The Progressive EraOrigins of Progressivism, Government Reform and Major Progressive Programs

1895 - 1917

Origins of Progressivism1. Industrialization

Labor issues, corporate corruption2. Urbanization

Poverty, disease, pollution, crime, overcrowding3. Immigration

Nativism, racism

The next three Presidents of the United States would all become known as “PROGRESSIVES” as they attempted to address these issues!

Who Were the Progressives? Middle Class Americans

Doctors, lawyers, ministers, storekeepers “White-collar” Americans

Bankers, management, office workers * Belief that changes in society were needed

and government was the proper agency to guide changes *

The “Muckrakers” Jacob Riis

“How the Other Half Lives”

Ida Tarbell “History of Standard

Oil” Lincoln Steffens

“The Shame of the Cities”

Upton Sinclair “The Jungle”

* Muckrakers were journalists who exposed waste, corruption, and scandal in the highly influential new medium of national magazines *

Reforming Government The first step to changing

society was to reform GOVERNMENT!!! Get rid of PARTY BOSSES and

POLITICAL MACHINES▪ “municipal reform”▪ Council-Manager *

(Beavercreek!)

Bring government CLOSER TO THE PEOPLE (“popular sovereignty”) ▪ “state reform”▪ Initiative, Referendum and

Recall *▪ Direct Primary * (1903) “Fighting” Bob La

Follette

* Municipal/City Reform *

* State Reform *

* State Reform *

* Fighting Bob! (Wisconsin) *

Reforming Government Progressives advocated

methods for increasing voter participation… “Australian” Ballot, 1910

Direct election of Senators▪ 17th Amendment, 1913

Why all these reforms…

…because PROGRESSIVES

believed that the people would elect honest officials!

Women’s Rights and Suffrage

U.S. Constitution, 1789 – leaves SUFFRAGE undefined! (all states except NJ) 1848, Seneca Falls

Convention* Post Civil-War,

Reconstruction 37th – Nebraska, 1867 48th – Arizona, 1912

19th Amendment, 1919 Western territories (WHY?)

and Wyoming, 1869

Reforming Education By 1910, smaller cities

began building high schools… * rapid growth of the

middle class, who were the grassroots supporters of progressive measures! *

* began passing compulsory schooling laws. *

John Dewey Education – civil

society and government

Child Labor Laws Urbanization/

industrialization forced children to move from farms into factories! John Spargo, The Bitter Cry

of the Children▪ “Breaker Boys” in coal mines

* States passed minimum working age and maximum working hours laws! *

Temperance and Prohibition Many progressives believed that alcohol

explained many of the social problems in the United States… Temperance Movement – advocated for alcohol in

moderation! 18th Amendment, 1919

Prohibition!

Hillsboro, OH – 1874

Anti-Saloon League, 1893 Oberlin, OH