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Progressivism
Social and Political Change in the
United States at the turn of the
Century
1890 to 1917
“Progressives were reformers who
attempted to solve problems caused by industry, growth of cities and laissez
faire.”
Progressives wereProgressives were
White ProtestantsMiddle class and native born.
College Educated Professionals Social workers
ScholarsPoliticiansPreachersTeachersWriters
Reform = ProgressAlways possible and good
Progress not inevitable but blocked by ignorance and corruption
Everyone / everything can be improvedTraditions = automatically suspectExperts can ALWAYS find one best wayEducation & Purity always = progress. Mission = Progress for world
When did the movement When did the movement begin?begin?
Farmers organize during the 1870’s
The Grange—1867---local level
Farmer’s Alliance---state level
Populist Party--national levelPeople’s Party
Adopt Populist IdeasAdopt Populist Ideas
Move away from laissez faire with government regulating industry
Make US government responsive to the people (voting)
Limit power of the political bosses.Improve worker’s rights, conditions
for poor and immigrantsClean up the cities
End segregation and Jim Crow
Populists vs ProgressivesPopulists---rural
Progressives---cities
Populists were poor and uneducatedProgressives were middle-class and
educated.
Populists were too radicalProgressives stayed political
mainstream.
Populists failedProgressives succeeded
Areas to ReformAreas to ReformSocial Justice
Political Democracy
Economic Equality
Conservation
Social JusticeSocial Justice Improve working
conditions in industry, regulate unfair business practices, eliminate child labor, help immigrants
and the poor
Political DemocracyPolitical Democracy Give the government
back to the people, get more people voting and
end corruption with political machines.
Economic JusticeEconomic Justice •Fairness and opportunity in
the work world, regulate unfair trusts and bring about changes
in labor. •Demonstrate to the common
people that U.S. Government is in charge and not the
industrialists.
CONSERVATIONCONSERVATION
Preserve natural resources and
the environment
Targets of Progressives• Trusts – Populists like Bryan said they were
evil.• Corruption – Boss Tweed and other politicians
were not out to “serve the public”• Vice – Anti-Vice groups emerge to root out evils
of alcohol, drugs and pleasures of the flesh!• Slums – Authors highlight for American public
conditions of slum life.• Govt. – Women especially target the social
injustice they are treated with and press for “equal rights”.
• Food Preparation – Novels that highlight conditions in slaughterhouses and canneries become popular.
Who were the Progressives?
New middle class composed of young professionals 1.Sought to apply principles of professions
(medicine, law, business, teaching) to problems of society
2. Strong faith in progress and the ability of educated people to overcome problems
3. Rise in volunteer organizations organized to address issues a)American Bar Associationb)U.S. Chamber of Commercec)National Association for the Advancement of
Colored Peopled)National Municipal League
4.Mainly urban in residence and orientation
5. Muckraking journalists attacked corruption and scandal with a sense of moral outrage
6. Political reformers (many opposed to traditional party politics)
7. Socialists--frustrated workers who promised to destroy capitalism.
• Led by Eugene Debs (who polled 900,000 votes for president in 1912), socialists were rejected by most Progressives as too extreme in their goals and methods
Major Beliefs of the time
• Industrialization creates unsafe working environments for many Americans.
• Unemployment, poor housing facilities and political corruption were just a few of the major issues of the day.
• Many people have realized that private efforts to change these problems are not working.
• Many groups step forward and ask the Government to help.
• Many of the proponents of Progressivism say that Government involvement is really SOCIALISM!
Two Visions of Progressivism
• Henry George (1879)• Book Progress &
Poverty• Poverty is caused by
private interests who buy up all the land then hold onto it long enough to make a profit.
• This prevents others from using land productively.
• Proposed elimination of tax on improvements, just the value of the land!
• Edward Bellamy (1887)
• Book Looking Backward
• Fictional account of life in the year 2000.
• All labor strife is eliminated, the govt.. has organized industrial management to meet human needs.
• His novel was a national best seller.
• 1000’s of Nationalist clubs spring up!
Progressive Ideology• Economic Welfare-
– Government must regulate economic activity in America to prevent depressions and recessions.
