The Progressive Era
Middle Class Movement Middle class emerged in late 1800s – product of industrialization Professionals, managers, “white collar” workers Increasingly segregated from working class Primarily concerned with urban, industrial problems Rapid growth of cities exacerbated problems Concerned about crime, alcoholism, prostitution, and unsanitary & unsafe living & working conditions Progress entailed both efficiency & justice Elitist & democratic simultaneously Linked to industrialists, who provided money for new research universities & social research efforts
Scientific Social Reform Settlement Houses Jane Addams est. Hull House in Chicago (1889) Secular missionaries – lived in foreign neighborhoods & tried to “uplift” working class Charity Organization Societies pooled & coordinated resources John Dewey advocated educational reform to create better citizens
Immigration Restriction Immigration Restriction League Led by Prescott F. Hall & Robert D. Ward Advocated literacy test to keep out “un-desirable” southern & eastern European immigrants Eugenics Charles Davenport founded Eugenics Record Office on Long Island Advocated sterilization of criminals & mentally disabled Harry Laughlin & Charles Davenport
NAACP (1910) & Urban League (1911) Founded by whites & blacks Whites like Oswald Garrison Villard were grandchildren of abolitionists Blacks like W.E.B. DuBois were frustrated middle-class professionals NAACP challenged Jim Crow laws in court Urban League promoted economic development W.E.B. DuBois
The Role of Women Cult of “true womanhood” women as moral guardians of family & society Used to demand voting rights Upper & middle-class women led many reform groups Women’s Christian Temperance Union Children’s Aid Society Settlement houses
Women’s Suffrage
Taking on the Party Machines Opposed machines as both antidemocratic & inefficient City gov’t reforms were antidemocratic: Expert Commissions to replace elected city councils Professional City Managers to administer affairs Other reforms were more democratic: Direct Primaries took control of nominations away from party leaders Initiative & Referendum allowed voters to bypass legislature & enact laws directly Recall elections allowed removal of unpopular officials before term expired
Pres. Theodore Roosevelt ( ) Added 150 million acres to forest preserves Dept. of Commerce & Labor created (1903) Pure Food & Drug Act & Meat Inspection Act (1906) regulated food industry Hepburn Act (1906) gave ICC authority to set maximum railroad rates Broke up Northern Securities Trust (1904) Mediated United Mine Workers’ strike (1902)
Pres. William Howard Taft ( ) Busted more trusts than T.R., but had pro-business reputation Added to forest preserves, but angered conservationists by firing Gifford Pinchot Mann Act (1910) outlawed “white slave trade” Mann-Elkins Act (1910) strengthened ICC further 16 th & 17 th Amendments passed by Congress in 1913
The 1912 Election Roosevelt unsuccessfuly challenged Taft for the G.O.P. nomination Roosevelt then formed Progressive (“Bull Moose”) Party Woodrow Wilson won Democratic nomination & election
Pres. Woodrow Wilson ( ) Federal Reserve Act (1913) created modern monetary system Underwood Tariff (1913) lowered rates & est. graduated income tax Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) outlawed price discrimination, tying agreements & interlocking directorates Federal Trade Commission (1914) created to regulate
Wilson (cont.) Federal Farm Loan Act (1916) created 12 banks to make low-interest loans to farmers (part of Subtreasury Plan) Adamson Act (1916) mandated 8-hour day & time and a half for overtime for railroad workers Keating-Owen Act (1916) banned goods made by child labor from interstate commerce, but overturned by Supreme Court 18 th & 19 th Amendments (1918, 1919) added to Constitution
The Progressive Amendments 16 th Amendment (1913) allowed for a graduated income tax 17 th Amendment (1913) mandated direct election of U.S. Senators 18 th Amendment (1919) permitted prohibition of alcohol 19 th Amendment (1920) granted right to vote to women