THE PROGRESSIVE ERATo what extent did the

Progressive Era solve

problems of the Gilded

Age?

Average Life expectancy in US is 47 years

14% of households have bathtubs

8% of homes have telephones

There are 8,000 cars & 144 miles of paved roads

The maximum speed limit in cities is 10mph

The average wage is $.22/hour

More than 95% of births took place at home

DID YOU KNOW IN 1904…

90% of all US doctors have no college education

Sugar cost $.04/pound

Eggs cost $.14/dozen

Women washed hair once/month using borax or egg yolks for shampoo

The population of Las Vegas was 30

There was no Mothers or Fathers Day

20% of the adult population was illiterate

Only 6% of Americans graduated from high school

DID YOU KNOW IN 1904…

DID YOU KNOW IN 1904…Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at drugstores:

“Morphine clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and is a perfect guardian of health”

There were only 230 reported murders in the US

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WHAT LED TO THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT?

Progressive Movement

Populist Party

• Focused on the farmers.

• Advocates for a more flexible money supply, income tax, and government regulation

• Participated in the political process

Labor Unions

• Focused on factory workers.

• Advocated for improved working conditions

• Engaged in strikes

Social Gospel

• Advocated for better living conditions for the urban poor

• Philosophy was based on Christian teachings

• Women were active in the movement.

GOALS OF THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

Demanded that the government use its power to solve the problems of the Gilded Age.

Social

Improve the personal behavior of the poor

Reduce harsh conditions of industrialization

Political

Make society more democratic

Economic

Increase economic opportunity

Change uneven balance of wealth

PROGRESSIVE REFORMERS

Progressives varied in the specific area they chose to reform, however, they all wanted to change America for the better.

Mostly White, Middle Class Professionals.

PROGRESSIVE REFORMERS GALLERY WALK

NEW DAY

PROGRESSIVE REFORMS

Use the reforms around the room to describe each solution next to the problem it fixed.

SOCIAL

ENVIRONMENT

President Roosevelt set aside 148 million acres of forest reserves, 1.5 million acres of water-power sites, 50 wildlife sanctuaries, and several national parks.

• Division of Forestry

• National Park System

• Forest Reserve Act

National Reclamation Act - funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the American West.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Meat Inspection Act: mandated cleaner conditions for meatpacking plants.

Pure Food and Drug Act: required truthful labeling of products sold to consumers

EDUCATION

• Progressive Education

• John Dewey - focus on personal growth

• Elective courses & seminars at universities

• Women attending college in large numbers

• Enrollment at record levels (86% of children in schools by 1920)

URBAN POVERTY

Settlement Houses: group homes in city slums

Jane Addams – Hull House

housing, food, education, child care, cultural activities, and social connections for immigrants

promoted public health reform in cities (chlorinating water and tightening sanitary regulations, health clinics, dispensaries)

YMCA and Salvation Army took on service roles

DRINKING

• Anti-Saloon League & Women's Christian Temperance Union fought alcoholism on the state level and national level

• 18th Amendment - prohibited production, sale, and transport of alcohol

POLITICAL

AMENDMENTS FOR DEMOCRACY

17 - Direct election of senators

19 – Women’s right to vote

20 – Shortens “lame duck” period (moves inauguration from March to Jan)

POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT

Direct Primary – party members nominate a candidate by direct vote.

Referendum - legislative acts could be approved by people

Recall - removal of a public official by a vote

Initiative – Citizens petition to get issues on the ballot

ENDING CORRUPTION

Pendleton Civil Service Act -government jobs should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political affiliation.

Secret Ballot - voters marked their ballots within the privacy of a curtained booth

ECONOMIC

PRESIDENTIAL PLANS

Roosevelt

• Square Deal - needs of workers, business, and consumers should

be balanced.

• Trust Buster: broke up monopolies and trusts that did not serve

public interest

Taft

• Created Labor Department to enforce labor laws

• Broke up more trusts than Roosevelt

Wilson

•New Freedom: banking reform and stronger antitrust legislation

LABOR

• Workingman’s Compensation Act - provides financial assistance to federal employees who have been injured at work

• 8 Hour Workday – started with federal employees and expanded to private sector

• Child Labor – banned by nearly every state by 1918

BANK STABILITY

1913 Federal Reserve Act

• Created a central fund from which banks could borrow to prevent collapse during a financial panic

•Put the nation’s banking system under the supervision of the federal government for the first time

BUSINESS REGULATION

• Interstate Commerce Commission – created to end corruption in railroad industry

• Sherman Antitrust Act - limited the power of monopolies (lax enforcement, loopholes)

• Clayton Antitrust Act – prevented monopolies, made strikes/boycotts legal

• Federal Trade Commission – watchdog agency to end

unfair business practices (enforced anti-trust laws, cracked

down on false advertising)

INCOME TAX

16th Amendment instituted a graduated federal income tax.

LIMITS OF PROGRESSIVISM

• Failed to make gains for African Americans

• Despite groups like the NAACP, African American rights did not see gains like the other progressive goals.

• Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson retreated on Civil Rights once in office

The KKK reached a membership

of 4.5 million in the 1920s. This

had a lot to do with WW1 and

nativism as well.