UNIT

3

THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

DAILY ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

1. What were the causes and effects of the Progressive

Movement?

2. What laws improved society

during the Progressive Era?

EQ #1. WHAT WERE THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT?

WHAT WAS THE PROGRESSIVE ERA?

Progressivism was a reform movement that

responded to the social, political, and economic

issues caused by industrialization, urbanization, and

immigration in the 1890s and 1900s. Causes/issues

included:1. Corrupt political machines

2. Trusts and monopolies

3. Safety in the workplace

4. City services

5. Women’s suffrage (vote!)

6. Temperance (anti-alcohol)

7. Education

The

Progressive

Era dealt with

the social,

economic, and

political

problems and

negatives of

the Gilded Age.

How did these

lead to reform?

Muckrakers used investigative reporting to

uncover and dramatize society’s problems.

Examples:

1. Ida Tarbell - wroteThe History of Standard Oil

2. Jacob Riis exposed the conditions of poor people through his photography and in How the Other Half Lives.

3. Lincoln Steffens – muckraking author of Shame of the Cities; exposed corruption in urban government

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/pioneering-social-reformer-jacob-riis-revealed-how-other-half-lives-america-180951546/?no-ist

WHO AND WHAT WERE MUCKRAKERS?

4. Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungleprovided a shocking look at meatpacking in Chicago’s stockyards.

“You would smile, perhaps, to see [Jadvyga and Mikolas

dancing together] – but you would not smile if you knew all

the story. This is the fifth year, now, that Jadvyga has

been engaged to Mikolas, and her heart is sick. They

would have been married in the beginning, only Mikolas

has a father who is drunk all day, and he is the only other

man in a large family. Even so they might have managed

it (for Mikolas is a skilled man) but for cruel accidents

which have almost taken the heart out of them. He is a

beef-boner, and that is a dangerous trade, especially

when you are on piecework and trying to earn a bride.

Your hands are slippery, and your knife is slippery, and

you are toiling like mad, when somebody happens to

speak to you, or you strike a bone. Then your hand slips

up on the blade, and there is a fearful gash. And that

would not be so bad, only for the deadly contagion. The

cut may heal, but you never can tell.”

https://www.youtube.com/wa

tch?v=Xxe9nosWawM 6min

HOW DID WOMEN IMPACT THE PROGRESSIVE ERA?

1. Suffragettes! – Many women wanted the right to vote.

• Carrie Chapman Catt – started the National American Women’s Suffrage Association - lobbied state legislatures to get the woman’s vote state by state

• Alice Paul – used marches, picketing, and hunger strikes. Wanted a constitutional amendment. Formed the National Woman’s Party in 1917.

• (These ladies disagreed about tactics!)

2. Birth Control Movement - Margaret Sanger - opened the first birth control clinic. She believed that having fewer children would lead to healthier women. (jailed!)

3. Settlement Houses – Jane Addams started Hull House –a settlement house that was a community center that provided services for the urban poor.

4. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union grew steadily until the passage of the 18th Amendment which banned the sale and production of alcohol in 1919.

States gradually granted suffrage to women, starting in the western states.

HOW WERE CHILDREN AFFECTED?

1. Progressives succeeded in reducing child labor and improving school

enrollment.

• The United States Children’s Bureau was created in 1912.

EQ #2: WHAT LAWS IMPROVED SOCIETY DURING THE PROGRESSIVE ERA?

In 1911, 146 workers died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Many young women burned or jumped to their deaths.

In the 1900s, the U.S. had the world’s highest rate of industrial accidents.

WHAT EVENT PROMPTED WORKER SAFETY LAWS?

WHAT LAWS WERE PASSED AT THE CITY AND STATE LEVEL?

(TO COMBAT POLITICAL MACHINES)

1. In Wisconsin, Governor Robert M. La Follette and other Progressives

reformed state government to give more political control to the people.

• direct primaries -allowed voters to select candidates rather than having them selected by party leaders

• Initiatives -process in which citizens put a proposed new law directly on the ballot

• Referendums -process that allows citizens to reject or accept laws passed by their legislature

• Recalls -process by which voters can remove elected officials from office before their terms end

2. Progressive governors achieved state-level reforms of the railroads

and taxes. (Munn v. Illinois)

WHAT WAS PRESIDENT TEDDY ROOSEVELT’S SQUARE DEAL?

1. The Square Deal was Roosevelt’s program tokeep the wealthy and powerful from takingadvantage of small business owners and the poor.

2. Roosevelt was known as a trustbuster. He used

the Sherman Antitrust Act to file suits against

that bullied small businesses or cheated consumers.

3. He signed bills into law for food safety, railroad

regulations, and for federal government land

preservation – national parks.

4. Republican President from 1901-1909. He ran for

President with the Progressive Party setting up a

three-way race for the presidency in 1912. He lost

that race.

5. Roosevelt closed off

more than 100 million

acres of forestland.

WHAT WERE PRESIDENT WILSON’S PROGRESSIVE IDEAS?

• 1. President from 1913 – 1921 - His New Freedom

plan called for strict government controls over

corporations.

• 2. Promised to bring down the “triple wall of privilege,”

tariffs, banks, and trusts.

• Examples:

• Underwood Tariff Act cut tariffs, leading to lower

consumer prices

• 16th Amendment - Progressives like Wilson felt it

was fair that the wealthy should pay a higher % of their

income in taxes than the poor.

• Note: Did not want to give women the vote at first!

Progressive Era Legislation and Amendments

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

Outlawed monopolies and practices that restrained trade

National Reclamation Act (1902)

Provided for federal irrigation projects in arid Western states

Elkins Act(1903)

Imposed fines on railroads that gave special rates to favored shippers

Hepburn Act(1906)

Allowed the government to regulate and sets maximum rates for railroads

Meat Inspection Act(1906)

Provided federal inspection of packing plants and meat sold across state lines

Pure Food and Drug Act(1906)

Provided federal inspection of foods, medicines for purity

Sixteenth Amendment(1913)

Gave Congress the power to collect an income tax

WHAT LEGISLATION WAS PASSED DURING THE PROGRESSIVE ERA?

Progressive Era Legislation and Amendments (continued)

Seventeenth Amendment (1913)

Provided for the direct election of Senators by the voters of each state

Underwood Tariff Act(1913)

Lowered tariffs on imported goods, established a graduated income tax

Federal Reserve Act(1913)

Created the Federal Reserve Board to oversee banks and reserve funds

Federal Trade Commission Act (1914)

Established the Federal Trade Commission to monitor business

Clayton Antitrust Act(1914)

Spelled out specific activities that businesses can not engage in

Eighteenth Amendment(1919)

Banned the making, selling, or transporting of alcoholic beverages

Nineteenth Amendment(1920)

Gave women the right to vote in all elections