Section 1
The Rise of Progressivism
Guide to Reading
Main Idea
Progressivism was a diverse response to the problems posed by
industrialism and modern life.
Key Terms and Names
recall
suffrage
Alice Paul
temperance
prohibition
Socialism
Open Door policy
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progressivism
muckraker
sphere of influence
commission plan
Robert La Follette
direct primary
initiative
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referendum
• Boxer Rebellion
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Before we start
What do you think
is the right balance
between
government control
and personal
freedom?
What do you think
the government
should control and
what do you think
should be left up to
the people?
The Rise of Progressivism
• The era in American history from about
1890 to 1920 is known as the Progressive
Era.
• Progressivism was a collection of different
ideas and activities about how to fix the
problems within American society.
• Progressives disagreed among themselves
on the solutions, but agreed that the
government should take a more active role
in solving society’s problems caused by
urbanization and industrialization.
(pages 418–420)
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The Rise of Progressivism (cont.)
• Progressives believed that first the
government needed to be fixed and made
more responsive to people before other
problems could be addressed.
• Progressives also believed that they could
fix society’s problems by applying
scientific principles to society.
• The muckrakers were a group of
journalists who investigated social
conditions and political corruption.
(pages 418–420)
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The Rise of Progressivism (cont.)
• Their articles led to public debate on
social and economic problems and put
pressure on politicians to introduce
reforms.
• Muckraker Jacob Riis focused on
social problems in his book How the
Other Half Lives, published in 1890.
• The book described poverty, disease,
and crime in many immigrant
neighborhoods in New York City.
(pages 418–420)
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The Rise of Progressivism (cont.)
What kind of group were the progressives?
The progressives were a group with widely
different views and ideas about how to fix
society’s problems. They often disagreed
with each other over the issues. They
belonged to both political parties and were
usually urban, educated middle-class
Americans.
(pages 418–420)
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Making Government Efficient
• There were many types of progressivism.
Progressives often took opposing sides on
issues and on how to solve the problems.
• One group of progressives believed that
problems in society could be solved if
government was efficient.
• They felt that government could become
efficient by applying the principles of
scientific management.
• They thought that managing a city
required experts, not elected politicians.
(page 420)
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Making Government Efficient (cont.)
• They wanted to replace the existing
system with a commission plan where
a board of commissioners or a city
manager with expertise in city services
would select and hire specialists to run
city departments.
• In 1901 Galveston, Texas, was the first
to adopt the commission system.
• Many cities followed shortly after.
(page 420)
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Making Government Efficient (cont.)
What was the importance of Frederick W.
Taylor’s book The Principles of Scientific
Management?
The book, which described how companies
could become more efficient by managing
time and breaking down tasks, influenced
the progressives as they used these ideas
and applied them to city government.
(page 420)
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Democracy and Progressivism
• Many progressives wanted more
democracy in society.
• The governor of Wisconsin, Robert La
Follette, criticized how political parties
ran their conventions.
• He pressured the state legislature to
require each party to hold a direct
primary, a party election in which all
party members vote for a candidate to run
in the general election.
• Three new reforms were introduced by
progressives to force state legislators to
(page 421)
respond to voter’s concerns.
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Democracy and Progressivism (cont.)
• The initiative allowed a group of citizens
to introduce legislation and required the
legislature to vote on it.
• The referendum allowed proposed
legislation to be submitted to the voters
for approval.
• The recall allowed voters to demand a
special election to remove an elected
official from office.
(page 421)
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Democracy and Progressivism (cont.)
• To stop Senate corruption, progressives
wanted the direct election of senators by
all state voters.
• In 1912 Congress passed the directelection amendment.
• In 1913 it was ratified, becoming the
Seventeenth Amendment to the
Constitution.
(page 421)
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Democracy and Progressivism (cont.)
Why did the progressives want the direct
election of senators?
The United States Constitution had
originally called for each state legislature to
elect two senators from each state. As a
result, political machines often influenced
the election of senators in exchange for
federal contracts and jobs. Progressives
hoped the direct election of senators by all
state voters would end this corruption.
(page 421)
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The Suffrage Movement
• The movement for women’s voting rights
was known as the suffrage movement.
Suffrage is the right to vote.
• In July 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Lucretia Mott organized the first
women’s rights convention.
• Many progressives joined the suffrage
movement in the late 1800s and early
1900s.
(pages 421–423)
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The Suffrage Movement (cont.)
• After the Civil War, the Republicans in
Congress introduced the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments, which protected
the voting rights of African Americans.
• The woman suffrage movement had
wanted these amendments to apply to
women as well.
• Republicans refused.
• The debate over the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments split the suffrage
movement into two groups and
weakened its effectiveness.
(pages 421–423)
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The Suffrage Movement (cont.)
• By 1900 only Wyoming, Idaho, Utah,
and Colorado had granted voting rights
to women.
• In 1890 the two groups united to form the
National American Woman Suffrage
Association (NAWSA).