– This also would prevent abuses of workers and abuses of smaller companies by larger ones.
– They only want Government regulation and control in Water, Transportation and Electric Industries!
• Human Welfare -– Workers need protection from abusive owners!– They need unemployment programs and
welfare programs.– Social Security system should be created!
• Women’s Suffrage -– Suffragists said that many women in cities could
not care for their families without government help.
– Therefore, they needed the right to vote to make their needs known!
– Many suffragists focused their attention on eliminating alcohol, or reforming the workplace for women!
– Most women were powerless in terms of political power in the 1900’s because they had no voting rights.
Progressive Ideology
Muckrakers• People who exposed
greed or corruption were often called this.
• Term first coined by Teddy Roosevelt in 1901.
• He condemned those who “earned their living by telling …. scandalous falsehoods about honest men.”
Muckrakers • Lincoln Steffens - book The Shame of
the cities highlights deplorable conditions of US cities including details about children living in the streets
• Upton Sinclair - his book The Jungle was supposed to bring to light horrible working conditions in slaughter houses but actually brings to light problems with food prep.
• Ida Tarbell - She wrote History of the Standard Oil Company and detailed all the people Rockefeller had put out of business legally & illegally.
Other Muckrakers• Jacob Riis (1890) – How the other half
lives. Book detailed life inside of a New York City slum.
• John Spargo(1906) – The bitter cry of the children. The book highlighted the abuses of Child Labor.
• Ray Stannard Baker (1908) – Following the Color Line. Book highlights the fact that 90% of blacks still live in the South with 1/3 illiterate.
• Magazines often ran exposes attacking conditions in America:– McClures, Cosmopolitan, Collier’s,
Everybody’s.
Progressive Social Reforms
Settlement houses--Jane Addams and others established group homes in city slums to aid poor urban residents.
1. Promoted public health reform in cities, chlorinating water and tightening sanitary regulations
2. Developed education and craft programs for residents 3. Created neighborhood health clinics and dispensaries
Racial anti-discrimination efforts 1. Booker T. Washington (Atlanta Compromise) argued
for self-help and accommodation on the part of blacks to white society
2. W.E.B. DuBois (Niagara Movement--1905) urged blacks to assert themselves and agitate for political and economic rights. Formed NAACP to use legal means to end racial discrimination
Booker T. WashingtonBooker T. WashingtonHow do Black Americans overcome
segregation?Southern Perspective•Former slave
•Wrote a book/ Up From Slavery•Don’t confront segregation head on•Before you are considered equal in
society--must be self sufficient like most Americans
•Stressed vocational education for Black Americans
•Gradualism and economic self-sufficiency
•Founder of Tuskegee Institute
Speech given by Booker T. Washington in Atlanta, Sept.
18, 1895, at the Atlanta World Exposition. Booker T. Washington, founder of
Tuskegee Institute, was a black leader in education in the South.
Many of those who viewed this speech saw it as a willingness on the part of Washington to accept social inequality in return for
economic equality and security for the southern blacks.
W.E.B. DuboisHow do Black Americans overcome
segregation?Northern Perspective• Fought for immediate Black equality in
society• Talented 10%: Demanded the top 10% of the talented Black population be
placed into the “power positions”• Gain equality by breaking into power power
structurestructure• Founder of NAACPNAACP
National Association for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleAdvancement of Colored People
Begins in 1906 in a meeting at Niagara Falls, Canada in opposition
to Booker T. Washington’s philosophy of accepting segregation.
1. Encourage of Black pride2. Uncompromising demand for full political and
civil equality3. No acceptance of segregation----opposed
Booker T. Washington’s “gradualism”.4. Gain acceptance of white reformers. 5. Formation of the NAACP in 1906 with Dubois
as the editor of the NAACP’s journal, The Crisis
6. Other Black groups formed to support Dubois, National Urban League in 1911
1.Number of Women employed 1900-1920 stayed constant (20%)
2.The type of work switched from domestic labor (servants, cooks, laundresses) to clerical work (clerks, typists, bookkeepers), factory work, and professionals.
