Progressive Agendas

Section 5.3

Today’s Agenda

• 5.3 Slide Show

• Presentations– Louis Brandeis (Mueller v. Oregon)– Jane Addams– Roberta LaFollette– Nellie Bly

• Homework– Quiz on Progressivism Tuesday

How can reform be accomplished?

• Was America a democracy in 1900?

• Who voted?

• Who chooses our leaders?

• Is America 1 man one vote?

Women in Progressive Movement

Jane Addams Presentation

Who was Jane Addams?• Progressive reformer• Saint Jane• Moved by 3 children who had all

been injured while home alone (while parents worked)

• Hull House– A settlement house– A community center in

immigrant Chicago slum– Taught English, held political

discussions, celebrated diverse cultures, day nursery, night school

– 2 thousand visitors per day

Jane Addams

How did Galveston become a model of efficiency?

• Hurricane destroyed city (1900)• State replaced governing power from large

city-council with 5 commissioners• Most were business leaders (not

politicians)• City quickly recovered• Served as model on how to build efficient

government• Helped to eliminate ward boss power

La Follette Presentation

Who was “Fighting Bob” La Follette?• Reform Governor of Wisconsin• Initiated series of reforms that

make state more democratic• Direct primary

– voters, not bosses, select candidates

• Initiative– citizens, not bosses, introduce

bills to legislature• Referendum

– citizens vote for or against proposed laws

• Recall– citizens vote to fire elected

official

What is the Seventeenth Amendment and how did it democratize America?

• Calls for direct election of senators (1913)

– Senators had been chosen from state legislature • Controlled by

political machines• Senators awarded

supporters with fat contracts

Was the right to vote expanded during the Progressive era?

• Women– Had limited right to vote in 19

states– Could not vote for president– Suffragettes– Grew from 13 to 75 thousand

(1893-1910)– 19th Amendment (1920) gave full

voting rights• African Americans

– Jim Crow laws passed after 1890 reduced voting rights

– Poll taxes, literacy tests

Suffrage

How did states begin to regulate big business?

• Wisconsin– RR commission– Power to regulate rates– Prevented unfair

competition• Maryland

– Law (1902) required employers to buy workers’ compensation insurance

• Oregon (1903)– Prohibited women working

more than 10 hours

Protecting Workers

Louis Brandeis

Presentation

• Supreme court case

– Mueller challenged state of Oregon’s right to regulate his business

• Louis Brandeis argued for Oregon

• Brandeis brief

– Based primarily on sociological data

– economic and social statistics, photographs, expert opinions

– Very little precedent

– Said that long hours damaged health of women and therefore damaged welfare of America

Describe Mueller v. Oregon.

• Supreme Court unanimous for Oregon

• Women need special protection

• 1st case which used sociology in argument

• States can regulate business for public good

Describe Mueller v. Oregon.

Who was John Dewey• Progressive educator

– “Learn be doing.”• Said school should be

Laboratories of Democracy– Children need to be

taught how to be a good citizen

• Movement helped end child labor

• Illiteracy– 1870 = 20%– 1920 = 6 %

Nelly Bly Presentation