The Progressive Era

1. The Progressive Era 1890-1920 Mrs. Alegre-Cruz

2. Standards Students analyze the relationship among the rise of the industrialization, large-scale rural to urban migration, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia. • Evaluate the effects of industrialization on living and working conditions embraced in the portrayal of working conditions and food safety in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. • Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses to them by immigrants and middle-class reformers. • Trace the effect of the Americanization movement. • Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives

3. The Scene… • Majority of people still in poverty • Half the nation’s wealth concentrated in 1% of population • Growth of middle class made it possible for the Progressive Era • Wanted to improve conditions for their people • Altruistic – improve conditions for others • Grassroots and government reformers address abuses and deficiencies in American life at local, state, and federal levels • Progressive Era = one major phase of liberalism in the 20th century

4. Origins of Progressivism • 1890s – believed that honest, efficient government could bring about social justice • Believed urbanization and industrialization created social and political problems • Populism vs. Progressivism • Similar - reform movements, believed gov’t should be responsive to people’s needs • Different - populists = farmers, progressives = middle class

5. Evaluate the effects of industrialization on living and working conditions embraced in the portrayal of working conditions and food safety in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. • Muckraker • Early 1900s; Journalists who expose the truth about various social issues • Term coined by Theodore Roosevelt – thought they were sensationalizing stories to attract readership

6. Evaluate the effects of industrialization on living and working conditions embraced in the portrayal of working conditions and food safety in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. • Famous Muckrakers and their exposes • Lincoln Steffens of McClure’s magazine uncovered social problems and revealed corruption in city governments – Shame of the Cities • Jacob Riis, photographer for New York Evening Sun; How the Other Half Lives revealed life of urban poor • Ida Tarbell wrote Rockefeller’s ruthless methods to ruin competitors; The History of the Standard Oil Company led to successful prosecution in 1911 • Frank Norris’s novel The Octopus exposed corrupt politicians conspiring with the powerful Southern Pacific Railroad to exploit Californian farmers

7. The Jungle How the Other Half Lives

8. Evaluate the effects of industrialization on living and working conditions embraced in the portrayal of working conditions and food safety in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. • Upton Sinclair • The Jungle is most popular work; Led to major reforms in food purity legislation • meant to show life of immigrants and class disparity but instead exposed the horrible conditions of meat-packing industry

9. Evaluate the effects of industrialization on living and working conditions embraced in the portrayal of working conditions and food safety in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. • Reforms from The Jungle • Meat Inspection Act – (TR) 1906, federal agents inspect any meat sold across state lines and required federal inspection of meat-processing plants (if there are problems, gov’t can order the food removed from shelves) • Pure Food and Drug Act – placed the same controls on other foods and on medicines, banned interstate shipment of impure food and the mislabeling of food and drugs (enforced by FDA, drugs require testing and approval)

10. National History Day Documentary – Upton Sinclair

11. Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses to them by immigrants and middle-class reformers. The Alderman...bails out his constituents when they are arrested, or says a good word to the police justice when they appear before him for trial; uses his "pull" with the magistrate when they are likely to be fined for a civil misdemeanor, or sees what he can do to "fix up matters" with the State's attorney when the charge is really a serious one. Because of simple friendliness, the Alderman is expected to pay rent for the hard-pressed tenant when no rent is forthcoming, to find jobs when work is hard to get, to procure and divide among his constituents all the places which he can seize from the City Hall.... The question does, of course, occur to many minds, Where does the money come from[?]...He...sells out the city franchises...he makes deal with the franchise-seeking companies...he guarantees to steer dubious measures through the [City] Council, for which he demands liberal pay.... Jane Addams - http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/us28.cfm

12. Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses to them by immigrants and middle-class reformers. • Immigrants attracted to political machines because they offered protection, offered ethnic solidarity, and provided an occupation when they had little to no skills • Middle-class reformers saw the need for government reform; thought government should be taking care of the people Quotes from “Boss” Tweed I don't care a straw for your newspaper articles; my constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures. On the political cartoons of Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly, as quoted in "Article IV: An Episode in Municipal Government" by Charles F. Wingate in The North American Review (July 1875), p. 150 I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating. As quoted in Understanding American Government (2003) by Susan Welch, p. 224

13. Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses to them by immigrants and middle-class reformers. • Urban political machines = government corruption (favoritism, sordid dealings, nepotism) • Most famous machine – William “Boss” Tweed’s “Ring”; NY political machine aka Tammany Hall • Stole between $70 and 200 million from city of NY • Exposed by Thomas Nast (cartoonist, also responsible for elephant and donkey symbols) • Merged Democratic Party and the Society of St. Tammany • Garnered loyalty of immigrants and rigged elections • Tweed jailed; NY’s first Republican mayor since Tammany was Fiorello La Guardia

16. Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses to them by immigrants and middle-class reformers. • Reforms at Local and City Levels • Galveston Plan – commission form of government • Named after Galveston Storm in 1900 – greatest disaster in American history, over 8,000 killed • GP – replaced mayor with five-person commission; manage government like a business to increase efficiency • New city governments curbed power of bosses and political machines and purchased public utilities to make them more affordable

17. City Commission – all but 4 states adopt plan

18. Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses to them by immigrants and middle-class reformers. • Reforms on Election Rules • Robert La Follette (reform governor of Wisconsin, became known as progressive state). • “Lab of Democracy,” Wisconsin Reforms included: • direct primary system (citizens vote to select nominees for upcoming elections) • Corrupt Practices Act – political figures liable to prosecution for wrongdoing • Limits on campaign expenditures and lobbying activities • Utilizing professionals and experts in special commissions to investigate problems like conservation, taxes, education, politics, etc. Fighting Bob

19. Analyze the effect of urban political machines and responses to them by immigrants and middle-class reformers. • Other Reforms – power to people • Initiative - Power to put proposed law directly on the ballot through petitions • Referendum - Allowed citizens to approve or reject laws passed by a legislature • Recall - Voters have power to remove public servants before the end of term • Progressive governors – Theodore Roosevelt of NY, Woodrow Wilson of NJ, Hiram Johnson of CA

20. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Who were the Progressives? • Religious folk – Social Gospel Movement • Abolitionists • Female Suffragettes • Mostly Middle-Class

21. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Began with Social Gospel Movement • Combined Protestant religion with humanitarian work – Christian duty to improve lives of poor and immigrants • Mostly in urban areas • The Salvation Army – soap, soup, and salvation • Walter Rauschenbusch combined socialist thought with religious ideals • Settlement houses – provided services and skills to the poor (Jane Addams’s Hull House in Chicago is most famous)

23. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • What were the Problems? • No vote for women • Monopolies – oil, steel, railroads, etc. • Industrial hazards / Poor working conditions – • Early 1900s, US had highest rate of industrial accidents in the world • Long hours, poor ventilation, hazardous fumes, unsafe machinery • 30,000 workers died each year with another half million injured • March 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, NY – Fire killed 146 workers, mostly young Jewish women; factory managers locked most exits

24. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • What were the Problems? • Child Labor • Florence Kelley convinced Illinois to ban child labor • 1902, Kelley formed National Child Labor Committee, which successfully lobbied for creation of US Children’s Bureau in 1912 – examines health and welfare of children (exists today) • 1938, Congress ends child labor • Better children’s lives by improving education – states adopted laws with age requirements and John Dewey advocated for teaching of new subjects like history and geography

26. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • What were the Problems? • Poor living conditions – 2/3 NY city dwellers lived in Tenement Houses. Tenement Houses were: • Overcrowded • Poorly ventilated • Poorly lit • Bred disease • Unsanitary • Prone to fire (Right) A room in a tenement house. As of 1900, thirty-five% of deaths for those between the age of 15 to 35 were due to tuberculosis.

27. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Women’s Movement • Women had few rights, paid less, had little skills, no vote meant no political influence • Many become educated and employed as teachers and nurses • Achieved limits on work hours but law later used to justify paying women less than men • Florence Kelly • Found National Consumers League (NCL) – special labels to goods produced with under fair, safe, and health working conditions • Helped form Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) – improved factory conditions for women

28. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Women’s Movement • One main goal was to improve family life • Temperance movement led by Women’s Christian Temperance Movement (WCTU) – never drinking alcohol; believed it led men to neglect and abuse > Prohibition, 18th Amend. • 1921, Margaret Sanger founded American Birth Control League; believed women’s health would improve with fewer children • 1896, Ida B. Wells helped form National Association of Colored Women (NACW) set up day care centers for black children so parents could work

29. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives Women’s Movement – Two Main Groups • National Women’s Suffrage Association (NWSA) – Carrie Chapman Catt • Two-fold plan: constitutional amendment and referendum (suffrage by state) • Tactics less aggressive than NWP • National Women’s Party (NWP) – Alice Paul • Social activists – more daring tactics • First group to picket the White House; hundreds arrested • Some went on hunger strikes Some women worked against suffrage arguing it would take women’s attention away from family

