THE

PROGRESSIVE

ERA

An era of social, political and economic reform

The Origins of Progressivism

Directly affected by the issues facing America during the “Gilded” Age

People began to seek solutions to these “Gilded Age” issues

The Progressive Movement

What was it all about?

Aimed to restore economic opportunities and

correct injustices in American Life

Tactics and Goals

• Photographers brought to life the issues of the day

• Journalists and writers exposed the unsafe conditions of factory labor

• Intellectuals questioned the roles and tactics of large corporations

• Political reformers sought to end corruption and make the government more responsive to the people.

“[T]he meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage. 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. Under the system of rigid economy which the packers enforced, 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.”

The Four Goals of Progressivism

• Protecting Social Welfare

• Promoting Moral Improvement

• Creating Economic Reform

• Fostering Efficiency

1. Protect Social Welfare1. Protect Social Welfare1. Protect Social Welfare1. Protect Social Welfare

1. Protect Social Welfare1. Protect Social Welfare1. Protect Social Welfare1. Protect Social Welfare

• Social Gospel & Settlement House movements• Sought to help poor via community centers, churches and social services

• Inspired even more reform

• Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)• Opened libraries, sponsored classes, & built swimming pools & handball

courts

• Salvation Army• Soup kitchens, cared for children in nurseries, “slum brigades”

• Slum brigades: teach immigrants values of hard work & temperance

1. Protect Social Welfare1. Protect Social Welfare1. Protect Social Welfare1. Protect Social Welfare

Victories:

• Illinois Factory Act of 1893: prohibited child labor and limited working hours for women in the state of Illinois.

• Florence Kelly was a key figure in the passage of the IFA of 1893 as the chief inspector of factories for Illinois.

• National Building codes established in 1905

2. Promoting Moral Improvement

2. Promoting Moral Improvement2. Promoting Moral Improvement2. Promoting Moral Improvement2. Promoting Moral Improvement

Key to reform was MORALITY not the workplace

• Prohibition: The banning of alcoholic beverages

• Temperance: Personal restraint from alcohol consumption

• Prohibitionists feared that alcohol was undermining morals.

2. Promoting Moral Improvement2. Promoting Moral Improvement2. Promoting Moral Improvement2. Promoting Moral Improvement

• Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

• Went from being a small Midwestern religious group to a national organization of 245,000

1. Prohibition

2. Women’s Suffrage

3. Improved conditions in prisons and asylums

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bottles of liquor in bars while bottles of liquor in bars while bottles of liquor in bars while bottles of liquor in bars while

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3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform

3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform

Economic Panic of 1893

“Competition was natural enough at one time, but do you think you are competing today? Many of you think you are competing. Against whom? Against [John D.] Rockefeller? About as I would if I had a

wheelbarrow and competed with the Sante Fe railroad from here to Kansas City.”

-Eugene V. Debs

3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform

Who dealt with this issue?

• Unions: fought for better working conditions, wages, and hours

• Muckrackers: journalists who wrote about the corrupt side of businesses

• Citizens (women): fought against poorly processed foods

3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform

Notable Muckrakers:

• Ida M. Tarbell: fought against Rockefeller and Standard Oil

• Lincoln Stephens: fought against government corruption

• Upton Sinclair: fought for workers rights (The Jungle)

3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform3. Creating Economic Reform

How did the issue begin?

• Capitalism was seen as the reason for the economic issues

• Socialism became the alternative

• Eugene V. Debs created the American Socialist Party in 1901

• 10,000 members in 1901

• 1912 election: Debs received 900,000 votes (6%) for president

4. Fostering Efficiency 4. Fostering Efficiency 4. Fostering Efficiency 4. Fostering Efficiency

4. Fostering Efficiency 4. Fostering Efficiency 4. Fostering Efficiency 4. Fostering Efficiency

• Many Progressive leaders put their faith in experts and science.

• Looked to the high costs of long working hours for individuals & society.

• Scientific Management: broke down manufacturing tasks into simpler parts to see how quickly they could be performed.

Political ReformPolitical ReformPolitical ReformPolitical Reform

Political ReformPolitical ReformPolitical ReformPolitical Reform

Sought to end corruption in politics and give the public more

say in the government at every level.

Political ReformPolitical ReformPolitical ReformPolitical Reform

How was “Tweed” like corruption dealt with?

Local Government:

• Formation of City Commissions

• Galveston, TX: Commission to rebuild city in 1900 � 1917, 500 cities

• City manager & Council: run city departments

• Dayton, OH: response to flood in 1913 � 1925, 250 cities

Political ReformPolitical ReformPolitical ReformPolitical Reform

State & National Government:

• Initiative: a bill originating with the people, not the legislature

• Referendum: the vote on the initiative, accepted or rejected by the people

• Recall: enabled voters to remove public officials from elected positions

• 17th Amendment: Allowed for the direct election of senators (1913)

Women and ProgressivismWomen and ProgressivismWomen and ProgressivismWomen and Progressivism

Women and ProgressivismWomen and ProgressivismWomen and ProgressivismWomen and Progressivism

Four Job Sectors:

Farm Industrial Other Home

Cooking

Making Clothes

Doing Laundry

Raise Livestock

Plow & Harvest

Crops

1/5 worked in

manufacturing

(clothing)

Received half the

money men did for

the same work

Offices

Stores

Teachers

REQUIRED

EDUCATION

Cleaning homes

70% of all women

working in 1870

were servants

Women and ProgressivismWomen and ProgressivismWomen and ProgressivismWomen and Progressivism

Women were leaders of reform:

• National Association of Colored Women (NACW)

• Ran nurseries, reading rooms and kindergartens

• National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

• Fought for women's suffrage (right to vote)

1. Convince states to allow women to vote (WY, CO, UT, ID)

2. Used court cases to test the 14th Amendment

3. Pushed for a national Constitutional Amendment