Progressivism
An Era of Reform
The Progressive Era
• The most powerful CAUSE was the depression of the 1890’s which
•
•
•
•
caused social unrest; it brought hard times to the cities and provoked the
fears and consciences of the middle and upper classes
Progressivism was a reform movement so varied, it almost defies
definition
Progressives saw themselves engaged in a crusade against the abuses of
the urban political bosses and corporate robber barons
The Goals of the Progressives were:
1. greater democracy and social justice
2. honest government
3. more effective regulation of business
4. revived commitment to public service
Progressivism was diverse in origins; what reformers shared in common
was a assumption that the negatives created by the urban industrial
revolution required new responses
Muckrakers
• -Muckrakers were investigative journalists and writers who
thrived on scandal and exposed the evils in society arousing
public opinion
They got their name from TR who compared them to a character in John
Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress “A man that could look no way but down with a
muckrake in his hands.”
They exposed: dishonesty, greed, corruption in machine politics and
business, attacked social evils like the slums, juvenile delinquency, and
prostitution.
The chief outlets for these social critics were the inexpensive popular
magazines that began to flourish in the 1890’s such as: McClures (1893)
who was founded by Irish immigrant Samuel S. McClure
The golden age of muckraking is sometimes dated from 1902 when McClures
began to run articles by reporters.
Muckrakers: THESE AUTHORS TARGETED: The robber barons,
trusts, tariff lobbies, and malpractices of companies in general.
• Ida Tarbell (1857- 1944)
• She published a devastating factual account and expose’ of Standard Oil Company
called The History of Standard Oil in 1904 that exposed the corrupt practices of John D.
Rockefeller.
• Jacob Riis (Danish immigrant)
• influential NY journalist who exposed the slum conditions in his book How the Other
Half Lives 1890. His account was a damming indictment of the dirt, disease, vice, and
misery of the rat-gnawed NY slums and tenements. His book deeply influenced the
future NY police commissioner; TR.
• Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936)
• wrote on municipal corruption and published a series of articles entitled The Shame of
the Cities in 1904. He exposed the corrupt alliance between big business and municipal
government.
Muckraker
Ida Tarbell wrote The History
of Standard Oil
Lincoln Steffens (right) with
Senator La Follette (center),
with maritime labor leader
Andrew Furuseth (left), circa
1915.
Bandit's Roost by Jacob Riis,
1888, from How the Other Half
Lives. This image is Bandit's
Roost at 59½ Mulberry Street,
considered the most crimeridden, dangerous part of New
York City.
Muckraker Who Targeted: Social Evils in
Society
 Roy Stannard Baker
-wrote Following the Color
Line in 1908 where he cited
that nine million blacks 90%
still lived in the South and
1/3 were illiterate
 John Spargo
-wrote The Bitter Cry of the
Children in 1906 where he
documented the abuses of
child labor
 Upton Sinclair
-wrote The Jungle
 Influenced TR’s Square Deal by bringing
about:
 Meat Inspection Act: Required Federal
inspection of all meats destined for interstate
commerce; all meats had to be graded
 Pure Food and Drug Act: Placed restrictions
on the makers of prepared foods and patent
medicines and forbid the “manufacture, sale,
or transportation of adulterated, misbranded,
or harmful foods, drugs, or liquors.
Canning
meat
Workers Trim Meat
Photography of Lewis Hine
Role of Women in Reform
 Jane Addams was a progressive woman
who helped urban women and children by
beginning the settlement house
movement- PIONEER IN SOCIAL
WORK.
 The Hull House in Chicago was Addam’s
house where women went and learned
housekeeping, sewing, cooking, took
English classes, art classes, etc
 Provided day care for working mothers and
help for abused women.
 Women who were involved in the
settlement house movement helped to
bring about other reforms to improve the
living conditions of the poor in cities
and child labor laws.
African Americans
 The south was not progressing along
with the rest of the country – Jim
Crow laws of segregation kept black
and white separated and hostile in the
early 1900s.
 The Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v.
Ferguson (1896) that “separate but
equal” facilities were LEGAL
 Nothing was equal. The result: the
NAACP (National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People)
founded by W.E.B. DuBois.
 The NAACP worked in politics and
print to bring attention to the
injustices of segregation.
African Americans
 Booker T. Washington was a
former slaves born in Virginia
and was freed with the
Emancipation Proclamation
 He was the founder of the
Tuskegee Institute, an
industrial school in Alabama
 He was for gradualism and
accommodation among the
black community
 He gave the Atlanta
“Compromise” Speech
Washington believed that blacks
should advance economically then
political rights could be won!
Prohibition/Liquor Laws
 Women’s Christian Temperance Union






