the progressive era 1890 - 1920...muckrakers – journalists and writers who exposed the “muck”...
TRANSCRIPT
The Progressive Era
1890 - 1920
Bell Work: 10/13/14 (Monday) “Now, it is very necessary that we should not flinch from seeing
what is vile and debasing. There is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck rake; and there are times and places where this service is the most needed of all the services that can be performed. But the man who never does anything else, who never thinks or speaks or writes, save of his feats with the muck rake, speedily becomes, not a help but one of the most potent forces for evil.... The effort to make financial or political profit out of the destruction of character can only result in calamity.“ - Theodore Roosevelt
What do you think Roosevelt is referring to? What is a muckraker? Do you think he is in favor of or opposed to muckraking?
Objectives Identify the causes of Progressivism.
Analyze the role that journalists played in the Progressive Movement.
Section 1: The Drive For Reform Reformers crossed social,
economic, political lines
Beliefs:
Industrialization and urbanization had created troubling social and political problems
Wanted society and government to help people
Use logic & reason to solve problems
End corrupt government
Some sought political reform
Vote for women
End political machines that allowed some to prosper while others lived in dangerous conditions
Big business – break up the trusts
Social – stop the growing gap between rich and poor, child labor, conditions, etc.
Muckrakers – journalists and writers who exposed the “muck” – ugliest side of life Lincoln Steffens – The Shame of
the Cities Jacob Riis, How the Other Half
Lives, photographer who turned his camera on the urban poor
Ida Tarbell, The History of Standard Oil, about Rockefeller’s ruthless tactics
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, about the horrors of the meatpacking industry
Bell Work: 10/14/14 (Tuesday) What role do you think muckrakers played in the early
20th century?
Objectives Evaluate some of the social reforms that Progressives
tackled.
Explain what Progressives hoped to achieve through political reforms.
Reform of Society Social Gospel – follow the Bible’s
teachings about charity and justice to help society
Settlement houses – provided social services to the poor Jane Addams – Hull House
Child labor laws, more
educational opportunities John Dewey urges students to
think not memorize facts Help industrial workers Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire,
1911 leads to reforms in industry (killed 146 – mostly young women)
Reforming Government Cities switch to city commission form of local government
after the hurricane of 1900 (worst natural disaster in American History – 8,000 killed)
Direct primary – people voted in local elections directly to put officials on upcoming ballots
Initiative – people could put law on ballots by getting signatures on a petition
Referendum – could approve or reject laws passed by local legislatures
Recall – voters could remove corrupt officials from office 17th Amendment – direct election of senators Progressive governors – Bob LaFollette (WI), Teddy
Roosevelt (NY), Woodrow Wilson (NJ)
Objectives Analyze the impact of changes in women’s education
on women’s roles in society.
Explain what women did to win workers’ rights and to improve family life.
Evaluate the tactics women used to win passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.
2. Women Make Progress WCTU – Temperance movement picks up Margaret Sanger – birth control, fewer children,
better quality of life Florence Kelley – Nat’l Consumer League – safer
products for the home Ida B. Wells – rights for African American women
(had also protested lynching) Carrie Chapman Catt – NAWSA – lobbied for
women’s suffrage Alice Paul 19th Amendment – suffrage (right to vote)
Bell Work: 10/17/14 What were some forms of discrimination faced by
African American and other minority groups in the early 20th century?
3. Struggle Against Discrimination Americanization – tried to make immigrants more
“American” Disturbed by alcohol use; customary in many
countries Plessy v. Ferguson – “Separate but Equal” is ok Washington & DuBois want reform (different
strategies) Niagara Movement demanded immediate change
(DuBois) NAACP forms after riots in Springfield, IL (after
attempted lynching)
Discrimination cont. Urban League – focused on poor workers; provided
clothes, books, helped find jobs
Anti-Defamation League – to defend Jews
Mexican, Native, and Asian Americans also form groups to fight prejudice and discrimination
4. Roosevelt’s Square Deal President after McKinley’s assassination; youngest;
Secretary of Navy
Square Deal – keep wealthy and powerful from taking advantage of poor, but not that government should take care of the lazy
Trustbusting – enforces Sherman Antitrust Act
Meat Inspection Act – processing plants
Pure Food and Drug Act – today enforced by the FDA
Roosevelt cont. Conservationist – w/John Muir; outdoorsman
Reserve land for public use – Yosemite National Park
Water Reclamation Act – govt. would regulate water, manage dams, reservoirs
New Nationalism – restore govt. trustbusting powers
Progressive Party – “Bull Moose”
5. Wilson’s New Freedom 1912 – Democratic Woodrow Wilson
New Freedom Plan – control corporations
Lowered tariffs so American workers could buy foreign if U.S. products got too high
16th Amendment – Income Tax
Federal Reserve Act – holds reserve funds for banks, sets interest rates, supervises banks
Wilson cont. Federal Trade Commission – Monitored business
practices that might lead to monopoly (FTC)
Clayton Antitrust Act – specified activities that businesses could not engage in, protected labor unions
Enforces the Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Legacy of Progressivism More government protection of people’s lives
More control over people’s lives
Helped children, natural resources, public health, working conditions, regulated businesses