Chapter 9: The Age of Reform

9.1: The Progressive Movement

Causes of Progressivism•Economic Growth

▫Industrialization▫Rise in middle class▫Widened gap between rich and poor

What was the focus of Progressivism?•Urban problems

▫Plight of workers▫Poor sanitation▫Corrupt political machine

Who were Progressives?•Most were native born, middle or upper class, college educated

•Men and women of the urban middle class

•Doctors, engineers, ministers, small-business owners, social workers, teachers, and writers

Women and Progressivism•Influence politics and society•Progressive Party Platform

▫Supported women’s suffrage▫End to child labor

•Ella Flagg Young▫First woman school superintendant in a major city

▫Promoted public education by raising teacher’s salaries

Progressive Issues•Working Conditions

▫54 hrs/week, 6 days/ week▫Higher accident rate than any other industrial country

•Social Problems▫People need to have greater control over government

▫Solve social problems with science and technology

▫Educational curriculum based on real-life activities

Inspiration for Reform•Muckrakers- [investigative] journalists that exposed the filth, or muck, of society▫McClure’s Magazine- identified how corruption in business and politics affected readers everyday lives

•Ida Tarbell▫“Terror of the Trusts”▫Investigated the practices of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company

Chapter 9: The Age of Reform

9.2: Reforming the New Industrial Order

Female and Child Labor•Worked the same hours as men, but were paid less

•Women would be penalized for working too fast

•Children would be forced to work instead of attend school

•Why do you think children are pushed into the labor force????

Labor Laws•Goal: prohibit or limit child labor; improve working conditions for women

•Results▫Child labor was limited or prohibited in many states

▫Some states required children to be able to read and write

▫Limit female work days for 8 to 10 hrs▫Increase in wages; establishment of a minimum wage

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire•A fire breaks out on the 8th floor of a 10-story building

•The two exit doors were chained shut; the owners feared the workers would try to steal fabric

•143 female workers died; many leaped to their death

• Fire department ladders only reach the 7th floor

Results of the Fire•Rose Schneiderman, a Women’s Trade Union League organizer, pushed for a working class movement

•New York legislature passed workmen’s compensation, occupational and fire safety legislation

•The Factory Investigating Commission was established

Labor Unions

American Federation of Laborers (AFL)

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)

•Led by Samuel Gompers

•Organized skilled laborers

•Left out Eastern European immigrants and African Americans

•Opposed capitalism

•Organized unskilled and skill laborers, including women, immigrants, and African Americans

Goal: better working conditions and a “closed shop”- all workers belong to the union

Chapter 9: The Age of Reform

9. 3: Reforming Society

Prohibition•= A ban on the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages

•Goals:▫Reduce crime▫“Save” the family▫“clean up” immoral behavior

Prohibition•Anti-Saloon League and Woman’s Christian Temperance Union led the movement

•Prohibitionists helped to ban consumption of alcohol during WWI for the U.S. Navy

•Senator William Kenyon “If liquor is a bad thing for the boys in the trenches, why is it a good thing for those at home?”

Prohibition•Congress proposes the 18th Amendment in 1917▫Prohibits the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages

▫Ratified by the states in 1919; enforced from 1920-1933

▫A very unpopular and difficult amendment to enforce; repealed in 1933

Progressivism and Racial Discrimination•African Americans and American Indians adopted some of the progressive ideals

•W. E. B. Du Bois- an influential African American leader▫An early supporter of civil rights; urged African Americans to become politically active for racial equality▫Helped establish the NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

•African Americans and white progressives met in NYC to discuss the lynching of two African Americans

•Goal: end racial discrimination and ensure equal rights

•NAACP used the courts to fight for civil rights▫Guinn v. United States (first victory)

▫Supreme Court outlaws the “grandfather clause”

Society of American Indians•Goal: improve civil rights, education, health, and local gov’t

•Many favored assimilation, or absorption, into white culture

•Jim Thorpe- prominent track and field, baseball, and football star

Americanization•= Process of preparing foreign-born residents for full U.S. citizenship

•Progressives and immigrants mixed on the issue

•Immigrant were taught to read, write, and speak English

•Abandon cultural background and become “American”