3.Most women still held the lowest paying and least opportune jobs.
4.Significant Progressive feminists called for greater reform
Women’s Movementsa) Charlotte Perkins Gilman
attacked the male monopoly on opportunity and declared that domesticity was an obsolete value for American women
b) Margaret Sanger led the movement to provide birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies among poor women
c) Suffragists urged that women be given the franchise, which came on the national level with the 19th Amendment (1919).
Preparing the Way for Suffrage
• American women activists first demanded the right to vote in 1848 at the Seneca Falls ConventionSeneca Falls Convention in New York.
• The movement eventually split into two groups:– The National Woman Suffrage Association fought
for a constitutional amendment for suffrage.– The American Woman Suffrage Association worked
to win voting rights on the state level.• In 1890, WyomingWyoming entered the union and became the
first state to grant women the right to vote.• In 1872, in an act of civil disobedience, a suffrage
leader, Susan B. Anthony, insisted on voting in Rochester, New York. She was arrested for this act.
Suffragist Strategies
Constitutional Amendment• Winning suffrage by a constitutional amendment
• The first federal amendment was introduced in Congress
in 1868 and stalled.• In 1878, suffragists
introduced a new amendment.
• Stalled again, the bill was not debated again until 1887. It was defeated by the Senate.
• The bill was not debated again until 1913.
Individual State Suffrage• Winning suffrage state by
state• State suffrage seemed more
successful than a constitutional amendment.
• Survival on the frontier required the combined efforts
of men and women and encouraged a greater sense of
equality.• Western states were more
likely to allow women the right to vote.
NWSANWSA AWSAAWSA
• Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, leaders of the suffrage movement, died without seeing the victory of women’s suffrage.
• At the turn of the century, Carrie Chapman Catt became the leader of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).
• She led the movement from 1900 to 1904 and again after 1915.
• In March 1913 Alice Paul and Lucy Burns organized a parade of 5,000 women in Washington, D.C.
A New GenerationWomen’s Suffrage
19th Amendment• Introduced in
Congress in 1878!• 9 western states
already had state suffrage laws.
• President Wilson changed his position and supported the Amendment in 1918.
• It was ratified on August 18, 1920!
Suffrage in the United States
Socialist Party of America
• Formed in 1901• Believe in ideas of
Marx.• They wanted to end
the Capitalist system.
• Distribute the wealth more equally.
• Nationalize American Industry!
Goal:Goal: Reform local and state Reform local and state governments by introducing direct governments by introducing direct involvement of the people. At the involvement of the people. At the
national level, women’s suffrage and national level, women’s suffrage and direct election of the U.S. Senatedirect election of the U.S. Senate
•Local LevelLocal Level
•State LevelState Level
•National LevelNational Level
Progressive Era Reforms
City government system changed to prevent boss or "machine" rule
1. City commissions replaced mayors and city councils in some areas
2. City managers (nonpolitical professional managers) were hired to run small cities
3. State level reform efforts championed by Robert La Follette of Wisconsin
4. Direct primary to give voters control over candidatesa. Competitive civil service and restrictions on lobbying b. Many states passed workmen's compensation laws c. Election reforms to bring direct democracy to voters
5. Initiative--allowed 5% of voters to "initiate" laws in state legislatures
6. Referendum--in some states voters could then pass initiatives into laws
7. Recall--by petition voters could force an official to stand for re-election at any time
CityCommissioner
Plan
Cities hired experts in different fields to run a single aspect of city government.
For example, the sanitation commissioner would be in charge of
garbage and sewage removal.
City ManagerPlan
A professional city manager is hired to run each department of the city and
report directly to the city council.
City Reforms
RecallRecall
Allows voters to petition to have an elected representative removed from
office.
InitiativeAllows voters to petition state
legislatures in order to consider a bill desired by citizens.
ReferendumAllows voters to decide if a bill or proposed amendment should be
passed.
Ensures that voters select candidates to run for office, rather than party
bosses.
State Reforms
Secret BallotSecret BallotPrivacy at the ballot box ensures that citizens can cast votes without party bosses knowing how they voted.
