Progressive Era Notes

Journal Entry Think about what is going on during the Progressive Era, and then think back to our unit on industrialization, immigration, and political machines. How are these time periods related? Write at least 4 lines. Be sure to explain your point of view.

Goals of the Progressive Movement Progressive Movement—Reform effort which aimed to return control of the government to the people, restore economic opportunities, and correct injustices in American life.

Goals of the Progressive Movement Protecting social welfare, which meant to try to relieve some of the urban problems related to industrialization. Promoting moral improvement, which meant improving personal morality would help improve the lives of poor people. Creating economic reform, which meant looking critically at capitalism and looking for ways to improve our economic system. Fostering efficiency, which meant making workers and factories more productive by using scientific management to make tasks simpler and easier for workers, and the assembly line to make production faster in factories.

Key Point Progressive reformers did not all agree on what problems to solve and how to solve them. However, they all related to one of the four areas listed above.

Local Government Reforms Reformers wanted to make governments more efficient. They also wanted to eliminate the corruption of political machines seen in many large cities in the U.S.

State Government Reforms At the state level, many governments began to place regulations on large businesses, such as railroads and mines. The regulations were put in place to protect consumers from dishonest business practices. Regulations were also put in place to help protect workers from the poor conditions in many industrial jobs. The two main goals were to end child labor, and to limit working hours.

Election Reforms Reforms were made to protect people’s rights and democracy. The use of a secret ballot began to be used across the country. Citizens could place an initiative on the ballot. This is a law proposed by citizens through petition to be voted on by citizens of the state. Voting on an issue placed on the ballot in this way is called a referendum. Another reform for citizens was the recall, which is when people can call for another election for an elected official before the term is over in order to replace the person. The direct primary, introduced in Wisconsin, allowed people, not the political party machine, to choose candidates to run for a political party. The 17th Amendment was added to the Constitution, which allowed people to directly elect senators for their state, instead of the state legislature selecting them.