HIS 112Chapter 22

The Progressive Era

Presidents

1885-1189: Grover Cleveland 1889-1892: Benjamin Harrison 1892-1896: Grover Cleveland 1896-1900: William McKinley 1900-1901: William McKinley,

assassinated by Leon Czolgosz; shot 6 Sept. & died 14 Sept.

1901-1908: Teddy Roosevelt

The Progressive Era

Was between 1895 – 1920 Characterized as a series of

movements, aimed in some way at reforming or restoring American Society – its values and its institutions

Wanted to reform, not destroy

3 Goals

End abuses of power in business and politics

Replace corrupt power with reformed social institutions

Apply the principles of science and efficiency on a nationwide scale to all social, economic, and political institutions

Changing America

More moving to cities Rising middle class Influx of immigrants New business elite Industry with its advantages and

disadvantages Cities growing too rapidly Jobs and lay-offs

Progressives = Reformers who wished to correct the wrongs of society

Most were native-born Protestant middle class – both men and women

They worked in white collar jobs: lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers, technicians, social workers, ministers, business professionals, & librarians

Progressivism was not one cohesive program of reform

It was a series of movements Reformers had their own pet projects

Stricter regulation of business Laws to protect workers & urban poor Reforms for government Others wanted to restrict immigration, curb

immorality, abolish prostitution and saloons

Lincoln Steffens who wrote Shame of the Cities in 1904 helped to make progressivism a national movement

Writers, reporters who investigated and attacked social, economic, and political wrongs were often called muckrakers – coined by Teddy Roosevelt

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was published in 1906; it was about the sale of tainted meat, fraudulent insurance schemes, and prostitution

Very influential book This book helped get the Pure Food

and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act passed into law in 1906

Progressives believed they could restore order through research, legislation, and enlightened social thinking

There was also a repressive component

One group tried to impose its morality on others, sometimes by law

They campaigned against:GamblingAmusement ParksDance HallsSaloonsProstitutionThe Movies

The Temperance Movement and the Anti-Saloon League of 1895 wanted to get rid of alcohol and then the abuses from it would lessenChild abuseDomestic abuseProstitutionPoverty

Reformers worked to get drugs regulated

Bayer Drug Company used to sell heroin in 1898

Reformers wanted cocaine removed from Coca-Cola; it contained cocaine until 1900

Some progressives wished to restrict immigrationThe Immigration Restriction League

(1894) of Boston wanted immigrants to pass literacy tests in English before being allowed in

Pseudo-scientific studies in 1911 said statistics proved new immigrants were degenerate with low mental capacities

Eugenics MovementWished to control reproduction to alter

characteristics of a speciesCarnegie Foundation funded genetics

research and Charles Davenport, a zoologist, racist, and anti-Semite who was for immigration restrictions

• He influenced the passage of sterilization laws in some states

Push for Rights

Both women and blacks pushed for their rights

Booker T. Washington was the foremost black leader from 1890s to 1915born a slave in Virginia in 1856Attended a freedmen’s school 1881, began Tuskegee Institute in

Alabama, a vocational school

Washington said that in order for blacks to get ahead, they needed to acquire useful vocational skills, so they could prove their economic value

He felt then racism would fade awayWashington made these statements in

in a speech known as the Atlanta Compromise

W.E.B. DuBois, a Ph.D. from Harvard, challenged this viewhe said blacks needed to agitate for

equalityHe said blacks must resist all forms of

racial discrimination and get an education

These issues were discussed in 1905 at a meeting in Niagra

That meeting became known as The Niagra Movement

W.E.B. DuBois and a group of white reformers founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP, in 1910

DuBois was its leader

Margaret SangerBorn in 18831 of 11 childrenSaw poverty connected to large

familiesMarried and had 3 children but wanted

moreFrequented Greenwich Village and

became familiar with young radicals

These radicals- Eugene Debs, Emma Goldman, and Bill Haywood- were determined to improve the conditions of the world

Sanger joined the Industrial Workers of the World, the IWW, and became a nurse

She tried to teach women about hygiene and their own bodies

Sanger wrote pamphlet that were banned in the mail

She became concerned about women who were denied contraceptives; they needed their husband’s permission

So Sanger learned all she could about contraception and wrote pamphlet about it

1916She opened the first birth control clinic

in Brooklyn and was sent to jail for 30 days for it

She formed the New York Birth Control League to push for laws to help physicians who wished to prescribe birth control

1921She started the American Birth

Control LeagueThe Catholic Church opposed itOthers like Eleanor Roosevelt joined

the movement

1940Eleanor Roosevelt came out officially

in support of family planning1940s, all states but Connecticut and

Massachusetts approved the distribution of birth control

Margaret Sanger helped found Planned Parenthood

1966When Margaret Sanger died, the FDA

had just approved the use of the birth control pill

Other Changes

New Pastimes Football Movies Vaudeville Music – Ragtime and Jazz New dances New painting styles New poetry

All seemed to be changing