Contradictions of

Progressivism

By Jocelyn Malaquias and Erick Leon

U.S History Period 2

What was Progressivism?• The Progressive movement of the early twentieth

century was an effort to form a majority coalition from interest groups alienated by the economic policy of the governing Republican Party

• A social movement that includes labor, anti-racism, civil right and women’s rights.

• The Progressivism era was an inspiration of the Industrial Revolution.

Woman In The Progressive Era• Woman didn't have as much

rights as men.• Woman reformers in club

movements wanted to pass reform legislation.

• The NAWSA movement was under the leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt.

• It undertook campaigns to enfranchise woman in individual states.

• The 19th amendment was ratified and allowed them to vote.

Muckrakers• Muckrakers are journalists and

other writers in the need to reform.

• These muckrakers expose the bad conditions of Progressivism.

• Lincoln Steffens, wrote a magazine which uncovers the social problems.

• He showed how corrupt politicians won votes by bribing and threatening the voters.

• Jacob Riis was a photographer who exposed the conditions of life in the tenements.

Muckrakers (continued)• John D. Rockefeller used bad ways to ruin his

competitors and charge higher prices.• The improvement of schools was highly

recommended.• John Spargo focused attention on the dangerous

and difficult lives of child workers.• They also made a Naturalist novel which

portrayed the misery of humans and struggles of the people.

The Progressive Movement and the Transformation of American Politics

Different representations of Progressivism:• The literature of Upton Sinclair • The architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright • The history of Charles Beard • The educational system of John Dewey

The movement is associated with political leaders such as Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt and thinkers such as Herbert Croly and Charles Merriam.

The original Progressive EraTwo major developments in American politics:• One, political reforms crafted to break

up the power of privileged interests, expanded suffrage, direct primaries, direct election of senators, and the initiative and referendum process

• Two, economic reforms structured to balance the excessive power of business and to fight inequality measures, graduated income and inheritance taxes, the right to organize and other labor protections, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, old age and disability provisions, food and drug safety laws

Terms of political values

Progressivism throughout the years stressed a range of ideals that remain important today:• Freedom• The common good• Pragmatism• Equality• Social justice• Democracy• Cooperation and interdependence

Focus Question What did the progressive

movement want to reform?

• Income tax with the Sixteenth Amendment • Direct election of Senators with the Seventeenth

Amendment • Prohibition with the Eighteenth Amendment • Women's suffrage through the Nineteenth

Amendment

Works Cited

Lewis L. Gould, The Most Exclusive Club: A History of the Modern United States Senate (Basic Books, 2005)• Alfred H. Kelly and Winfred A. Harbison, The American

Constitution: Its Origins & Development, fifth edition (W.W. Norton & Company, 1976)

• Frank K. Kelly, The Fight For the White House: The Story of 1912 (Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1961)

• Page Smith, America Enters the War: A People’s History of the Progressive Era and World War I, Volume Seven (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1985)

• Philip Vandermeer, “Hiram Johnson and the Dilemma of California Progressivism,” The Human Tradition in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, edited by Ballard C. Campbell (Scholarly Resources Inc., 2000)

• Halpin, John. "The Progressive Intellectual Tradition in America | Center for American Progress." Center for American Progress. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/progressive-movement/report/2010/04/14/7677/the-progressive-intellectual-tradition-in-america/>.