The Major Social, Economic & Political Goals of the Progressive Movement

The Major Social,

Economic & Political

Goals of theProgressive Movement

So what is the “Progressive Movement” again?

5:45-9:00

A reform movement in response to the Gilded Age seeking to correct bad conditions and injustices in American life, to restore economic opportunities, and to return control of the government to the people.

Problem: American cities were unsafe and needed to be “cleaned up”

Solution: Women took the lead in various “Social Housekeeping” crusades

Examples:• Enforce Morality (“Temperance” & “Blue” Laws)

•18th Amendment (Prohibition)

Social Reforms

Carrie Nation—One Woman’s Fight

Problem: American cities were unsafe and needed to be “cleaned up”

Solution: Women took the lead in various “Social Housekeeping” crusades

Examples:• Enforce Morality (“Temperance” & “Blue” Laws)

•18th Amendment (Prohibition)

•19th Amendment (Women’s Suffrage)

Social Reforms

Mary Poppins—Sister Sufragette3 min. brief summary

Problem: Big business monopolies abused their power

Solution: More & stricter government regulation

Examples:

• “Trust Busting” – breaking up monopolies, making sure there are multiple competitors in

each industry

Economic Reforms

Problem: Big business monopolies abused their power

Solution: More & stricter government regulation

Examples:

• “Trust Busting” – breaking up monopolies, making sure there are multiple competitors in

each industry

•Legal Protections - Child labor, Workplace safety, environmental protection laws passed

Economic Reforms

There were the butt-ends of smoked meat, and the scraps of corned beef, and all the odds and ends of the waste of the plants, that would be dumped into old barrels in the cellar and left there….. there were some jobs that it only paid to do once in a long time, and among these was the cleaning out of the waste barrels. Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water – and cartload after cartload of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public's breakfast.

--Upton Sinclair, “The Jungle”

Problem: Big business monopolies abused their power

Solution: More & stricter government regulation

Examples:

• “Trust Busting” – enforce existing laws

• Legal Protections - Child labor, Workplace safety, consumer & environmental protection laws passed

• 16th Amendment (Progressive Federal Income Tax)

Economic Reforms

Problem: Political Machines were corrupt and did not solve problems effectively

Solution: More democracy & structural change

Examples:• City Managers – professionals selected by city council

instead of patronage by city bosses

Political Reforms

Problem: Political Machines were corrupt and did not solve problems effectively

Solution: More democracy & structural change

Examples:• City Managers – professionals selected by city council

instead of patronage by city bosses

• Initiatives & Recalls – more direct power to the people

Political Reforms

Problem: Political Machines were corrupt and did not solve problems effectively

Solution: More democracy & structural change

Examples:• City Managers – professionals selected by city council

instead of patronage by city bosses

• Initiatives & Recalls – more direct power to the people

• 17th Amendment - Direct (not by state legislatures) Election of US Senators

Political Reforms

How can an amendment be

added to the Constitution?