The Origins of Progressivism

1. The Origins of Progressivism 17-1 1

2. Progressive Movement • A series of reform movements that sought to impact American society for the better • Groups of people who saw something wrong with society and worked to change it 2

3. Four Goals of Progressivism • Protecting Social Welfare • Promoting Moral Improvement • Creating Economic Reform • Fostering Efficiency 3

4. Some Progressive Movements • Social Gospel Movement • Settlement houses • YMCA/YWCA • Libraries, swimming pools, classes • Salvation Army • Soup kitchens, child care, help for the poor 4

5. Salvation Army Hall 5

6. 1st YMCA Building, 1889 6

7. Florence Kelley • An advocate for improving the lives of women and children • Worked to get the Illinois Factory Act passed in 1893 and became the chief inspector of factories in Illinois • She made sure that factories provided safe environments for their workers 7

8. Florence Kelley 8

9. Prohibition • The movement to ban the use of alcohol • Supporters were worried that alcohol was undermining American morals • Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement: largest prohibition movement 9

10. Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement 10

11. Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement 11

12. Carry Nation (WCTM) Known for walking into saloons, scolding customers, and using a hatchet to destroy liquor bottles. 12

13. Socialists work for Economic Reform • Socialism: a political system in which the government creates a more equal distribution of wealth • Socialism Today: Countries today (some that are democratic) in which the government owns some of the industries (mostly utilities) • Eugene Debs: a leading socialist who worked to get more rights for the workers of the early 20th c. 13

14. Journalism in the early 20th c. • Muckrakers: journalists who wrote about the corrupt side of business and public life • They were raking up the muck of society • Ida M. Tarbell: famous muckraker who exposed the Standard Oil Company’s cutthroat policies • Upton Sinclair: Exposed the meatpacking industry in his book “The Jungle” 14

15. Excerpt from “The Jungle” • And then there was "potted game" and "potted grouse," "potted ham," and "deviled ham"—devyled, as the men called it. "De-vyled" ham was made out of the waste ends of smoked beef that were too small to be sliced by the machines; and also tripe, dyed with chemicals so that it would not show white, and trimmings of hams and corned beef, and potatoes, skins and all, and finally the hard cartilaginous gullets of beef, after the tongues had been cut out. All this ingenious mixture was ground up and flavored with spices to make it taste like something. Anybody who could invent a new imitation had been sure of a fortune from old Durham, said Jurgis's informant, but it was hard to think of anything new in a place where so many sharp wits had been at work for so long; where men welcomed tuberculosis in the cattle they were feeding, because it made them fatten more quickly; and where they bought up all the old rancid butter left over in the grocery stores of a continent, and "oxidized" it by a forced-air process, to take away the odor, rechurned it with skim milk, and sold it in bricks in the cities! . . . 15

16. Scientific Management • Scientific Management: studies that showed how to break down work into small parts to make it more efficient • Taylorism: breaking work down into small jobs (assembly line style) • Named after Frederick Winslow Taylor (who did the studies) • Henry Ford: used Taylorism and paid workers high wages for fewer hours to work assembly lines • He created weekends for workers (so they had a chance to use their cars that he produced) 16

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18. Ford Assembly Line 18

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20. Ford Assembly Line 20

21. Ford Assembly Line 21

22. Cleaning Up Local Government • Some politicians were corrupt: they only helped themselves and their friends, they did not help everyone • Natural Disasters showed how corrupt some politicians were 22

23. Hurricane in Galveston, Texas 1900 23

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27. Flood in Dayton, Ohio – 1913 27

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30. Reform at the State Level • Some governors tried to get big business to stop dictating what leaders did in office • Governor Robert La Follette: 3 term gov. of Wisconsin • Stopped railroad companies from pressuring leaders to make laws that helped their business • Other leaders pushed for child labor laws and a limit on factory work hours 30

31. Reforming Elections • Private citizens worked to get elections that were more fair • Secret ballot started during this time • Initiative: a bill originated by the people, not the lawmakers • Referendum: a vote on the initiative to see if the majority of voters wanted to make it law • Recall: allowed people to take politicians out of office by making them win another election before their term was up IF enough voters wanted that 31

32. Direct Election of Senators • 16th Amendment (1913): gave the federal government the right to impose an income tax • 17th Amendment (1913): said that people could vote for their state senators • Before Senators had been appointed by state legislatures 32

33. Women in Public Life 17-2 33

34. Women in the Work Force • Generally white, upper class women did not work outside the home while poorer women worked in factories and shops • Women in the new western parts of the country were important farm workers • Women without education often worked as domestic workers (maids) 34

35. Women Reformers • Triangle Shirtwaist Factory: 146 workers were killed in a fire because they were locked into their floor by the factory owners who wanted them to be more productive • http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/ 35

36. Women Reformers • Women’s Colleges Open • Vassar, Smith, Wellesley, and sister schools for Harvard, Columbia, and Brown • Women start reform movements • NACW: National Association for Colored Women • Nurseries, kindergartens, reading rooms, etc. 36

37. Susan B. Anthony 37

38. Elizabeth Cady Stanton 38

39. Anthony and Stanton • Worked hard to get suffrage for women • Suffrage: The right to vote • They founded the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) • http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/ 39

40. Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal 17-3 40

41. Teddy Roosevelt (during Spanish American War) 41

42. Theodore Roosevelt (During Presidency) 42

43. Rough-Riding President • T. Roosevelt was the governor of New York after he had fought in Cuba during the Spanish American war • He ran as McKinley’s VP in 1900 • McKinley was shot 6 months into the term and Roosevelt became President • He had some medical issues as a child but was an impressive athlete despite them • On a hunting trip he spared the life of a bear cub – a toy marketer developed the Teddy Bear because of this 43

44. “Teddy” Bear Cartoon 44

45. Roosevelt’s Square Deal • Square Deal: a series of progressive changes that Roosevelt fought for as President • Went after the meat packing industry (influenced by Sinclair’s “The Jungle”) • Trust Busting: He went after large corporations and made them practice fair policies and have safer work environments • Trust: a legal body created to hold stock in many companies 45

46. Square Deal Criticism Cartoons 46

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48. Roosevelt Supporter Pin 48

49. 1902 Coal Strike • 140,000 coal miners went on strike • They wanted 9 hr work day, 20% raise and the right to unionize • Miner owners refused to negotiate • 5 months into the strike coal supplies were running low • Roosevelt brought both sides to the White House and got them to agree to arbitration (allowing a third party to settle the dispute fairly) • This set the precedent that if a strike threatened the public good, the federal gov’t should intervene 49

50. 1902 Coal Strike 50