1. The Progressive Era (1890s-1920s)

2. Problems during the Gilded Age?
Unequal distribution of wealth
Poor working conditions
long hours, few safety precautions, child labor
Few protections for consumers
Overcrowding, sickness, disease, unsanitary
Racism, discrimination (race, gender)
Inadequate (no) health care
Moral vices
Political corruption…

3. Response to the Gilded Age?
The Progressive Movement
Personal Responsibility v. Social Baseline
If the “system” or those with the ability to do so are not going to look out for the best interest of the people, who will?

4. Progressivism
Not a single, unified movement, but most progressives held four common beliefs:
Gov. should be more accountable to its citizens
Gov. should curb power and influence of wealthy interests
Gov. should be given expanded powers to become active in improving lives of citizens
Gov. should become more efficient and less corrupt (so that they could competently handle this expanded role)

5. Progressives Overall Were of average wealth/status
Wanted a government free of corruption that would guard the welfare of workers and the poor

6. Socialism
An economic and political philosophy favoring public or government control of property and income
Progressive era saw rise in popularity of socialism, but NOT ALL PROGRESSIVES WERE SOCIALISTS!

7. Urban Conditions:

8. Settlement Movement Hull House, Chicago 1889
Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr

9. Jacob Riis Emmigrated from Denmark (1870, 21yrs) Flash Photography
Photojournalism
(The one who bought the gun!)
How the Other Half Lives (1890)

10. Building Codes
Second NYC Tenement Act (1879) mandated an outward facing window in every room
Led to creation of dumbbell tenements with “air shafts” between buildings to let in fresh air/light
Garbage tended to accumulate between buildings, attracting rats

11. Municipal Corruption Lincoln Steffens – The Shame of Cities (1904)
Originally published as articles in McClure’s
Thomas Nast – Harper’s Weekly Cartoonist

12. Big Business Unionization
Knights of Labor – Uriah Stephens (1869)
American Fed. of Labor – Samuel Gompers (1881)
Ida Tarbell – The History of the Standard Oil Co. (1904)
Upton Sinclair – The Jungle (1906)

13. Progressive Reforms

14. Early Federal Reforms Interstate Commerce Act (1887)
Created Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
Regulated Railroads
Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
Not all trusts broken up, but maintained competition
Designed to prevent “Price Fixing,” or the artificial raising of prices
Not strictly enforced

15. Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
Republican, Progressive, Outdoorsman, Conservationist
Veteran of Spanish American War

16. TR’s “Square Deal” 1902 United Mine Workers coal strike
Union ignored an injunction
Used arbitration and threatened federal intervention
1903 “Square Deal” became slogan of his presidency

17. Antitrust Activism TR Enforced Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
Northern Securities Company in 1904
Beef trust, Standard Oil, and American Tobacco Company broken up
TR administration filed 42 antitrust actions
Gained “trustbuster” nickname

18. Railroad Regulation Used presidential mandate to pass 1906 Hepburn Act
Gave the ICC strong enforcement powers
Authorized ICC to set and limit RR rates to prevent against “price gouging”

19. Protecting Public Health
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
Meat Inspection Act (1906)
Laws required accurate labelling of ingredients, strict sanitary conditions, and a rating system for meats

20. Conservation National Reclamation Act (1902) US Forest Service (1905)
Money from sale of public lands used for irrigation projects in arid states
US Forest Service (1905)
Headed by Gifford Pinchot
“managed” resources
TR set aside 200 million acres
Forests, reserves, and water projects

21. New Constitutional Amendments
16th Amendment (1913)
Authorized Congress to collect federal income tax
17th Amendment (1913)
Direct election of senators
18th Amendment (1919)
Prohibition
19th Amendment (1920)
Women’s suffrage

22. Progressive Political Reforms
Power to the People (Populism)
Direct primaries
17th: Popular vote of senators
Initiative: voters can put bills before legislature
Referendum: voters can vote on bills directly
Recall: voters can remove elected officials from office
19th: Women’s suffrage

23. Other Significant Legislation
Cabinet-level Department of Labor (1913)
Federal Reserve Act (1913)
Created federal reserve system of gov. banks to provide flexible money supply
National Park Service (1916)