30. Harry Osborn, Two More Bright Spots on the Map, 
Maryland Suffrage News (14th November, 1914)

32. Sister Suffragette – Mary Poppins

33. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Women’s Movement • NAWSA and NWP support of WWI influenced 19th Amendment, 1919 – right to vote cannot be denied based on sex • Both NAWSA and NWP claimed responsibility for the victory • First election was November 2, 1920

35. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Progressive Contradictions – Although there were many reforms, also much racism and discrimination against non-whites; forced Americanization on them especially immigrants

36. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives & Trace the effect of the Americanization movement. • Progressive Contradictions • Settlement houses aid Americanization of immigrants • Immigrants’ use of alcohol targeted by temperance supporters • Scientific theories claim dark-skinned people less intelligent than whites • Plessy v. Ferguson upholds segregation

37. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • African Americans Demand Reform • Booker T. Washington proposed patience and gradual progress • W.E.B. Du Bois urged immediate demand of equal rights

38. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Minorities formed groups to help fight for their rights in the early 1900’s • Anti-Defamation League forms to defend Jews against anti-semitism and stereotyping • Mexican-Americans form mutualistas to help themselves; Provided loans, legal assistance, and insurance programs • Native Americans’ land is sold; 2/3 of Indian tribal land held by whites. Carlos Moctezuma forms Society of American Indians in 1911, encouraged preservation of culture and independence from government • Asian-Americans encounter unfair laws; CA – only citizens could own land; Japanese could not become citizens.

39. Reading Check • What were some of the problems tackled by Progressive reformers? • Compare and contrast the tactics of Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul. • How were Progressives’ attitudes toward minority rights contradictory? • Explain why African Americans organized and explain opposing viewpoints. • What strategies did members of other minority groups use to defend their rights?

40. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Roosevelt’s Political Program – The Square Deal • Goal: To keep wealthy and powerful from taking advantage of small business owners and the poor Primary Source: “When I say I believe in a square deal, I do not mean to give every man the best hand. If good cards do not come to any man, or if they do come, and he has not got the power to play them, that is his affair. All I mean is that there shall be no crookedness in the dealing.” -Theodore Roosevelt, 1905

41. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Roosevelt’s Political Program – The Square Deal • Trustbusting and Regulating Industry • Railroads • Elkins Act 1903 – fines for favoritism • Hepburn Act – set and limit shipping costs • Enforced Sherman Antitrust Act – “trust-tamer” • Food and Drug Industries – Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act (FDA) • Environment • National Forests • Gifford Pinchot • Rational Use –preservation for public use • Water – National Reclamation Act

42. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • war hero • Reformer • Wanted to protect America’s wilderness • Believed that government should help people • Preferred higher tariffs • Proposed an income tax • Opposed some of Roosevelt’s conservation policies • Believed in trust-busting • Believed government should regulate business • republican

44. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Republican Party split • Reformers joined TR’s New Nationalism program under Progressive Party aka Bull Moose Party • Loyalists stick with Taft • Democrats choose Woodrow Wilson (supported by William Jennings Bryan) • WW wrote doctoral thesis on reforming government. Was a president of a large, prestigious university. Became governor of NJ.

45. Presidential Election 1912

46. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Wilson’s Political Program – New Freedom (similar to New Nationalism; focused on government controls over corporations) • “Triple wall of privilege” – tariffs, banks, trusts • Regulates the economy • Lowers tariffs so big businesses don’t charge unfair prices, raise taxes (16th Amendment, graduated income tax) to make up the difference in lost revenue from tariffs • Federal Reserve Act – regional banks hold reserve funds, set interest rates • Antitrust Regulation – agreed w/TR, Congress passed FTC and Clayton Anti-trust Act aka Magna Carta of labor

47. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Regulates the economy (continued) • Workers’ Rights • Clayton AA allowed unions to organize more freely; led to creation of American Federation of Labor by Samuel Gompers • Workman’s Compensation Act - gave wages to temporarily disabled civil service employees • Adamson Act – to prevent a nationwide railroad strike; limited railroad workers’ days to 8 hours • Did not always support organized labor – didn’t support miners’ strike which led to Ludlow Massacre (miners on strike in tents were killed; federal troops called in to restore order)

50. Examine the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives • Progressive Legacy • Expanded voters’ influence (initiative, referendum, recall, and 19th Amendment) • Federal government grew to offer more protection but also more control over people’s lives • Monitor the economy (Antitrust laws, Federal Reserve Board, etc.) • Manage natural resources BIG PICTURE – Government can take action to help people fix problems