Direct PrimaryDirect Primary
NATIONAL LEVELNATIONAL LEVEL
17th Amendment: Direct Election of Senators (1913) Increased voters’
power and reduced corruption in Senate
17th Amendment:
Direct Election of Senators (1913) Increased voters’
power and reduced
corruption in Senate
NATIONAL LEVELNATIONAL LEVEL
19th Amendment
•Women’s Suffrage (1920)
•Women won the right to vote
Major Progressive ReformsEducation
1. Progressive education--John Dewey led movement that focused on personal growth, not mastery of body of knowledge and learning through experience.1. Charles Eliot of Harvard pioneered elective courses
and new teaching techniques (such as seminars) to make university learning more meaningful
2. Women began attending colleges in large numbers (by 1920, 47% of total enrollment was female)
3. Believing that more education would help bring an enlightened population, Progressives pushed enrollments to record levels (86% of children in schools by 1920) without seriously assessing how schools were doing.
Law1. Judges opinions needed to be based on factual
information, not just oral arguments and precedents 2. Muller V. Oregon (1908)--limited women's working
hours3. Lochner v. New York (1905), the Supreme Court
overturned a New York law limiting bakers' working hours. Not an example of Progressive ideology!
Anti Trust Movement• Sherman Anti Trust Act 1890• The act declared illegal "every contract,
combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations."
• Criminal penalties were provided for violators of the law, and aggrieved persons were entitled to recover three times the amount of losses suffered as a result of the violation.
• Clayton Anti Trust Act (1914)• An Amendment to the Sherman Act.• Outlawed local price fixing to freeze out
competition.• Forbid inter-corporate stock holdings (one
company holds stock of another)
• Allowed lawsuits to be filed to recoup losses and held CEO’s of companies directly responsible for the actions of their company.
• Also said that unions could organize strikes if needed!
Anti Trust Movement
Progressive Era Reforms• Direct Primaries - voters actually pick the
delegates for state and national election conventions instead of political bosses!
• Worker’s Insurance policies - States allowed for unemployment insurance, accident insurance and compensation for injuries to be created.
• Courts - Supreme Court heard several cases related to wage / hour restrictions and sided with owners until 1908.
• Laws - 30 states outlawed – Child Labor Laws - by 1917 and eight adopted a
minimum wage law after MA passed one in 1912
Roosevelt’s “Square Deal”
• He had proposed arbitration in Mine workers strike of 1902.
• Workers got 10 cent raise and 9 hour day, owners did not legally recognize unions.
• Roosevelt said both sides got a square deal!
• He easily won reelection in 1904 and set about to reorganize American business practices.
• Hepburn Act (1906) - allowed ICC to become involved in disputes over shipping costs.
•Northern Securities Case (1904) - TR had attorney General sue a Holding Company under the Sherman Anti trust Act. They held stocks and bonds of other companies and that was against the law. Government won the case!
•Meat Inspection Act (1906) – requires inspection/grading of meat produced in the USA
•Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) - requires labeling of all ingredients, a strict inspection system and ratings scale for all meat in USA.
•
By 1909 - forty two anti trust cases went to court!
Environmental legislation
• As country expanded, more and more people called for the protection of natural resources and areas of the West.
• 35 million acres of land preserved in the USA.
• Yellowstone created in 1872
• Yosemite created in 1890.
Environmental Legislation• US Forest Service-created
to preserve and monitor the US forest lands set aside by Presidents Cleveland, Harrison and Roosevelt. Consists at the time of about 200 million acres of land.
• National Reclamation Act - It was supposed to plan and develop irrigation projects to save land from deforestation, erosion and weathering. Controversy still exists today.
Progressive Era Legislation
• 16th Amendment (Feb. 1913)- Allowed the Govt. to raise more tax money from wealthy people’s incomes rather than poor people’s incomes.
• 17th Amendment (May 1913) - Provides for direct election of Senators to US Senate. Previously had been done by State Legislatures.
• 18th Amendment (Jan 1919) -Outlawed the sale, consumption and transportation of alcohol anywhere in the United States of America.
• 19th Amendment (Aug 1920) - Gave women the right to vote in the USA.
