The Progressive Era

THE PROGRESSIVE ERABringing Order to Industrializing Chaos

OBJECTIVES To understand the connection between the

Progressive movement and the time from which it came.

To explain how progressivism sought to challenge the chaos of the late 19th century with the scientific application of government.

To compare the role of Progressives in various stations in American life

To connect the philosophy of progressivism to select aspects of American life

INDUSTRIALIZATION, IMMIGRATION AND THE STATE OF THE NATION

Industrialization and immigration had inflicted jarring changes on cities Changing working conditions Rapid and unmanaged growth of cities Decline of the political role and economic power of rural

areas Centralization of economic power

American government fashioned for a much different society

Corruption and chaos characterized the late 19th Century

HOW DOES THIS PICTURE REVEAL THE JARRING EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION?

SOME TRENDS OF THE LATER 19TH CENTURY THAT WOULD CHALLENGE THIS CHAOS Faith in science and progress grows

Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory argued of an ordered process of progress- nature could be explained.

Growth of the professions among the middle class- rapidly growing in numbers and power Growing emphasis on expertise and education Quantification and organization

Beginnings of the social sciences Social Gospel movement address the growing

poverty of urban society. Settlement House Movement and the application of

order to yield improvement

TECHNOLOGY AND PROGRESSIVISM Large industries

adopted principles of scientific management

Electricity and other new technology showed the power of human intellect to invent a better community

FROM POPULISM TO PROGRESSIVISM Progressivism: An urban and

intellectual movement Centered on cities and urban

issues Focused on a great faith in

knowledge Considered a wide range of

social, political and economic issues

Dominated by the Middle Class

Separate movement that penetrated both Republican and Democratic Parties (Until 1912)

Populism: A Rural and Political Movement Centered on farmers and

rural areas Focused on the emotional

response to needs of those who felt cheated

Considered a narrow range of economic issues

Dominated by farmers with some working class

A third party absorbed into the Democratic Party

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEMS PERCEIVED BY DIFFERENT GROUPS OF PROGRESSIVES? The poverty and disorder of urban slums Limited power of Democracy and irresponsive

government Corrupt urban government and ineffective delivery

of public services (such as public sanitation) Lack of controls on producers of goods and services Lack of protection for industrial workers Lack of social cohesion (sense of community) in

growing cities Lack of progress in race relations

HOW IS THE PROGRESSIVE SPIRIT REVEALED IN THIS POSTCARD?

HOW DID THE PROGRESSIVES PROJECT THEIR AGENDA? THE WORK OF WRITERS Journalists called muckrakers conducted and

presented investigative journalism- exposé In serial form… One chapter a week supported

continued subscription sales Generated anger and indignation Focused on government corruption and underhanded

business tactics Novelists explored the darker side of American

industrial society Isolation and abandonment Greed and selfishness

HOW DID PROGRESSIVES PROJECT THEIR AGENDA: THE WORK OF PHILOSOPHERS

AND SOCIAL ACTIVISTS Social philosophers sought to create and support

institutions that established order in communities Jane Addams and Hull House (poor and immigrants) John Dewey and Education

Activists worked to organize resources to improve lives of groups of Americans Lawrence Veiller and slum residents Florence Kelley and Child Labor Samuel Gompers and organized labor

HOW DID PROGRESSIVES PROJECT THEIR AGENDA: THE WORK OF POLITICIANS

Local politicians would find support by adopting Progressive ideas Activists worked to organize resources to improve lives of groups

of Americans Lawrence Veiller and slum residents Florence Kelley and Child Labor Samuel Gompers and organized labor

President Theodore Roosevelt adopted the spirit of progressivism and would establish many aspects of our modern presidency Progressive government would extend from the local to the national

levels

PROGRESSIVISM IN A NUTSHELL Human problems can be eliminated with the

scientific application of order through the direction of government.

Education and intellect were critical to cultivating a better society

The jarring chaos and disorder of the last part of the 19th century cab be eliminated with government planning and control

Progressives advocated reform from various stations of life. They would transform the role of government

WHAT SOCIAL PROBLEM IS DEPICTED IN THIS CARTOON?

How is this picture a function of industrialization and immigration?

How does the picture appeal to a government solution?

WHAT SOCIAL PROBLEM IS DEPICTED IN THIS CARTOON?

How is this picture a function of industrialization and immigration?

How does the picture appeal to a government solution?

WHAT SOCIAL PROBLEM IS DEPICTED IN THIS CARTOON?

How is this picture a function of industrialization and immigration?

How does the picture appeal to a government solution?