful
federal government could regulate the economy and
guarantee social justice, and the executive power
should be the steward of the public welfare.
Woodrow Wilson
Theodore
Roosevelt
cartoon,
March 1912
1912
Presidential
Election
Wilson Reforms (1913-1916)
► “New
Freedom” platform attacked
the ‘Triple Wall of Privilege’ — tariffs, banks,
and trusts.
► Underwood
Simmons Tariff
lowered
tariff rates, helping farmers
► Federal
Reserve Act
established the
Federal Reserve System, the central banking
system of the U.S.A.
► Federal
Trade Commission Act
► Clayton Anti-Trust Act
► Keating-Owen Act banned items made
by child labor from being sold in interstate
commerce. (Struck down as unconstitutional
by the Supreme Court 2 yrs later.)
Wilson at the peak of his power.
Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914)
►
Strengthened the
Sherman Act with an
anti-trust provision that
prevented companies
from acquiring stock
from another company.
►
Supported workers’
unions by declaring
strikes, boycotts, and
peaceful picketing
perfectly legal.
Federal Reserve Act (1913)
►
The Federal Reserve Act intended to establish
economic stability through the introduction of a
Central Bank, which would be in charge of
monetary policy in the U.S. The Federal
Reserve Act made currency more flexible.
►
The Federal Reserve Act gave the 12 Federal
Reserve banks the ability to manage the money
supply in order to ensure economic stability.
►
The Fed also has the power to adjust the
discount rate (impacting interest rates) and to
buy & sell U.S. treasuries.
Federal Reserve System
► Federal Reserve Act
WOMEN &
SUFFRAGE
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
To what extent did economic and
political developments as well as
the assumptions about the nature of
women affect the position of
American women during the period
1890-1925?
Women Lead Reform
► Many
of the
leading Progressive
reformers were
women. Middle
and upper class
women entered
the public sphere
after graduating
from the new
women’s colleges.
Colleges like Vassar and Smith
allowed women to excel
WOMEN
► “women’s
professions”
► “new woman”
► clubwomen
A local club for nurses was formed in New
York City in 1894. Here the club members
are pictured in their clubhouse reception
area. (Photo courtesy of the Women's History and Resource
Center, General Federation of Women's Clubs.)
The Women's Club of Madison, Wisconsin conducted classes in food,
nutrition, and sewing for recent immigrants. (Photo courtesy of the Women's
History and Resource Center, General Federation of Women's Clubs.)
Three-Part Strategy for
Winning Suffrage
►
Suffragettes tried
three approaches to
winning the vote:
1. Convincing state
legislatures to
adopt the vote.
2. Pursuing court
cases to test 14th
Amendment.
3. Pushing for
national
Constitutional
amendment.
Women’s Suffrage
► National
American Woman
Suffrage Assoc. (NAWSA)
► Carrie Chapman Catt
Ohio Woman Suffrage Headquarters,
Cleveland, 1912
Women’s Suffrage
► Alice
Paul
► National Woman’s Party
► Nineteenth Amendment
Suffragette
► Equal Rights
Banner
Amendment
1918
19th Amendment
National Woman’s Party members picketing in front of the White House, 1917
(All: Library of Congress)
►
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrageoverview/a/suff
rage_timeline.htm
►
http://watchdocumentary.org/watch/crash-course-ushistory-episode-31-womens-suffrage-video_89855481d.html
Woman suffrage before 1920
RACE
RELATIONS
Limits of Progressivism
► While
the
Progressive era was
responsible for many
important reforms,
it failed to make
gains for African
Americans. Like
Roosevelt and Taft,
Wilson retreated on
Civil Rights when he
entered office.
The KKK reached a membership
of 4.5 million in the 1920s
Black Population, 1920
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois
offered different strategies for dealing
with the problems of poverty and discrimination faced by black Americans at the
end of the nineteenth and beginning of
the twentieth centuries. How appropriate
were each of these strategies (considering
the context in which each was developed)?