 Student Objective The learner will analyze the economic, political, and social reforms of the Progressive Period.  Generalizations: Innovation designed to solve problems may result in the creation of new problems. Coordinated action by groups or individuals may result in economic, political, and social changes to a nation. The perceptions and actions of individuals can be influenced by the economic priorities of a nation.

 Political relationships can change and impact the domestic and foreign affairs between people and/or nations.  A government founded on the division of power and authority may endure internal and external debates that can lead to conflict and/or compromise.  A leader’s response to contemporary issues can result in political conflict or compromise.  Governmental policies and actions that promote national growth and expansion can create sectional tension and political debate.

FOUR GOALS OF REFORMERS Social Welfare 1) Protect the Social Welfare (governmental provision of economic assistance to persons in need) Moral Improvement 2) Promote Moral Improvement (changes in character) Economic Reform 3) Create Economic Reform (government change in policies toward businesses) Efficiency 4) Foster Efficiency (the effective use of resources)

 From 1890 to 1920, reformers tried to clean up problems (“progress”) created during the Gilded Age: Cities were plagued by slums, crime, disease, tenements City, state, & national gov’ts were seen as corrupt & unresponsive to the needs of Americans Corporate monopolies limited competition & workers’ wages

Social Gospel  In the 1880s, many middle-class Protestant Christians embraced the Social Gospel movement: To honor God, people must put aside their own desires & help other people, especially the poor These ideas helped inspire Progressive reform in U.S. cities

 One of the earliest progressive reforms was the settlement house movement led by Jane Addams Addams’ Hull House in Chicago offered baths, cheap food, child care, job training, health care to poor citizens in the slums Her efforts inspired reformers in other cities to build settlement houses to assist the poor

 Urban reformers tried to improve the lives of poor workers & children YMCA created libraries & gyms for young men & children The Salvation Army created soup kitchens & nurseries Florence Kelley fought to create child labor laws & laws limiting work hours for women

 Many reformers saw alcohol abuse as serious urban problem: Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) worked to end alcohol consumption Reformers gained prohibition laws in most states & outlawed alcohol throughout the USA with the 18 th Amendment in 1919 Hoped prohibition would end corruption, domestic violence, & help “Americanize” immigrants

Frances Willard Carrie Nation

 In addition to the Social Gospel, progressive reformers were aided by a new, investigative journalism: Muckrakers were journalists who exposed problems like poverty, corruption, monopolization (“Investigate, Educate, Legislate”) Popular monthly magazines, like McClure’s & Colliers, used investigative journalism & photos

What did Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives (1890) expose? Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives (1890) exposed urban poverty & life in the slums

What did Ida Tarbell’s The History of Standard Oil (1904) expose? Ida Tarbell’s The History of Standard Oil (1904) revealed Rockefeller’s ruthless business practices & called for the break-up of large monopolies

 By 1905 consumer issues were sweeping the nation  Many people were being sold products that contained drugs and other ingredients that they were not told about. Upton Sinclair INTENDED to bring attention to the miserable lives of immigrant workers, not the icky stuff in the food.

What did Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906) expose? Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906) revealed the unsanitary conditions of slaughterhouses & led to gov’t regulation of food industries

Dangerous and unsanitary! You do NOT want to slip with this knife.

Connection to today: “Pink Slime” They call it “lean, finely-textured beef” or “boneless lean beef trimmings” and you and I have probably been eating it for years.

 The Progressive movement began as an attempt to fix urban problems Reformers lacked unity & were dedicated to their own causes But their efforts led to a shift: gov’t began to take responsibility for citizens & intervene in their livesresponsibility