Chapter 21

2. The Progressive Era
• Today we will:
• Key movements and reforms of the Progressive Era
• Briefly look the situation in Europe in 1914
• Next time we will:
• Move into the Great War

3. The Progressive Era
• 1890-1920
• All of the ideas surrounding the effort to “fix” business and society
coming out of Industrialization and the Gilded Age of politics.
• There were progressive wings of both mainline political parties, and
the Socialists were by their nature progressive, as well.
• People who identified or leaned toward progressivism tended to be
middle-class, educated, urban.
• Many journalists, social workers, educators, and clergy members
joined or led progressive movements.
• All sought to address issues, but disagreed on how.
• Who were muckrakers?

4. Muckrakers
• Jacob Riis – How the Other Half Lives – 1890
• Ida Tarbell – “The Rise of the Standard Oil Co.” – 1902
• Lincoln Steffens – The Shame of Cities – 1904
• Political Machines in Philadelphia
• Upton Sinclair – The Jungle – 1906
• “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident, I hit it in the stomach.”
• Lewis Hine – Child labor conditions – 1908 (and the decade after)
• And many others…
• These drive the push for reforms by mobilizing
readers/viewers

5. Problems Progressives Addressed: Social Welfare
• Largely addressed by religious groups and social workers
• YMCA/YWCA, YMHA/YWHA groups expand rapidly after the 1870s
• The Salvation Army comes to the US in 1879
• The Social Gospel becomes widespread among progressive religious groups
• Rejects Social Darwinism, seeks to help those less fortunate
• Settlement Houses
• Jane Addams and Hull House
• Residence, job training, health clinics, lectures, art classes, concerts, even a bank
• First American woman to win the Nobel Prize (1931)
• Movement spreads to many other Midwestern cities

6. Problem: Municipal Corruption
• Mayors often made appointments based on donors, favors, or friends
• Results in people who don’t know how to do jobs in positions of authority
• Develop Alternatives to the strong Mayor system
• Areas of municipal purview split into departments (Public Works, Police, FD, etc.)
• Voters elect a Board of Commissioners (sometimes a City Council)
• This group hires experts to lead each department based on their ability and experience
(commissioners)
• Or, they hire a City Manager, who then hires experts
• Examples: Galveston, TX in 1900
• Traditional political machine was overwhelmed by a devastating hurricane
• Adopt a Commission Plan and recover much more quickly
• Examples: Dayton, OH in 1913
• First major US city to adopt a Council-Manager system

7. Problem: State Government Corruption
• Direct Primaries: Registered party members vote for candidates
• No longer just chosen by political machines
• Initiatives: Directly allows citizens to petition for new laws, which state
legislatures have to vote on
• Referendum: Directly allows voters to approve/reject laws
• Recall: Voters can demand a special election to remove elected officials
• 17th Amendment (Federal) 1912 – Directly allows citizens of a state to
elect their Senators (previously chosen by state legislatures)
• Citizens have more direct control than ever before, especially at the
state level

8. Problem: Suffrage for Women
• Even though efforts were made to disenfranchise men of color, they
were (at least federally) guaranteed the right to vote
• Women had begun to push for voting rights after the 14th and 15th
amendments were passed
• National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) 1890
• Merger of the NWSA (Susan B. Anthony’s group) and the AWSA
• Marches, Protests, and Lobbying
• Pushed for rights at the state level
• In 1915, Carrie Chapman Catt takes over as leader and establishes the
“Winning Plan,” to push for rights
• Push gains momentum with a number of states granting rights
• 1919, The 19th Amendment is passed (ratified 1920)

10. Problem: Poor Working Conditions
• Terrible conditions, long hours, low wages
• No safety regulations
• 1911 – Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
• Around 150 people die because the exits were locked from the outside
(common practice at the time)
• Factory was on the 8-10th floors of the building
• In response the NY State Legislature forms the Factory Investigating
Commission
• As a result 60 new laws regulating the workplace were passed from
1911-1913 in New York

12. Problem: Poor Working Conditions
• Progressives nationwide pushed for cities and states to pass:
• Workers compensation laws for those injured on the job
• Codes for workplace safety (lighting, circulation, size, sanitation, and exits)
• Health codes for restaurants
• Child Labor
• Estimated that in 1900 1.7 million children
under 16 in the workforce
• National Child Labor Committee is started
in 1904 to advocate
• Muckraking by Lewis Hine and John Spargo
(writer) detail conditions for children
• States begin passing hour limits, age limits,
and compulsory schooling for children

13. Problem: Alcohol Abuse
• Considered to be at the root of many
social problems
• The Temperance Movement
• Push to limit or eliminate alcohol
• Had been around since the early 1800s
• Had some success at the state level
• 1881 Kansas outlaws alcohol – Carrie Nation
• Women’s Christian Temperance Union
• The Ant-Saloon League
• Many Christian denominations (not Roman
Catholic, Episcopalian, and Lutheran)
• 1917 – 18th Amendment is passed
• Volstead Act 1920 – to enforce it

14. Problem: Big Business
• Progressive Republicans, Democrats, and Socialists all wanted to curb
the interests of Big Business
• Pro-business
• Republican – Taxation, regulation
• Democrat – Stimulate competition, stronger anti-trust laws, promote small
businesses
• Pro-nationalization
• Socialists – State control of the railroad and other big business

15. Federal Regulations
• Hepburn Act 1906 – More power to the ICC
• Government had to approve changes in rates for transport and storage
• Pure Food and Drug Act 1906 – FDA
• Meat Inspection Act 1906 – Placed under USDA
• Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act 1913
• Reduces tariffs on many imported goods, hurting monopolies
• 16th Amendment 1909 – Ratified in 1913
• Allows the government to establish income tax (to make up for the loss of income from
reduced tariffs)
• Federal Reserve Act 1913
• Establishes Federal Reserve, allowing the government to regulate money
• FTC – Federal Trade Commission – 1914
• Replaced the Bureau of Corporations in overseeing big business

18. Final Thoughts
• Take out a sheet of paper.
• Who is missing from all of the aspects of the Progressive Era?
• Turn it in on your way out.
• For next time:
• Read Chapter 22
• We will look at the situation in Europe before the Great War
• Look at the War before US entry.
• Have a good weekend!