1. The Progressive Spirit
Industrialization transformed the U.S.
-Positive Effects of Industrialization
Economic growth
Growing middle class
-Negative Effects-
Greater gap between rich and poor
Unsafe working conditions
Crowded cities
Negative effects create a spirit of reform-Progressivism
Populism focused on rural problems
Progressivism focused on urban problems

2. The Progressives Who were the Progressives?
Most were native born, middle or upper class and college educated
Women joined efforts- an opportunity for them to have a voice in politics
More women entering colleges- career choices were limited but they could use their knowledge in reform work.
Ella Flagg Young- superintendent of schools in Chicago
What changes did Progressives want made?
Limited corporate power
Safer working conditions
8 hour workday
End to child labor
A minimum wage

3. The Progressives What changes did Progressives want made?
People to have more control of government
Election reforms
Progressive Theodore Roosevelt- “ we must be unselfish”
John Dewey- promoted education to help solve problems, education should prepare students to function well in society
How did reform ideas spread?
Popular magazines- wrote about corruption,
slums and child labor
Muckrakers- investigative journalists,
focus on what is harmful and corrupt

4. Progressives
Ida Tarbell- daughter of an independent oil producer and she was a muckraker
Wrote for McClure’s Magazine
Investigated Standard Oil and published her findings
Standard Oil- forced her father out of business
Lincoln Steffans- wrote “The Shame of the Cities”
About urban political corruption
Herbert Croly- wrote “The Promise of American Life”
Government should use its powers to promote welfare of all citizens
Jane Addams- wrote “Democracy and Social Ethics”
Private citizens should show more social responsibility “we are bound to move forward or slip backward together”

5. Female and Child Laborers
1900- men worked 10 hours a day, 6 days a week for about $1.50 a day, women earned about $6 a week.
Rebecca August- paid per buttonhole she made. Was fired for working to fast. Employer thought it an outrage for a woman to make $25 a week.
Mothers had no choice but to send children to work.
Most child laborers never attended school, they were illiterate
Textile industry accused of enslaving children

6. Labor Laws Florence Kelly John Ryan- Catholic Church official
Worked for women and child labor laws
1893- she persuaded Illinois lawmakers to prohibit child labor and limit number of work hours for women
She helped organize the National Child Labor Committee
By states passed child-labor laws
Many employers ignored laws, claimed their success depended on cheap child labor
John Ryan- Catholic Church official
Called for a minimum wage
1/3 of workers lived in poverty
Massachusetts responded and set
first minimum wage laws
Congress did not set a national minimum wage until 1938

7. Unsafe working conditions
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)
Event pushed the need to improve workplace safety
Fire broke out on the 8th floor at the end of the work day
Most of the doors were locked because managers feared workers would steal fabric
Elevators jammed due to women on higher floors jumping down elevator shaft to escape flames
60 workers leaped from windows
140 workers died
Same workers went on strike a year before,
demanded more safety and
sanitary precautions
New York passed first fire-safety codes
Lawmakers began passing protective legislation

8. The Supreme Court
Business owners fought back against protective legislation
14th amendment- prohibits states from depriving any person of life liberty or property
Business claimed state legislations were depriving them of property
Supreme Court sided with business owners ruled state legislation was unconstitutional
Also ruled freedom of contract (right to negotiate)was taken away from workers
Lochner vs. New York (1905)- overturned 10-hour workday for bakers
Workers should be free to accept any conditions of employment
Muller vs. Oregon (1908)- Florence Kelly hired Louis Brandeis to defend the 10-hour workday law. Supreme Court upheld the law.
Case became the model for defense of social legislation

9. Labor Unions
Fought for a closed shop- all employees in workplace must belong to a Union
Some fought for socialism- form of government in which government and workers own factories and means of production
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
Led by Samuel Gompers
Favored working within the system
excluded unskilled workers (eastern Europeans
and African Americans)
Left most urban workers without support