-promoted the cause since 1874
-Frances Willard was president 1879-1899
Prohibition Party formed1876
Anti-Saloon League 1893 * most successful
Used the strategy of single-issue pressure group
Forced prohibition to the forefront of state and
local elections
1913 “jubilee convention” endorsed a prohibition
amendment to the Constitution adopted by
Congress that year
Ratified 6 years later- 18th Amendment passed in
1919
Features of Political Progressivism
 Corruption in government was one of the main causes of America’s
problems. The Progressives sought to change this by democratizing
politics through the:
 Initiative: a designated number of voters petitioned to have a measure
put on the ballot or when voters directly propose a law
 Referendum: voters vote an issue, law, measure up or down. Voters are
asked a question and they vote.
**Oregon was the first state to adopt both in June 1902.
 Recall: would enable the voters to remove faithless elected officials,
particularly those who had been bribed by bosses or lobbyists. They are
removed by petition and vote.
With these reforms, who was given more power?
Reforms in Government: 17th Amendment Direct
Election of Senators
 Before the Progressive Era, senators were appointed by corrupt






government agencies and officials!
By 1900 the Senate had so many rich men in it, it was called “the
millionaires club.”
It would require a constitutional amendment to change
The House of Representatives had proposed such an amendment 4
times beginning in 1894, but the Senate defeated it each time.
By 1912 30 states provided preferential primaries where the people
voted their preferences.
The Senate finally agreed to the amendment in 1912 and the 17th
Amendment was ratified in 1913.
The 17th Amendment gives the people the ability to directly elect
senators.
Reform Governors
 Robert M. La Follette (1855-1925)




of Wisconsin
called “fighting Bob”
he came up with the
“Wisconsin Idea” of efficiency
in government (oppose political
bosses, direct appeal to the people,
and employment of technical
experts)
The idea was widely publicized and
copied.
He also worked for reforms such
as: stronger RR regulation,
conservation of natural resources,
and workman’s compensation
Social Justice
 The National Child Labor Committee
 organized in 1904; led the movement for laws banning the still







widespread employment of children
used publicity; documented by the photography of Lewis W. Hine
within 10 years they got child labor banned
The National Consumer League
established in 1891 and went national in 1899
founded by Florence Kelley in New York
prompted the passage of state laws to end the hardships that long working
hours imposed on women who were wives and mothers
many states outlawed night work and dangerous jobs for both women and
children but exemptions and lack of enforcement made many laws useless
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
 Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory Fire 1911
 In New York; 146
workers mostly women
died because of improper
exits
 They were either trapped
on the 7-8-9th floors of
the 10 story building and
jumped to their deaths
 Stricter building codes
and factory inspections
followed
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Triangle Fire- Blame?
Labor Reform
 LABOR RIGHTS:
Many states passed laws:
-limiting the workday to eight hours,
-banning child labor,
-establishing minimum wages for women and
-requiring workers compensation (forcing employer
to pay employees who get hurt on the job).
Teddy Roosevelt Square Deal
 Strengthening the Sherman Anti Trust Act
 Northern Securities 1902-RR Holding Co. organized by JP Morgan and







James J. Hill; Sought to achieve a monopoly of all the railroads in the NW
Promoters appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled order the
RR combination broken up and dissolved in 1904. The decision angered big
business and jolted Wall Street.
Enhanced TR’s Reputation as a trust-buster
All together TR brought 25 anti trust lawsuits
Beef Trust 1905
Swift and Co. vs. U.S.- The U.S. Supreme Court set for the “stream of
commerce” doctrine that both livestock and the meat products of the packers
moved in a stream of interstate commerce and were subject to federal
regulation
In the future:
Standard Oil and American Tobacco
TR’s Conservation
 Creation of the Division of Forest & The Forest Reserve
Act 1891
 TR appointed Gifford Pinchot as one of the first scientific
foresters
 TR added 50 wildlife refuges and 5 new national parks
initiating a system of designating national monuments- Grand
Canyon
 TR set aside 172 million acres of timer land- saved form lumber
companies/trusts
 1902 TR banned Christmas Trees from the White House to set
a conservation example
 5 new National Parks created
 50 game refuges established
 4 game preserves
President Theodore Roosevelt
at Yosemite National Park
while on his great western
tour in 1903.
Women’s Suffrage
•Suffrage gained support for the WCTU and the NCL
•Suffrage campaigns in the West
•Wyoming 1st state to grant women suffrage 1890
•National Women Suffrage Association is born in 1890
•Stanton dies in 1902; Anthony in 1906
•New leadership emerges
•State by state campaigns vs. a Federal Amendment
•Alice Paul- suffrage parade, forms the National
Women’s Party (NWP) and pickets the White House;
“hold the party in power responsible!”
•Women are arrested and go on hunger strikes
•Wilson finally gave in and endorsed the amendment
•19th Amendment passed in 1920 (Tennessee!)
Alice Stone
Blackwell
Daughter of Lucy Stone
Harriet Blatch
Daughter of Elizabeth Cady
Stanton
Harriett Blatch speaks in public
to a group of men on the
issue of women’s suffrage
Alice Paul and the
National Women’s
Party
Hold the party in
power
responsible!
Picketed the
White House
Suffrage Parade