THE RISE OF
PROGRESSIVISM
1880-1920
PROGRESSIVISM
Progress
Efficiency
Order
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A REACTION TO THE RAPID
INDUSTRIALIZATON AND
URBANIZATION THAT OCCURRED IN
THE U.S. FROM 1880-1920
Three Progressive Presidents
1. Theodore Roosevelt
1901-1909
2. William Howard Taft
1909-1913
3. Woodrow Wilson
1913-1921
Who were the Progressives? Where
were they from?
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It was a city-based (urban) reform movement
Optimists, believed in progress and efficiency
Mostly middle class Americans
Businessmen, professionals, teachers, doctors, lawyers,
ministers professors
Women, many of whom were educated
Many were white protestants who believed in white
racial supremacy
Theodore Roosevelt was the first Progressive President
***In the end, many people called themselves
“Progressive Reformers”
Three Major Impulses of Progressivism
1.
2.
3.
Wanted to attack the power of trusts
and monopolies
Progressives believed in social cohesion-the well-being of one person is tied to
the well being of all of society
They believed in KNOWLEDGE and
EFFICIENCY
Progressives organized and took
action to bring about change:
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Muckraking---exposing problems
Settlement House Movement
The Social Gospel Movement
Promoted the training of experts to take on problems
Woman Suffrage Movement (vote)
“Trust Busting”—breaking up monopolies
Government Reform
Temperance Movement
Immigration Restriction
Better working conditions, wages,….
To end prostitution and divorce
Other reform movements: Socialism, NAACP, Conservation
MUCKRAKERS
Ida Tarbell took on Standard Oil trust
 Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of Cities
 Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives
 Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
 Muckrakers wrote about poor working
conditions, government corruption, child
labor, poverty, prostitution……
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Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
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Book led to the
passage of legislation
to ensure safe food.
Pure Food and Drug
Administration
Regular inspections
Hull House, Settlement House in Chicago
Hull House Children
Jane Addams and friend
Hull House
Professional Organizations
American Medical Association
 The Bar
 National Association of
Manufacturers
 Chamber of Commerce
 National Farm Bureau
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College Women, 1900s
Club Women
African American women formed their
own clubs….
Woman Suffrage Movement
Anti-suffrage Movement
WOMEN ON STRIKE
City Machines controlled ethnic voters
Reform of State and City Government
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Secret ballot
Civil Service exam
New forms of city government=City Managers and
City Councils or Commissions
State government reforms
Initiative
Referendum
Direct Primary
Recall
The Temperance Crusade
Women’s Christian Temperance Union
FRANCES WILLARD and the 18th
Amendment
Carrie Nation
Gave away
autographed
axes to her
supporters.
The Immigration Debate Raged on…
Many
industrialists
supported
immigration
because of
the constant
supply of
labor.
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Immigrants and social problems
Eugenics—inferior traits were
hereditary
Book: The Passing of the Great Race
Rise of nativism
WWI (1915) increased resentment of
immigrants
TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FIRE
UNION PROTESTS AFTER THE FIRE
Louis Brandeis and the fight against
monopolies (“Trust Busting”)
International Workers of the World
W. E. B. Dubois and the NAACP
Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir
Yosemite National Park
THE BIG PICTURE….
WHATEVER THE WEAKNESSES
OR FAILURES OF
PROGRESSIVISM, IT LED TO
THE RISE OF THE LARGER,
MORE ACTIVE GOVERNMENT
THAT WE HAVE TODAY.
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