10. Labor Unions International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union ( ILGWU)
Established in 1900
Organized women in sewing shops
Many went on strike- “Uprising of 20,000”
Strikers received aid from progressive groups
- Most employers gave into demands- wage increases and reduced hours
- Refused to recognize union, remained an open shop (non-union workplace)

11. Labor Unions Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
- IWW opposed capitalism
- led by William “Big Bill” Haywood
-denounced AFL’s cooperation with business and its exclusion of unskilled workers
- recruited those that AFL turned away
- members called Wobblies
- gained reforms for African Americans and women
- internal disagreements weakened their power
- collapsed and faded from power

12. Reforming Society
Reforming city life- By 1920, 50% of Americans live in urban areas
Cleaning up the city
Struggling to provide sanitation services, safe and affordable housing, health care, police and fire protection, education
Lawrence Veiller- a settlement-house worker, attacked tenement owners, campaigned for improved housing
Helped get NY State Tenement Housing Bill passed
New buildings had to be built around courtyards and one bathroom required for every three rooms
National Tuberculosis Foundation
Lobbied for funding of hospitals to treat tuberculosis
Massachusetts required cities to build playgrounds for children to play
Some upper class opposed this but reformers succeeded and many cities built playgrounds

13. Reforming Society City Planning
Progressives believed cleaned-up cities produce better citizens
1909- first National Conference on city planning
To stop spread of slums and beautify cities
Impressive public buildings would instill patriotism in immigrants
Daniel Burnham- created first plan to redesign a city—Chicago
Hired to develop plans for many cities
Helped make people realize that city planning was a necessary function of municipal government

14. Reforming Society Moral Reform
Progressives wanted to “clean up” immoral behavior
Called for Prohibition- a ban of alcohol and closing of saloons
Believed alcohol was the enemy of progress
Colleges, industrialists, school textbooks promote prohibition
Anti-Saloon and Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
Led crusade against alcohol
Frances Willard led WCTU- successful in making the WCTU a powerful national force
18th Amendment (1919) - barred the manufacture,
sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages

15. Reforming Society Going to the movies
Newly invented motion picture became very popular
1916- films were the nation’s fifth-largest industry
Offered cheap entertainment for the poor
Progressives worry movies were a threat to morality
Censorship demanded by reformers
Many states and cities set up censorship boards to determine and ban immoral movies

16. Reforming Society Racial Discrimination W.E.B. Du Bois-
Progressives concerned with plight of poor
Not much energy devoted to problems of discrimination against African Americans and American Indians
Some progressives were openly prejudice
W.E.B. Du Bois-
Had a good childhood in Massachusetts-
in high school he noticed his skin color caused some people not to like him
Earned a doctorate from Harvard
Believed a college education was the best chance for African Americans to make progress and should be politically active
Believed African Americans
Helped create National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

17. Reforming Society
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
1909- Dubois, African Americans and white progressives met in NYC to discuss lynching of two men
Out of meeting, NAACP was created
The Crisis- association’s magazine edited by Du Bois
Publicized cases of racial inequality
Called for social reforms to ensure equal rights
Used the court system to fight voting restrictions
Guinn vs. U.S.(1915)- victory for NAACP, court outlawed “grandfather clause” which allowed for voting requirements that kept African Americans from voting in the South

18. Reforming Society American Indians
Society of American Indians- address problems Indians faced
Some members support strengthening tribal values, others support complete assimilation
Moderate positions led to disputes with those who wanted aggressive action--- weakened organization
It did lay groundwork for later attempts to improve conditions

19. Reforming Society Immigrants
Some progressives lobbied for laws to improve lives
Also criticized them, accusing of immorality- drinking and gambling, denounced for supporting political machines
Some favored restricting immigration
Many believed immigrants should be “Americanized”
Schools should work to convert immigrant children and remove their cultural values
Some progressives welcomed diversity that immigrants brought
Poor immigrants and political machines support worker protection and public health programs
Frederick Howe said NYC owed its playgrounds, and public parks to Irish immigrants and their political machines “the Irish made New York what it is”