The Progressive Era

The Progressiv

e Era

Setting the stage• The Progressive Era was a time in the

early 1900s when concerned citizens began to fight for reforms in all aspects of society.

• The Progressive Era movements started many years before this, though, in a time known as the 2nd Great Awakening

The 2nd Great Awakening• In the early 1800s, a religious fervor

(energy) swept across America (aka Great Awakening)

• This movement led many Americans to want to fix problems in our society

• Reform movements began that addressed education, voting, slavery, alcohol abuse and women’s rights

Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed problems to the public became known as muckrakers b/c they exposed corruption in society.

Famous MuckrakersIda TarbellExposed the terrible

working conditions at Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company

Ida B. WellsPublicizing the

practice of lynching in the South (A Red Record)

Class TaskTurn to page 646 in your textbook and

read the Primary Source document labeled, Muckrakers.

How was each muckraker trying to help?

1) Samuel Hopkins Adams:2) Nellie Bly:3) Lewis Hine:

Who were the Progressive Reformers?

• Progressives tended to be/have: –Middle Class–Educated–Time

available to work on society’s problems

• Women were powerful contributors to the different reform movements

Due to the efforts of muckrakers and

progressive reformers, reforms were passed that: a) expanded democracy

b) enhanced the quality of life for all Americans

Expanding Democracy• Reformers wanted to ensure that

more Americans were able to participate in our democracy

• Reform movements: Women’s suffrage, 17th Amendment, Civil Service Reform, NAACP

Women’s Path toward Equality

• For most of America’s history, women were not given equal treatment as men

• Could not own property, divorce their husbands, go to the same schools/universities, perform certain jobs, or vote

• Throughout the 1800s, women worked to gain more rights and opportunities

Seneca Falls Convention

• Held July 1848 in Seneca Falls, NY

• About 200 women and 40 men attended

• Purpose of meeting was to discuss women’s rights

• Issued a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions– Called for an end to

discriminatory laws, more career and educational opportunities, and suffrage for women

Primary Resource AnalysisRead both the Declaration of Independence

and the Seneca Falls Declaration and answer the following questions:

1. In what ways had mankind been unfair/unjust to women? List at least 2.

2. Why did the authors of the Seneca Falls Declaration use the Declaration of Independence as their model? What message were they trying to send?

Women’s Suffrage • By the early 1900s, the

women’s suffrage movement is getting more powerful

• New inventions give women more time to get involved in causes outside of their homes

• WWI empowered women with new jobs, opportunities and ideas about their roles in society that they didn’t want to give up

Opposition to Women’s Suffrage

• People didn’t want women to vote b/c they were unsure what women might do – Women fight corruption

and this worried the political machines

– Businesses thought that women would support minimum wage and child labor laws

– Others believe that women belonged at home and not in politics

National Women’s Suffrage Association

• Susan B. Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the NWSA in 1890

• Worked to get women the vote in states (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho)

• Carrie Chapman Catt organized 1 million women• She felt that women should have

a say in laws that affected them

National Women’s Party

• Alice Paul, founder• More radical than

the NWSA• Used parades,

demonstrations, hunger strikes, pickets to bring awareness

• Jailed many times

19th Amendment (1920)

• 19th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified

• Gives all American women the right to vote– See map on p. 653

Ain’t I a Woman?Read and listen to the speech, Ain’t I a Woman, by

Sojourner Truth and respond to this statement:

Sojourner Truth believed that women were just as smart and capable as men to vote. Give three pieces of evidence from her speech to support this statement.

NAACP • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People–NAACP fought

discrimination and segregation–Fought to give

blacks more rights and protections

• Founded by W.E.B. DuBois

• Believed African Americans’ lives would improve through legal protections

Political Reform

• Most cities were controlled by political machines

• Political machines were organizations that controlled all the jobs and services in the city

• If you wanted a job or a service delivered to your community, you had to pay off the political boss

• Politicians accepted bribes in return for jobs and favors

Political Reform cont’d

• Government jobs were reserved for friends and family politicians in power (aka Spoils System)

• As a result gov’t was very corrupt and poorly run

• Common people had little power or say so in their government

• Progressives want to fix this

Civil Service Commission

• Civil Service Commission is created

• People who want a job with the gov’t must now pass a test to prove they’re qualified

• 2 purposes:• Allows greater

participation in democracy

• Ensures that important gov’t positions are filled with skilled people

17th Amendment (1913)

• Gives voters the right to directly elect their senators to Congress

Summary QuestionHow do Women’s Suffrage, the

NAACP, 17th Amendment and the Civil Service Commission expand democracy?

Enhancing our Quality of Life

• Besides expanding democracy, reformers also wanted to improve Americans’ lives, create a healthier and safer environment, and protect workers and consumers from corruption

• Reform movements: Temperance, minority protection and education, food and drug safety, conservation, and trust busting

Temperance

• Many felt that alcohol was to blame for society’s problems

• Religious revivals (large meetings) preached the evils of alcohol

• Groups start to push for laws to make alcohol illegal everywhere in the US– Women’s Christian

Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League

18th Amendment (1919)

• Outlaws the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcohol

• Ushers in an era known as Prohibition

Political Cartoon AnalysisTurn to page 420 in your textbook and

analyze the political cartoon by answering the following questions:

1. What is happening in the cartoon?2. Who are the people under the arch?

Why are they there?3. Is this a pro or anti-temperance

cartoon? Give evidence to support your claim.

Minority Protection & Education • Booker T.

Washington - founded the Tuskegee Institute for African Americans

• Advocate for education

• Believed that African Americans’ lives would improve through better education opportunities

Minority Protection & Education

• Mexican Americans– Alianza Hispano-

Americo: fight for rights and protections of Mexican Americans

– Founder: Carlos Velasco

• Native Americans– Society of American

Indians: improve living conditions for Native Americans

– Zitkala-Sa fought against Boarding schools

Food and Drug Safety

• For many years, the food and meat packing industry could add whatever they wanted to their products

• No one knew what they were eating

• A major scandal broke out when hundreds of American soldiers fighting in the Spanish-American War got sick from tainted meat they ate

• Reformers became very concerned about the purity of the country’s food

The Jungle (1906)

• Author: Upton Sinclair• Wrote The Jungle to expose

the terrible conditions of the meat packing industry

• Led to new legislation • June 1906, Congress passed

the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.

• January 1, 1907: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is created to oversee federal regulation and inspection of medicines and foods

• “I aimed for the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.”

The Jungle

After reading The Jungle, many Americans called upon the government to make changes to the food industry in order to make food safer. Cite three examples from the book that Americans might use to justify their demands.

Conservation • March 1872: President Grant creates the first national park, Yellowstone National Park

• Years later, President Teddy Roosevelt would set aside 150 National Forests, 51 Federal Bird Reservations, five National Parks, 18 National Monuments, 4 National Game Preserves, and 21 Reclamation Projects – Protecting nearly 230 million

acres• August 1916: National Park

Service is created

Trust busting • A trust is when the different owners of businesses form a group to eliminate competition and control the prices of their products

• Trusts and monopolies had enormous control over American society, business and politics

• President Teddy Roosevelt and members of Congress believed they had too much power and passed laws to break those trusts up

• By breaking up trusts, workers and consumers are protected

Political Cartoon Analysis1.) What is

happening in the cartoon?

2) Is this cartoon pro or anti-trust? Give evidence to support your claim.

Essential LearningThe Progressive Era dramatically

changes America. Give three examples from your notes to support this statement.