7 - 1: ORIGINS OF THE PROGRESSIVE ERA, 1900 - 1920
7-1: ORIGINS OF THEPROGRESSIVE ERA, 1900-1920
Overview
▪ Progressivism a response to
Political corruption
Economic instability
Social concerns
▪ Call for greater government action
Origins of Progressivism
▪ Attitudes and Motives
Response to Gilded Age excesses
Income disparities
Lavish lifestyles
Practices of “robber barons”
Rejection of Social Darwinism
Government as a vehicle to solve social problems
Origins of Progressivism
▪ Goals
Increase democracy
Reform local governments
Regulate big business
Origins ofProgressivism
▪ Muckrakers
Investigative reporters
Exposed corruption
Exposed urban problems
Promoted reform
Leading Muckrakers
Upton Sinclair—meatpacking
Ida Tarbell—trusts
Jacob Riis—poverty
Ida Wells—lynchings
Political Reforms
▪ Voter Participation
Australian (Secret) Ballot
Primaries
Direct Election of Senators (17th
Amendment)
Initiatives, Referendums, Recalls
Political Reforms
▪ Municipal Reform Commissions and city managers
Weakens power of political machines
▪ State Reform Temperance and Prohibition
(18th Amendment/Volstead Act)
Social Welfare Dorothea Dix—treatment of
mentally ill
Mann Act—prostitution illegal
Child and Women Labor Working hours limited