Progressive Agendas
Section 5.3
Today’s Agenda
• 5.3 Slide Show
• Presentations– Louis Brandeis (Mueller v. Oregon)– Jane Addams– Roberta LaFollette– Nellie Bly
• Homework– Quiz on Progressivism Tuesday
How can reform be accomplished?
• Was America a democracy in 1900?
• Who voted?
• Who chooses our leaders?
• Is America 1 man one vote?
Women in Progressive Movement
Jane Addams Presentation
Who was Jane Addams?• Progressive reformer• Saint Jane• Moved by 3 children who had all
been injured while home alone (while parents worked)
• Hull House– A settlement house– A community center in
immigrant Chicago slum– Taught English, held political
discussions, celebrated diverse cultures, day nursery, night school
– 2 thousand visitors per day
Jane Addams
How did Galveston become a model of efficiency?
• Hurricane destroyed city (1900)• State replaced governing power from large
city-council with 5 commissioners• Most were business leaders (not
politicians)• City quickly recovered• Served as model on how to build efficient
government• Helped to eliminate ward boss power
La Follette Presentation
Who was “Fighting Bob” La Follette?• Reform Governor of Wisconsin• Initiated series of reforms that
make state more democratic• Direct primary
– voters, not bosses, select candidates
• Initiative– citizens, not bosses, introduce
bills to legislature• Referendum
– citizens vote for or against proposed laws
• Recall– citizens vote to fire elected
official
What is the Seventeenth Amendment and how did it democratize America?
• Calls for direct election of senators (1913)
– Senators had been chosen from state legislature • Controlled by
political machines• Senators awarded
supporters with fat contracts
Was the right to vote expanded during the Progressive era?
• Women– Had limited right to vote in 19
states– Could not vote for president– Suffragettes– Grew from 13 to 75 thousand
(1893-1910)– 19th Amendment (1920) gave full
voting rights• African Americans
– Jim Crow laws passed after 1890 reduced voting rights
– Poll taxes, literacy tests
Suffrage
How did states begin to regulate big business?
• Wisconsin– RR commission– Power to regulate rates– Prevented unfair
competition• Maryland
– Law (1902) required employers to buy workers’ compensation insurance
• Oregon (1903)– Prohibited women working
more than 10 hours
Protecting Workers
Louis Brandeis
Presentation
• Supreme court case
– Mueller challenged state of Oregon’s right to regulate his business
• Louis Brandeis argued for Oregon
• Brandeis brief
– Based primarily on sociological data
– economic and social statistics, photographs, expert opinions
– Very little precedent
– Said that long hours damaged health of women and therefore damaged welfare of America
Describe Mueller v. Oregon.
• Supreme Court unanimous for Oregon
• Women need special protection
• 1st case which used sociology in argument
• States can regulate business for public good
Describe Mueller v. Oregon.
Who was John Dewey• Progressive educator
– “Learn be doing.”• Said school should be
Laboratories of Democracy– Children need to be
taught how to be a good citizen
• Movement helped end child labor
• Illiteracy– 1870 = 20%– 1920 = 6 %
Nelly Bly Presentation