• The head of the NAWSA’s congressional
committee, Alice Paul, a Quaker social
worker, used protests to force President
Wilson to take action on woman suffrage.
(pages 421–423)
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The Suffrage Movement (cont.)
• After the NAWSA became alarmed at
Paul’s activities, she left and started the
National Woman’s Party.
• This group picketed the White House and
went on hunger strikes if arrested.
• In 1918 the House of Representatives
passed a woman suffrage amendment.
• The amendment failed by two votes.
(pages 421–423)
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The Suffrage Movement (cont.)
• In June 1919, the Senate finally passed the
Nineteenth Amendment. On August 26,
1920, the states ratified the amendment
guaranteeing women the right to vote.
(pages 421–423)
The Suffrage Movement (cont.)
What was the difference between the
National Woman Suffrage Association and
the American Suffrage Association?
The National Woman Suffrage Association
wanted to focus on passing a constitutional
amendment for woman suffrage. The other
group wanted state governments to give
women the right to vote before trying to
amend the Constitution.
(pages 421–423)
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Social Welfare Progressivism
• Social welfare progressives created
charities to help the poor and
disadvantaged, and pushed for laws
to help fix social problems.
• In 1900 over 1.7 million children under
the age of 16 worked outside the home.
• The National Child Labor Committee
worked to end child labor.
(pages 423–425)
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Social Welfare Progressivism
• Many adult workers labored in difficult
and dangerous conditions.
• With the creation of building codes,
workers’ compensation laws, zoning
laws, and health codes, the work
environment was made safer for workers.
• Some progressives favored zoning laws
and building codes to regulate how the
land and buildings could be used.
(pages 423–425)
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Social Welfare Progressivism (cont.)
• The temperance movement called for the
moderation or elimination of alcohol.
• Many progressives believed alcohol was
the cause of many of society’s problems.
(pages 423–425)
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Social Welfare Progressivism (cont.)
• In 1874 the Women’s Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU) was
formed.
• At first the temperance movement
worked to reduce alcohol consumption,
but later it pushed for prohibition–laws
banning the manufacture, sale, and
consumption of alcohol.
(pages 423–425)
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Social Welfare Progressivism (cont.)
How did social welfare progressives hope
to solve society’s problems?
Social welfare progressives created
charities to help the poor and
disadvantaged, and pushed for laws to
help fix social problems.
(pages 423–425)
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Progressives Versus
Big Business
• A group of progressives focused on
regulating big business, but they
disagreed on the solutions.
• One side believed government should
break up big companies to restore
competition.
• The other group wanted the creation of
government agencies to regulate big
companies and prevent them from
abusing their power.
(page 425)
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Progressives Versus
Big Business (cont.)
• Socialism, the idea that the government
should own and operate industry for
the community as a whole, was an idea
shared by a small minority of
progressives.
• Eugene Debs led the American Socialist
Party and was the party’s candidate for
president in the election of 1912.
• Most progressives and most Americans
believed in the American system of free
enterprise.
(page 425)
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGxPKehNWg8
Progressives Versus
Big Business (cont.)
Why did some progressives focus on
regulating big business?
This group felt that wealth was
concentrated in the hands of too few
people. They were concerned about trusts
and giant corporations that dominated big
business.
(page 425)
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Checking for Understanding
Define Match the terms on the right with their definitions
on the left.
__
D 1.
B
__ 2.
A
__ 3.
vote held by all members of
a political party to decide
their candidate for public
office
a journalist who uncovers
abuses and corruption in a
society
a political movement that
crossed party lines which
believed that industrialism
and urbanization had created
many social problems and
that government should take
a more active role in dealing
with these problems.
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A. progressivism
B. muckraker
C. commission
plan
D. direct primary
E. initiative
Checking for Understanding
Define Match the terms on the right with their definitions
on the left.
__
C 4.
__
E 5.
a plan in which a city’s
government is divided into
different departments with
different functions, each
placed under the control of a
commissioner
A. progressivism
the right of citizens to place a
measure or issue before the
voters or the legislature for
approval
E. initiative
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B. muckraker
C. commission
plan
D. direct primary
Checking for Understanding (cont.)
State what was provided for by the Nineteenth
Amendment to the Constitution.
The Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right
to vote.
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Reviewing Themes
Government and Democracy How did initiative,
referendum, and recall change democracy in the
United States?
They gave voters more power to introduce legislation,
to approve legislation, and to remove elected officials.
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Critical Thinking
Evaluating What impact did Susan B. Anthony have
on Progressive era reforms?
She helped form early woman suffrage organizations.
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Analyzing Visuals
Examining Charts Study the charts on page 421 of
your textbook. Under which system do voters seem to
have the most control over department heads? Why
do you think so?
Voters seem to have the most control with the mayorcouncil form or the commission form because they elect
the person to whom the department heads report.
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Close
Evaluate the impact of initiative,
referendum, and recall and the Seventeenth
Amendment.