THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

AMERICA SEEKS REFORMS IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Origins of Progressivism

Middle class reformers addressed social problems

Issues: Working conditions, rights for women and children, economic, political, environmental and social reform

Progressive Ideology

Accepted industrial capitalism Faith in progress; optimism Belief in use of govt. to reform

society Use of Evangelical

Protestantism Faith in New Ideas and

SciencePower of experts

Four Goals of Progressivism

1. Protect Social Welfare

2. Promote Moral Improvement

3. Create Economic Reform

4. Foster Efficiency

1. Protect Social Welfare

Industrialization largely unregulated Employers felt little responsibility

toward workers Settlement homes & churches serve

community YMCA, YWCA & Salvation Army take

service roles

2. Promote Moral Development

Social problems caused by personal behavior

Proposed prohibition Clash of science & religion

3. Create Economic Reform

Americans question the capitalist economic system

Workers embrace socialism Eugene Debs organized the

American Socialist Party in 1901

Debs encouraged workers to reject American

Capitalism

4. Fostering Efficiency

Political leaders start government & electoral reforms to improve efficiency

Industrial leader Frederick Taylor using time & motion studies to improve factory efficiency

Taylorism became an Industry fad – factories complete tasks quickly

Women Lead Reforms

Leading progressive reformers were women

Women reformers improve conditions at work & home

Many women graduated from new women’s colleges

Colleges like Vassar and Smith allowed women to excel

Social Welfare

Women in the Workforce

Women w/o education did domestic work

70% of women servants in 1870 Opportunities for women increased

in the cities 1900: 1 out of 5 women worked Garment trade, office work,

department stores and classrooms had women

Social Welfare

Strategy for Suffrage

Suffragists tried three approaches for suffrage:

1. State legislatures to adopt vote (Succeeded in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado)

2. Challenge the 14th Amendment3. Push for Constitutional

Amendment

Social Welfare

Women Win Suffrage

Native-born, educated, middle-class women grew more and more impatient

Local, state and national organizations, protests and World War I, women finally get the vote in 1920

The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920

Social Welfare

NAACP & Civil Rights

1909: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People founded

Goal: full equality among the races

Means: legal action

1964 Application

Social Welfare

New Roles for Women

Many are now nurses, teachers, librarians, & secretaries Women still earned less than men & kept out of many traditional male jobs

Early 20th Century teachers

Social Welfare

The Flapper New female ideal for some women: the Flapper Flapper: an emancipated young woman who embraced the new fashions and urban attitudes

Social Welfare

The Changing Family

Birthrates decline for years before the 1920s Birth control information widely available 1921: Birth control clinics opened & American Birth Control League founded

Margaret Sanger and other founders of the American Birth Control

League - 1921

Social Welfare

Modern Family

Marriage based on romantic loveWomen manage household and financesChildren developing who need nurturing and education

Social Welfare

Support for Prohibition

Belief that alcohol led to crime, child & wife abuse, and accidents Supporters from the rural south and west Church affiliated Anti-Saloon League & Women’s Christian Temperance Union push for the 18th Amendment

Moral Developme

nt

Speakeasies & Bootleggers

Americans did not believe drinking was a sin Immigrants not willing to give up drinking Drinkers went to hidden saloons - speakeasies People bought liquor from bootleggers

Moral Developme

nt

Organized Crime

Prohibition contributed to the growth of organized crime Al Capone – famous bootlegger Capone controls Chicago liquor business by killing his competition

Al Capone was finally convicted on tax evasion

charges in 1931

Moral Developme

nt

Government Control

Government doesn’t budget money to enforce law Enforcing Prohibition fell to 1,500 poorly paid federal agents --- clearly an impossible task

Federal agents pour wine down a sewer

Moral Developme

nt

Prohibition Repealed

Mid-20s 19% of Americans supported Prohibition Many felt Prohibition caused more problems than it solved 1933: 21st Amendment repeals Prohibition

