The Rise of Progressivism

Goals of Progressivism Protect social welfare Promote moral improvement Create economic reform Foster efficiency Why at this time in history, did Americans need this movement? Looking at these reformers/actions think for yourself, “how progressive were they?” How do we measure success? Were these reforms successful?

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Questions to Ponder What were the common elements of the progressive movement? Do you agree with the historians who believe the term Progressivism "ceased to mean anything at all"? How would you characterize the role of women in the progressive movement? What changes led male Progressives to welcome women's contributions to their cause? How did the moral components of progressivism relate to the movement's efforts to change the political process? Was progressivism primarily a moral movement?

PROGRESSIVISM M i d c l a s s W o m e n Civi l Rights Muckrackers Suffragettes Popul ists Temperance Labor Unions Goo Goos

The “Culture Wars”: The Pendulum of Right v. Left Christian Evangelical Movement 2nd Great Awakening Social Gospel 1920s Revivalism 1950s Revivalism CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION CIVI L WAR Antebellum Reforms [1810s-1850s] Populism [1870s-1890s] Progressivism [1890s-1920] New Deal [1930s-1940s] Great Society & 1960s Social Movements

Interpretations of Progressivism Mowry Hofstadter thesis - preservation & “status anxiety” Corporate looking to protect itself “Organizational view” 1960s interpretations 1970s & 80’s perspectives Women’s historians 1990s broader views How useful a movement was it really?

“One could hear human virtue cracking and crashing all around. ”- W “One could hear human virtue cracking and crashing all around.”- W. Rauschenbusch The Social Gospel Father John Ryan Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum Herbert Croly – The Promise of American Life

Muckrakers Raise public consciousness Pointed out flaws but no real solutions Too much faith in democracy?

Immigration “New races” of immigrants Immigrant Restriction League (1894) Chinese Immigrants Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) Ellis Island

African American Needs for Reform Redeeming south from Reconstruction Racial divisions in labor Nat’l Association of Colored Women (1896) Disenfranchisement Laws Segregation - Plessy v Ferguson (1896) Lynching – Ida B Wells Booker T Washington Tuskegee Institute WEB DuBois – The Souls of Black Folk (1905) “talented tenth” Niagara Movement NAACP

Industry “Industrial freedom” challenged Socialism AFL IWW Taylor – scientific management Middle management Socialism Growing #s, AFL support, newspapers, elected officials Debs AFL National Civic Foundation IWW Solidarity Big Bill Haywood Civil Liberties Mother Jones

Women & Progressivism Feminism Heterodoxy “lyrical left” Dodge salon “New woman” College educated Reform-minded Women’s professions Protecting maternal roles Mothers’ pensions Muller v Oregon

Radical Challenge of Women’s Suffrage NAWSA Conservative Arguments for Suffrage Nineteenth Amendment Equal Rights Amendment

Reforming Government Municipal Reform New Forms of Governing Direct Primary Referendum Recall Initiative Decline in Party Influence Voter Participation in Presidential Elections

Social Justice & Reform Private Charities Salvation Army Temperance/Prohibition WCTU Settlement House Movement Jane Addams

Theodore Roosevelt Interpretation of federal power Square Deal Trustbusting

Conservation & Preservation

William Howard Taft Clash with Progressives Payne-Aldrich Ballinger –Pinchot Midterm elections Joe Cannon

Election of 1912 Bull Moose Party – “New Nationalism” Wilson – New Freedom “regulation vs fragmentation” Progressivism – clear winner

Woodrow Wilson Triple Wall of Privilege New Freedom policies Trusts Tariffs High Finance New Freedom policies Tariff Federal Reserve Act Child Labor laws “There’s no chance of progress & reform in an administration in which war plays the principal part”