The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era The Progressive Movement was the period from about 1890 to 1920. Its aim was to remedy the political & economic injustices that resulted from America’s rapid industrialization

The Progressive Era Progressives focused on 5 areas of reform: easing the suffering of the urban poor improving unfair and dangerous working conditions and Child Labor laws reforming government at the national, state, and local levels Women suffrage Prohibition

Key Characteristics Government should play an active role in solving society’s problems Government needed to be more efficient New inventions and new cures (improvements in science) can help society The people should have more say in their government Women should have the right to vote Progressives believed that by applying scientific principals to solving social problems, the result would be new inventions and innovations that would improve the lives of everyone.

Reforming the Workplace By the late 19th century, labor unions fought for adult male workers but didn’t advocate enough for women and children. In 1893, Florence Kelley helped push the Illinois legislature to prohibit child labor and to limit women’s working hours. In 1904, Kelley helped organize the National Child Labor Committee, which wanted state legislatures to ban child labor. By 1912, nearly 40 states passed child-labor laws, but states didn’t strictly enforce the laws and many children still worked.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire In 1911, a gruesome disaster in New York inspired progressives to fight for safety in the workplace. About 500 women worked for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, a high-rise building sweatshop that made women’s blouses. Just as they were ending their six-day workweek, a small fire broke out, which quickly spread to three floors. Escape was nearly impossible, as doors were locked to prevent theft, the flimsy fire escape broke under pressure, and the fire was too high for fire truck ladders to reach. More than 140 women and men died in the fire, marking a turning point for labor and reform movements. With the efforts of Union organizer Rose Schneiderman and others, New York State passed the toughest fire-safety laws in the nation, as well as factory inspection and sanitation laws. New York laws became a model for workplace safety nationwide.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Muckrakers Journalists who practiced what today is called "investigative journalism" exposing the abuses and corruption in society. They became known as “muckrakers” because they raked through the muck (filth) of American Life, exposing the problems in our society. Jacob Riis Upton Sinclair Ida Tarbell

Muckrakers They used their writing to crusade for changes in government and the way businesses operated; an end to child labor; and safer working conditions; among other causes. They gave pictures and voices to those being taken advantage of by the social system. Jacob Riis Upton Sinclair Ida Tarbell

Jacob Riis Journalist whose book “How the Other Half Lives” led to calls for government assistance to help the urban poor His books gave a vivid look at the life for ethnic groups of New York City living in the tenement slums

New York City tenement buildings in the early 1900s

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle In 1906, Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to describe the unsafe & unhealthy conditions in the meatpacking industry.. He uncovered disgusting truths including, meat falling on the ground, rats and other rodents being grounded into the meat, and mislabeling the products. Instead, the book raised fears of what was in the meat that people were eating

Banned the sale of impure or falsely labeled food or drugs Impact of The Jungle Meat Inspection Act Required federal inspection of meat and required the Agricultural Department (USDA) to set standards of cleanliness in meatpacking plants Pure Food and Drug Act Banned the sale of impure or falsely labeled food or drugs

Pure Food and Drug Act The Pure Food and Drug Act did not allow the people to make and sell drugs that were not properly labeled and inspected. * This was important due to the high amount of street vendors trying to sell medicine like “Snake Oil” that really didn’t cure anything. * The Snake Oil was not really snake oil at all. It was mostly alcohol, colored water, and sugar. It was believed to cure everything.

Ida Tarbell Wrote many notable magazine series and biographies. One of the leading "muckrakers" of her day Wrote many notable magazine series and biographies. Best-known for her 1904 book “The History of the Standard Oil Company”

Corruption included officials accepting bribes and party leaders or “bosses” buying votes at election time. Candidates were chosen by the political machine boss Progressive changed the way U.S. Senators were elected. In 1912, Congress passed the 17th Amendment to the constitution to allow direct election of Senators. This means that voters in a state were now able to vote for the candidate they wanted. Government Reform

Political Reforms Progressives elected state governors and legislators to promote reforms. Direct primary: voters select a party’s candidate for public office 17th Amendment: voters elect their senators directly secret ballot: people vote privately without fear of coercion initiative: allows citizens to propose new laws referendum: allows citizens to vote on a proposed or existing law recall: allows voters to remove an elected official from office

The Direct Primary The direct primary gave voters power to choose the candidates in an election. This reform led to Wisconsin becoming known as the “laboratory of democracy” Other voting changes brought on by Progressives included the initiative, the referendum and the recall Another Progressive reform called for the direct election of U.S. Senators, which led to the passage of the 17th Amendment.

