Progressivism

Manhattan's "Bandit's Roost" Alley, 1888Men loiter in the alley known as "Bandit's Roost" off Mulberry Street in lower Manhattan.

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Progressive Era ReformsWhy?

• Reaction to the problems and excesses of the Gilded Age (1870-1900)

How? • Use the government to fix those

problems

What? • Fix society! • Social, economic, political problems

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Who got them started:Muckrakers

•Journalists who investigated and exposed problems

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The Jungle, Upton Sinclair:It was only when the whole ham was spoiled that it came into the department of Elzbieta. There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and white - it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption. There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs. There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it. It was too dark in these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together. This is no fairy story and no joke; the 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.

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And it became a reform movement:Progressives - Made 3 Kinds of Reforms:Social Reforms

Economic ReformsPolitical Reforms

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Social Reforms

1. Urban poverty

2. Unsafe housing

3. Alcohol

4. Child labor

5. Unsafe work conditions – worker safety laws

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Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

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Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

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Economic Reforms

1. Government began “busting” monopolies

2. Labor Unions• Knights of Labor• AFL (Gompers)• Railway Union (Debs)• Ladies Garment Union

3. Strikes• Homestead Strike• Haymarket Square Riot• Pullman Strike

Sherman Anti-Trust Act and Clayton Anti-Trust Act

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Political ReformsGoal: Put government back in the hands of the people!

Referendum - Process that allows citizens to approve or reject a law passed by their legislature

Initiative – citizens use a petition to force the legislature to consider a law

Recall - A way for voters to remove public officials from office before the next election

Direct election of Senators (17th Amend) – the people elect Senators, instead of the legislature choosing Senators

Secret ballot – Nobody has to know your vote!

Women’s Suffrage (19th Amendment) Women Can Vote!

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Referendum, Initiative and Recall

Should Scotland become independent from the UK?

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Progressive Amendments:

16th Amendment

17th Amendment

18th Amendment

19th Amendment

Political Reforms

This gave Congress the power to levy (impose) an income tax.

This called for direct election of Senators.

Prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

This gave women the right to vote.

Progressive PresidentsTheodore Roosevelt “Square Deal” – TR’s reforms

• Labor reforms• Trust-busting• Consumer Protection• Environmental Protection

Taft• More trust-busting, fewer reformsWoodrow Wilson“New Freedom”- Wilson’s reforms

• More business regulation• Lowered tariffs; + income tax (16th)• Women’s Suffrage (19th Amend)

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