Chapter Ninth Edition America: Past and Present America: Past and Present, Ninth Edition Divine Breen Frederickson Williams Gross Brands Copyright ©2011,

Chapter

Ninth Edition

America: Past and PresentAmerica: Past and Present

America: Past and Present, Ninth EditionDivine • Breen • Frederickson • Williams • Gross • Brands

Copyright ©2011, ©2007, ©2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.All rights reserved.

The Progressive EraThe Progressive Era

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PROGRESSIVISM

• Period from 1890s to WW I

• Not Radical Change – REFORM

• Progressivism reflects the worry in Society about the effects of Industrialization and urbanization

• National but not a unified group



Muckrakers Call for Reform

• McClure’s Magazine

• “Muckrakers” write to expose corruption at all levels on every subject

• Muckrakers are Journalistic voice of Progressive Age – need to reform

• Ida Tarbell well-known muckraker

• Lincoln Steffens research on corruption in city governments



PROGRESSIVISM

• Period from 1890S TO WW I

• Not Radical Change – REFORM

• Progressivism reflects the worry in Society About the Effects of Industrialization and Urbanization

• National but not a unified group



The Innovative Model T

• Henry Ford set standards for mass production with his auto industry

• Small profit on each unit, gross of huge profit on high volume of sales

• 1908: Model T introduced

• “Tin Lizzie” was motor car for everyone

• 1916: Federal government began highway subsidies



The Burgeoning Trusts

• Big business resulted in a growing number of trusts

• Series of mergers and consolidations in industry – small guy is gone

• 1% of industry produced half of all manufactured good

• Finance men (J.P. Morgan) replace industrial capitalists

• Question: What should government do about trusts?



Managing the Machines

• Mass production changed direction of American industry

• Business became large scale and mechanized and managed

• Replacement of industrial giants by financial giants

• Workplace is boring and dangerous because workers must work fast



Better Times on the Farm

• 1920 – 1/3 of people still on farms

• Isolation reduced by (RFD) mail and parcel post deliveries to farms

• Tenant farmers remained impoverished

• Western farmers benefited from vast irrigation projects



“I Hear the Whistle”: Immigrants in the Labor Force

• 1901–1920: Fresh influx of Europeans, Mexicans, Asians to labor force

• Non-English speakers considered a social problem

• Programs to “Americanize” them



“I Hear the Whistle”: Immigrants in the Labor Force

• Huge numbers of immigrants enter country to join labor force

• Birds of passage – temporary migrant

• Chinese immigration banned in 1902

• Literacy tests used against other immigrant groups



Immigration to the United States, 1900–1920 (by Area of Origin)



Mexican Immigration to the United States, 1900–1920



Conflict in the Workplace

• Industrial works found their work repetitive and boring

• Safety is big issue especially for woman and children

• The Triangle Fire – forced state and national attention

• Low wages combined with demands for increased productivity led to increase in labor unrest in early 1900s

• Union membership soared



Organizing Labor

• American Federation of Labor (AFL) led by Samuel Gompers, was the largest union (no unskilled or women) from 250,000 to 1.7 million in 1904

• 1903: Women excluded from A.F.L. form Women’s Trade Union League – few members l

• 1905: Industrial Workers of the World purpose to overthrow capitalism – William D. (Big Bill) Haywood

• Unions try to negotiate and then use strikes



Labor Union Membership, 1897–1920



Working with Workers

• Some employers use violence to keep workers in line

• Some employers improve working conditions to avoid trouble

• Henry Ford doubled wages, reduced workday

• Amoskeag – textile mill in New Hampshire



A New Urban Culture

• Growing middle class

• Nation of consumers – mass production provided jobs and products that workers could afford (lowered prices)

• Death rate dropped – life span increased

• Cities grew and took on modern look – sky scrapers – department stores, warehouses – wealthy suburbs – zoning, etc.

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Chapter Ninth Edition America: Past and Present America: Past and Present, Ninth Edition Divine Breen Frederickson Williams Gross Brands Copyright ©2011,