Presidency of William Howard Taft
• Ballinger - Pinchot Affair -Secretary of the Interior (Ballinger) allowed a private group to get several million acres of public owned land in Alaska. Head of forestry service (Pinchot) publicly objects. President Taft fires Pinchot!
• Mann - Elkins Act (1910) - Put responsibility for regulation of telephone and telegraph rates under control of ICC instead of big business.
• Parcel Post Service created to deliver large packages anywhere in the USA.
• Supported the 16th and 17th Amendments as well as Child Labor laws and laws against discrimination of women!
Two Giants Clash!Roosevelt declared
his desire to run for the Presidency
in 1912 after returning from an
African Safari. He publicly
challenged Taft for the Republican
nomination!
Bull Moose Party• It was created by Roosevelt to challenge Taft in the election of 1912.
•It was one of the first successful Third Party organizations.
•They campaigned for 8 hour workdays for everyone, more restrictions on business, and end to child labor, a federal worker’s compensation system and popular election of US Senators.
• Many women ran campaigns and got elected for office in their home state on the BULL MOOSE ticket!
Wilson & The US Congress
Who wins election?
Election of 1912• Election results:• Wilson - 41.8 % 435
electoral• Roosevelt - 27.4% 88
electoral• Taft - 23.2 % 8
electoral• Debs - 6% 0 electoral• Two others account
for remaining 2%
Results of Progressive Era
• Political Change -Direct election of US Senators (17th Amendment). Protective Legislation for workers, women, children and the poor. Public welfare programs and proposals for Social Security and public assistance programs.
• Social Change- Women earn the right to vote (19th Amendment) Prohibition enacted (18th Amendment). Nationalist and Single Tax Clubs spring up everywhere. Muckrakers are born and prosper in the American Media.
• Economic Change- US Companies sell products all over the world. Restrictions placed on meat packers, factory owners, USDA created along with ICC and FTC.
Life in 1903
Life in 1903• Average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47.
Today 76-77• Only 14% of the homes had a bathtub. Today 90%• Only 8% of the homes had a telephone. Today
91%• Three minute call from Denver to NY city cost
eleven dollars. Today: $3• There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. and only
144 miles of paved road. Today: 235 million (estimate)
• Maximum speed limit in most cities was 10mph. Today: 35 city/65 highway
• Average U.S. worker made between $300 and $500 per year. Today: $45,760
• More than 95% of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
• Today: 91% in a hospital.• Sugar cost .12 cents a pound. Eggs were .14
cents a dozen. Coffee cost .15 cents a pound.• Most women washed their hair once a month
and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Life in 1903
• There were 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.
– Today: 16, 530 (2003)
• Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.
• American flag had 45 stars. Today: 50! DUH!• Canned beer and iced tea hadn’t been
invented.• No Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
Life in 1903
• One in ten U.S. adults couldn’t read or write. Today: 1 in 4• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the
counter at drugstores.– “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates
the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health”
• Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.– Today: 71%-84% (estimates) (54% Latinos, 56% Blacks, 78% whites)– Georgia: 54% lowest graduation rate Iowa: 93% highest
graduation rate– Virginia: 79-84% (2003)
• The leading causes of death were:– Pneumonia and Influenza– Tuberculosis– Diarrhea– Heart Disease– Stroke
Life in 1903
Labor
PopulistsSocial Reformers African-
Americans
Women
Advocated more state and national government involvement and
protectionSpecial Interest
s
Roosevelt
Taft Wilson
Urban, Middle Class Protestants
National National ProgressivismProgressivism
Special Interest
s
1. Concern about the effects of industrialization and the conditions of industrial life. Humanize and regulate big business, not destroy it.
2. Fundamental optimism about human nature, the possibilities of progress and for individuals to “investigate, educate, and legislate.”
3. Willing to intervene in people’s lives, confident that it was their right to do so.
4. Reliance of the authority of the state and government at all levels in order to put into effect the reforms they wanted.
5. Combined evangelical Protestantism and the natural and social sciences. Saw the environment as a key to reform.
Characteristics of Progressivism
