The Progressive Movement

The Progressive The Progressive MovementMovement

Progressives were a broad group of reformers who sought to fix society in the late 19th and early 20th century

Wanted to fix problems like corruption and mistreatment of the poor

Reform and Society

A group of people asking for A group of people asking for reform or change for a better way reform or change for a better way

of lifeof life

What was the Progressive Movement?

The Progressive era reformers The Progressive era reformers and unions helped create laws to and unions helped create laws to

protect workers and childrenprotect workers and children

1. Child Labor

Negative Effects of Industrialization

By 1910, almost 2 million children were working

2. Low Wages (about 10 cents a day)Workers worked long hours… sometimes 10 –

12 hours a day

3. Unsafe working conditions

Rise of Organized Labor

1. Labor Unions were formed to deal with problems in the

workplaceWhat is a Labor Union ?

A group of workers that get together to get better salaries and

working conditions from their employers

Example of a Labor Union:

The American Federation of Labor (AFL)

•founded in 1886

•Opened to skilled, white men only

•Fought for higher wages

•Fought for shorter work weeks

•Fought for collective bargaining or group negotiations (both sides labor and owners get something)

•Major tactic for achieving goals was strikes

Samuel Gompers: AFL founder

English immigrant, started in cigar-making trade

To fight Big Business, needed strong Unions.

Use collective bargaining Owners , workers and their Union sit down, talk and meet in the middle.

How the AF of L Would Help the Workers

How the AF of L Would Help the Workers

o Represented workers in matters of national legislation (law making).

o Maintained a national strike fund.(get paid when on strike)

o Promoted the cause of unionism.

o Mediated disputes between management and labor. (was in the middle)

o Pushed for closed shops (business that would not hire non-union workers)

U.S. II 4e; 1aU.S. II 4e; 1a

How did all unions help the workers?

They helped to get new laws made to help the workers

Strikes

What is “On Strike” or a “Strike”?

The union members stop working until the get better salaries or working

conditions

One example of a labor strike:

The Homestead Strike: In 1892 the workers at the Carnegie steel factory in

Pennsylvania went on strike because the company lowered their wages or

salary… A small war was fought between the company guards and the union members… The strike lasted for

months; the workers did not win.

But…the workers won most other strikes. After some time

employers learned to work together with union leaders.

Progressive Presidents

Theodore Roosevelt

William Howard Taft

Woodrow Wilson

Progress is made

1. Laws improved safety conditions

Holden v. Hardy (1898) Utah passes law limiting miners to eight-hour work day as proper health measure Court upheld law due to hazardous nature of mining

2. Reduced work hours - 8 hours

3. Everyone received minimum wage or salary…

men, women, and children were all paid the same

Men in the North--anywhere from $3.00/day for highly skilled laborers to $1.25/day for unskilled workers.

Pay sufficient for people to survive if they worked full time, year-round.

Men in the South--$.75-$1.50/day in the South.

4. Banned child labor

Booker T. (training, Tuskegee) Washington: 1895-1915 influential spokesman for reform Economic Equality through Job Training at Tuskegee Institute

(1881) Believed equality can be achieved through vocational education

aka Job training. …and accepted social separation the segregation of black from

white. “Learn a Trade or Skill and turn it into money and freedom”

5. Great Equality for African Americans

W.E.B. Du Bois- d’bois and d’girls full freedom

He was a writer and educator. Co-Founder of NAACP in 1908. He believed in full equality for African Americans… Political, Economic, Social and

Civil rights.Believed in Integration-No separation of black and white

The Progressive era reformers and unions helped create laws to protect workers and children…

Muckrakers exposed the problems

The Progressive Era:

Suffrage & Temperance Movements

During the Progressive Era, there were many efforts to change the laws of the

United States.

Women’s SuffrageThe Suffrage Movement helped women

gain equal rights

1. Increased Educational Opportunities

2. Attained Voting Rights For Women

Women gained the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States…

Susan B. Anthony1820 – 1906 …was one of the

people that worked for women’s suffrage

Elizabeth Cady Stanton1815 - 1902She was also a women’s activist and

leader of the Suffragist Movement and Susan B. Anthony worked together to

help women get the right to vote

The Temperance Movement

1. Composed of groups opposed to the making and consumption of alcohol

2. Supported the 18th Amendment prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages

3. Reactions to the 18th Amendment were both expected and unexpected

ExpectedLegitimate businesses stopped selling alcoholic beverages to their customers. Alcoholism

declined during this time. Police and government agents were in charge of enforcing the new law

UnexpectedPeople made their own alcoholic beverages. Gangsters, such as Al

Capone, made a fortune by providing alcohol that was smuggled in from

Canada and the Caribbean