Moral Developme

nt

Science & Religion Clash

Battle b/w fundamentalist religious groups & secular thinkers Fundamentalists found literal truth in the bible

Moral Developme

nt

Scopes Trial

1925, Tennessee passes a law making criminalizing evolution in schoolsACLU promises to defend any teacher who challenges the law: John Scopes

Scopes was a biology teacher who dared to teach his students that man

derived from lower species

Moral Developme

nt

ACLU hires Clarence Darrow, most famous trial lawyer of the era, for Scopes Prosecution hires William Jennings Bryan, the 3-time presidential nominee

Darrow

Bryan

Scopes TrialMoral

Development

Opens on July 10,1925 Darrow calls Bryan as a Bible expert: Should the bible be interpreted literally? Bryan admits the Bible can be interpreted in different ways Scopes still was found guilty and fined $100

Bryan

Darrow

Scopes TrialMoral

Development

Criticizing Big Business

“Muckrakers” exposed corruption in business

Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil Company’s cut-throat methods of eliminating competition

Michael Moore?

Ida Tarbell

Some view Michael

Moore as a modern

muckraker

Economic

Efficiency

“The Jungle” Leads to Reforms

1906: Roosevelt pushed for the Meat Inspection Act after reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

The Act mandates clean meatpacking plants

Economic

Efficiency

Protecting Working Children

As the number of child workers rose, reformers worked to end child labor

Children more accident prone

Nearly every state banned child labor by 1918

Economic

Efficiency

Limiting Working Hours

Supreme Court enacted or strengthened laws reducing worker hours

Progressives also won worker’s compensation

Economic

Efficiency

Triangle Shirtwaist FireEconom

ic Efficien

cy

Cleaning Up Government

Desire to make government more efficient & responsive to citizens

Some believe it also was meant to limit immigrants influence in local governments

Political Efficien

cy

Reform Mayors

Tom L. Johnson, Cleveland, OHExpanded social services and brought about

public ownership of the waterworks, gas and electric utilities, and public transportation

Samuel “Golden Rule” Jones, Toledo, OHProvided free social services and reformed the

police department Hazen S. Pingree, Detroit, MI

Expanded public welfare programs, initiated public works programs for the unemployed, and fought privately owned utility monopolies.

Political Efficien

cy

Election Reforms

Won secret ballots, referendum votes, and the recall

Could petition and get initiatives on the ballot

Political Efficien

cy

Election Reforms

Each state assembly chose U.S. senators

Force senators to be more responsive to the public popular election of senators was pushed

1913: 17th Amendment ratified for direct election of Senators

Political Efficien

cy

Progressive Presidents & Laws

Roosevelt establishes himself as a modern president

Wilson enacts his “New Freedom”

Planned to attack privilege: trusts, tariffs, and high finance

1902 Coal Strike

PA coal miners strike for increased wages, a 9-hour work day, and the right to unionize

Management refuse to bargain Roosevelt settled the dispute Precedent: when strikes

threaten public welfare federal government expected to step in

Pure Food & Drug Act

1906: passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act

Act halts sale of contaminated foods and medicines and called for truth in labeling

The Pure Food and Drug Act took medicines with cocaine and other

harmful ingredients off the market

Clayton Antitrust Act

1914: passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act strengthens the Sherman Act

Clayton Act prevents companies from buying stock from other companies - antimonopoly

Act supported unions

Federal Trade Commission

1914: FTC serves as “watchdog” agency – end unfair business practices

The FTC protects consumers from business fraud

Today the FTC has been working on protecting consumers from ID theft

Federal Income Tax

1913: 16th Amendment ratified legalizing a graduated federal income tax

Progressive Movement Wanes

Progressive movement peaks by 1917 Success of the movement led to its decline Advent of World War I also hurt

progressive activism Progressives themselves weary of their

reform zeal; as did the nation