Progressive Era Review

Main Areas of Problem or Reform Labor reforms: Child labor laws, labor union court cases, workplace safety Business reforms: trust-busting, increase in professional organizations, regulation of railroads, foods, medicines, and utilities. Social reforms: temperance movement, housing reform, women’s rights, racial issues, immigration Government reforms: direct election of senators, income tax, Federal Reserve Act

Labor Reforms: Child Labor Laws From 1880 through the early 20 th century, child labor increased By 1930 it had begun to decline Florence Kelley was a leader of this reform

Labor Reforms: Labor Unions AFL was mainly formed around skilled trades and was founded by Samuel Gompers. The IWW, or Wobblies, were formed in opposition to the AFL, included radicals and socialists, and called for a revolution that would abolish the wage system and social class structure. Eugene V. Debs was among the founders; he eventually was the Socialist Presidential candidate and received over 900,000 votes.

Labor Reform: Workplace Safety & Efficiency Very few employers accepted responsibility for accidents in their workplaces “Taylorism” was the effort to make all jobs more efficient and faster; it also rewarded the fastest workers

Business Reforms: Trust-busting Roosevelt created the Department of Commerce and Labor to oversee businesses and monitor labor relations He brought 44 suits against big trusts during his Presidency He did not favor the term “trust-busting,” and wanted corporations regulated, not destroyed

Business Reforms: Professional Organizations Number of different organizations increased during this time Membership in these organizations also increased Organizations provided a sense of professional identity for white-collar professionals (White collar = business/office professionals Blue collar = laborers, working class)

Business Reform: Regulation Regulation almost always means “by government” and “of corporations.” Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle led to the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.

Social Reform: Temperance Changed from “take the pledge” not to drink to banning the sale of alcohol (prohibition)

Social Reform: Housing Jacob Riis’ book shed light on the dangerous conditions in tenements and led to legislation Tenements that were poorly lit and unventilated were outlawed

Social Issues: Women’s Rights and Attitudes Women began to think of working outside the home as rewarding Charlotte Perkins Gilman promoted workplace equality for women and state run day-care Margaret Sanger worked for legal and safe birth control Mary Ware Dennett advocated sex education Before 1920 only states west of the Mississippi River had woman suffrage.

Social Reforms: Immigration Was the greatest source of urban population growth from During that same period, most immigrants were from southern and eastern Europe, followed by Japanese immigrants and then Chinese Many progressives were in favor of restricting immigration because of their opinion that immigrants were unintelligent.

Social Reform: Racial Issues Jim Crow laws were created to impose segregation in public places Two conflicting philosophies: --Booker T. Washington, who said to accommodate segregation while proving worth to society. Born into slavery, died Wrote Up From Slavery. --W.E.B. Du Bois believed segregation was intolerable and was an intellectual force against it. He wrote “The Souls of Black Folk” and died in 1963.

Social Reforms: Racial Issues Many African Americans moved from the South to the North Some states changed laws and constitutions to avoid letting blacks vote African Americans suffered mob attacks in both the north and the south.

Government Reform Direct Election of Senators—kept state political machines from controlling the Senate Federal Income Tax—instituted due to decline in tariff rates and revenue Federal Reserve Act--provided for a decentralized system that was under both public and private control

Important people of Progressive Era Jacob Riis who showed the plight of immigrant poor in How the Other Half Lives John Dewey, educator and philosopher, who believed schools should become the method of reforming society Oliver Wendell Holmes, Supreme Court Justice, who believed that the law should evolve as society changes

Progressivism This reform movement wanted to preserve capitalism but wanted to reform the problems that unrestrained capitalism caused. It saw government as the only way to restrain business and protect society’s vulnerable. It used journalists, academics and social theory to publicize problems and find solutions to them. It became a political movement led my middle class people to combat the issues brought on during the Gilded Age—urban and consumer problems particularly. Leaders rejected Social Darwinism because they believed that competition didn’t improve society.