Progressive Era
four main Goals of Progressivism Protect social welfare Promote moral improvement Create economic reform Foster efficiency
Social Welfare YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) Salvation Army opened libraries sponsored classes Built swimming pools, courts Salvation Army soup kitchens child care “Social Gospel”: Settlement Homes community centers Churches social services ~YMCA Basketball League, 1896
What is the SOCIAL GOSPEL? As spoken by one of the preachers of the ‘Social Gospel’: “the application of the teaching of Jesus and the total message of the Christian salvation to society, economic life, and social institutions…as well as the individual.”
First Settlement House, Hull House, Chicago Jane Addams, co-founded with Ellen Gates Starr, 1889.
~Nursery, Hull House
“Civilization is a method of living and an attitude of equal respect for all people.” ~Jane Addams
Florence kelley Advocate for improving lives of women and children. Helped pass Illinois Factory Act of 1893, prohibited child labor and limited women’s working hours.
Moral Improvement: Prohibition WCTU, founded in 1874 in Cleveland: Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Frances Willard is key in growing WCTU to a national organization. 245,000 members by 1911.
Anti-Saloon League, 1895
Economic Reform Panic of 1893: prompted some to question capitalist system. Eugene V. Debs: helped organize American Socialist Party (1901); argued against uneven economic distribution between business, government, and ordinary people.
Journalists of Early 20th Century: Muckrakers Wrote about corrupt side of business and public life. Ida Tarbell; called out Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. Lincoln Steffens; exposed business and government corruption in McClure’s Magazine. Upton Sinclair; The Jungle (1905). Jacob Riis; How the Other Half Lives (1890)
Child Labor National Child Labor Committee (1904): formulated in New York City to investigate child labor; led to ban in 1916 (overturned in Supreme Court in 1918); wouldn’t fully be endorsed until 1930s.
Scientific Management Frederick Winslow Taylor: “Taylorism,” uses time and motion studies to improve efficiency by breaking manufacturing tasks into simpler parts. How fast could work be performed? Assembly-line manufacturing.
Henry ford Reduced workday to eight hours and paid workers $5 per day.