The Progressive Era

Mr. WinchellUS History

What is progressivism?

The belief that American society was capable of improvement and continued growth and advancement.

Progressives believed progress would ONLY occur through human intervention to solve problems.

Who started Progressivism?

The ‘Muckrakers.’ Progressive journalists who worked to expose

corruption within society, to inspire others to join their cause for PROGRESS.

‘The pen is sometimes mightier than the sword.’

Upton Sinclair: ‘The Jungle’ Jacob Riis: ‘How the Other Half Lives’ Lincoln Steffens: ‘Shame of the Cities’ Ida Tarbell: ‘History of Standard Oil’

What were the Progressive Movements?

Political Reforms

Women’s Rights

Temperance

Immigration

Business Reform

Political Reform Municipal Reforms

Numerous cities were plagued by government loyalty to political bosses.

City councils were put in place to make local government more loyal to the voters

Utilities became more publicly owned, to reduce corruption.

State Reforms Spurred by progressive governors, many states passed

laws to regulate railroads, mines, mills, telephone companies and other large businesses.

Nearly ever state passed legislation banning child labor and setting maximum working hours.

Growth of socialism in America After years of being taken advantage of by big

business, many workers favored a SOCIALIST system, in which wealth was shared more equally

Women’s Rights Suffrage

The liquor industry feared that granting women the right to vote would lead to prohibition while the textile business worried women voting would lead to restrictions on child labor.

As of 1910 however, women had federal voting rights in only Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Washington, and Idaho.

However, the suffrage movement was given new strength by growing numbers of college-educated women.

In 1919, during WWI, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.

Higher Education New colleges and universities for women made higher education

possible. By the late 19th century, marriage was no longer a woman’s only

option.

‘New Woman’

Temperance

Women’s Christian Temperance Union led the crusade for prohibition.

By 1916, 19 states had prohibition laws

The temperance movement, to reform social life, took hold locally before moving to a national scale in the 1920’s.

1919-18th Amendment passed, going into effect in January 1920.

Immigration

Immigration Restriction Laws Chinese Exclusion Gentlemen’s Agreement with Japan

Settlement Many middle class women helped

‘Americanize’ immigrants by establishing settlement houses.

From these settlement houses, women reformers pushed immigrants away from the ‘vices’ of urban life, like drinking, gambling, and engaging in political machine voting.

Business Reform

Monopolies and the breakup of monopolies By 1900, trusts controlled about 4/5 of the industries in the

US. In the early 1900’s, president Teddy Roosevelt worked to

dissolve trusts, to reestablish competition in industry. These laws mostly benefited the consumer, as prices and

goods were more regulated.

Labor reforms/worker protections Women, and later men, were limited to a 10-hour workday by

the Supreme Court. Progressives succeeded in winning workers’ compensation to

aid the families of workers who were hurt or killed on the job. Eventually, all states passed laws requiring employers to pay

benefits to workers’ families who had died on the job.