Initiative and Referendum Allows a group of citizens to introduce legislation (a law) in their state government and require the legislature to vote on it Allows proposed legislation (a law) to be voted on directly by the people instead of just its state legislature

Fight for Women’s Suffrage The fight for women’s voting rights (suffrage) began in the mid-1800s at the Seneca Falls Convention By the 1900s, the leader of the suffrage movement was Susan B. Anthony, left

Women’s Suffrage Anthony , a Quaker, organized numerous marches and gave numerous speeches in the fight for suffrage

Women’s Suffrage in U.S. (1915)

Alice Paul’s influence Following Susan B. Anthony’s death in 1906, radical suffragists formed the National Women’s Party The group, led by Alice Paul, protested the president to get laws changed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYQhRCs9IHM

19th Amendment Passed In 1919, the Senate passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. It was ratified by the states in 1920

Progressive Presidents Roosevelt

Election of 1900 In the presidential election of 1900, President William McKinley choose as his vice-presidential candidate someone who was a hero from the Spanish-American War, someone who had strong ties to the Northeast (New York), and someone who was a Progressive – Theodore Roosevelt

Roosevelt takes over McKinley was assassinated in 1901 Teddy Roosevelt – at the age of 42 – suddenly became the youngest president in U.S. history

Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive president Roosevelt pushed through laws to: break up big business monopolies (trusts) protect the environment and public health improve working conditions for factory workers

Roosevelt saw the need for government to regulate large corporations Roosevelt: The Trustbuster Roosevelt saw the need for government to regulate large corporations While he believed that large corporations were an important part of the nation’s prosperity, he also believed that these corporations were hurting workers

T.R. and Conservation Roosevelt put his stamp on the presidency most clearly in the area of environmental conservation Roosevelt declared millions of acres of land as protected national forests and urged Americans to conserve their natural resources

National Parks started by Teddy Roosevelt

Coal Strike of 1902 Roosevelt felt that one of his jobs was to stop job conflicts between different groups in the nation When the United Mine Workers went on strike in 1902, Roosevelt intervened in the strike and got the union and the owners to agree to arbitration

Progressive President Trust Buster Opposed restrictions on immigration Proposed 16th Amendment (Income Tax) Clash with Roosevelt Taft

Progressive President Lowered tariff Graduated Income Tax ( higher tax rates as the income of the taxpayer increases). Federal Reserve Act Clayton Anti-Trust Act Child Labor Law  Wilson

Election of 1912 William Howard Taft Republican Woodrow Wilson Democrat Teddy Roosevelt Progressive Eugene V. Debs Socialist The split between the Republicans opened the door for the Democratic candidate – Woodrow Wilson – to win the election.

Election of 1912

Impact of Third Parties Third-party candidates can greatly affect an election

Social Reforms Several progressives wanted reforms to improve people’s lives National Child Labor Committee was formed to abolish child labor. Prohibition-legal ban on selling alcohol. Alcohol was closely associated with corruption. Tenement House Law in 1901- provided stricter building codes for the construction of tenement houses 1906-Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act & the Pure Food & Drug Act.

Fighting for Civil Rights Progressives fought prejudice in society by forming various reform groups. NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Formed in 1909 by a multiracial group of activists to fight for the rights of African Americans 1913: Protested the official introduction of segregation in federal government 1915: Protested the D. W. Griffith film Birth of a Nation because of hostile African American stereotypes, which led to the film’s banning in eight states ADL Anti-Defamation League Formed by Sigmund Livingston, a Jewish man in Chicago, in 1913 Fought anti-Semitism, or prejudice against Jews, which was common in America Fought to stop negative stereotypes of Jews in media The publisher of the New York Times was a member and helped stop negative references to Jews

Temperance Movement Some progressives believed that a lot of the nation’s problems were tied in with the consumption and sale of alcohol The movement to rid the nation of alcohol was known as the temperance movement. Three groups led the call for temperance: women’s groups, business owners and Christians

Temperance Movement Women led the call for temperance because alcoholism led to abusive men and loss of jobs The leader of the movement was an hatchet wielding woman by the name of Carrie Nation

In 1874, Francis Willard became the leader of the WCTU or the Women’s Christian Temperance Union or WCTU. She worked to educate people about the evils of alcohol. She urged states to pass laws banning the sale of liquor. After 1917, support for such an amendment to end the sale of liquor grew. In that year the United States entered World War I. Congress and passed the Eighteenth Amendment. The amendment made it illegal to sell alcoholic drinks anywhere and United States. Francis Willard 47

18th Amendment passed The 18th Amendment made the sale or consumption of alcohol illegal throughout the United States