The Roots ofProgressivism

*: An American Story *

ln l9l7 suffragist Rose Winslow and several other women, including Alice Paul, founder ofthe National Woman's Party, were arrested for obstructing traffic and blocking sidewalks. The

women had been picketing the White House to draw attention to the fact that women did not

yet have the right to vote in federal elections. After being sentenced to seven months in lail,

Paul, Winslow, and other women prisoners went on a hunger strike. Prison authorities forced

the prisoners to eat. Winslow smuggled details of their plight out to the public:

55We have been in solitary for five weeks. . . . I have felt quite feeble the last few days-faint, so that I could hardly get my hair brushed, my arms ached so. But today I am well

again. . . . [Alice Paul] dreaded forcible feeding frightfully, and I hate to think how she must

be feeling. . . . I am really all right. lf this continues very long I perhaps won't be. All the offi-

cers here know we are making this hunger strike [so] that women fighting for liberty may be

considered political prisoners. . . . [W]e donl want women ever to have to do this overagain.99

-quoted in loiled for Freedom

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A police fficer arrestinghoo suffidgists inlVashington, D.C. ft-ti

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The Rise of ProgressivismThe struggle for the right of women to vote was only one of a series of reform efforts

that transformed American society in the early 1900s. Historians refer to this era inAmerican history-from about 1890 to 7920-as the Progressive Era.

418 CHAPTER 13 The Progressive Movement

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\

Main IdeaProgressivism was a diverse response tothe problems posed by industrialism and

modern life.

Key Terms and Namesprogressivism, muckraker, Jacob Riis,

commission plan, Robert La Follette,

direct primary initiative, referendum,recall, suffrage, Alice Paul, temperance,prohibition, socialism

Reading StrategyOrganizing As you read about thebeginnings of progressivism, complete

a graphic organizer similar to the one

below by filling in the beliefs ofprogressives.

Reading Obiectives. Discuss the rise of the Progressive

movement.. Evaluate the impact of initiative, refer-

endum, and recall, and of the

Seventeenth Amend ment.

Section ThemeGovernment and DemocracyProgressive reformers focused on political

reforms to try to keep the nation true toits democratic ideals.

Pr*riew ofEvents

t890Jacob Riis's How the Other

Holf Lives publishedSeventeenth Amendment provides

for direct election of senatorsNineteenth Amendmentgives women the vote

Who Were the progressives? progressivism wasnot a tightly organized political movement with aspecific set of reforms. Instead, it was a coilection ofdifferent ideas and activities. progressives had manydifferent views about how to fix'the problems theybelieved existed in American society.

Progressives generally believed ihat industrialismand urbanization had created many social problems.Most agreed that the government should take amore active role in solving society,s problems.Progressives belonged to both major political partiesand usually were urban, eaucated middle_classAmericans. Many leaders of the progressive move_ment worked as journalists, social workers, educa_tors, politicians, and members of the ctergy.

Beginnings of progressivism progressivism waspartly a reaction against raissez-faire eclonomics and itsemphasis on an unregulated market. After seeing thepoverty of the working class and the filth and crime ofurban society, these reformers began to doubt the freemarket's ability to address those problems. At the sametime, they doubted that government in its present formcould,fix those problems. They concludedihat govern_ment had to be fixed first before it could be used to fixother problems.

. One reason progressives believed people couldimprove society was because they had a strong faithin science and technology. The application of scien_tific knowledge had produced the ltghtbulb, the tele_phone, the automobile, and the airplne. It had builtskyscrapers and railroads. Science and technologyhad benefited people; thus progressives believedusing-scientific principles could ilso produce solu_tions for society.

The Muckrakers A,rorlg the first people to articulateProgressive ideas was afuroup of crusaiing journalistswho. inl,estigated sociai

"orrditior-r, and p"olitical cor_

ruptionj These writers became known as Luckrakersafter a speech by president Theodore Roosevelt:

55Now, it is very necessary that we should not flinchfrom seeing what is vile and debasing. There is filthon the floor and it must be scraped up with themuck-rake; and there are times and places where thisservice is the most needed of all the services that canbeperformed....99

-Washington, D.C., April 14, 1906

By the early 1900s, American publishers were com_peting to see who could expose the most corruptionand scandal. A group of aggressive 10C and 15C

Company. In Ea eryb o dy,s Ma g azin e, Charles EdwardRussell attacked the beef indlstry.

Other muckrakers targeted gtr,"r.,-"r,t. DavidGraham Philips described ho*

^lor"y influenced the

Senate, while Lincoln Steffens, unoth". McClure,sreporteq, reported on vote stealing and other corruptpractices of urban political -u"hir-r"r. These werelater collected into a book, The Shome of the Cities.

Still other muckrakers concentrated on socialproblems. In his influential book How the Other HalfLiaes, published in 1g90, Jacob Riis described thepoverty, disease, and crime that afflicted manyimmigrant neighborhoods in New york Citv. ih'"-tuItluckralsers McClure,s publisheci lda Tarbell,s expos6 on Standard Oil.What issues particularly concerned the muckrakers?

magazines grew in popular_ity at this time, includingMcClure's, Collier,s, andMunsey's.

Muckrakers uncoveredcorruption in many areas.Some concentrated onexposing what they consid-ered to be the unfair prac_tices of large Americancorporations. In McClure,s,for example, Ida Tarbellpublished a series of articlescritical of the Standard Oil

Hrwuh#ffi.Student WebActivity visit theAmericon RepublicSince t877Web site atta rvol2.glencoe.com

and click on StudentWeb Activities-Chopter tlfor anactivity on theProgressive movement.

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rifrffi$*.:Br:l

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1r lcLunr co; NEv roRK AND LoNDoN

muckrakers' articles led to a general public debate onsocial and economic problems and put pressure onpoliticians to introduce reforms.

Describing How did the muckrakershelp spark the Progressive movement?

Making Government EffieientThere were many different types of progressivism.

Different causes led to different approaches, and pro-gressives even took opposing positions on how tosolve some problems.

One group of progressives focused on makinggovernment more efficient. They believed that manyproblems in society could be solved if governmentworked properly. Efficiency progressives took theirideas from business. These progressives beiievedbusiness had become more efficient by applying theprinciples of scientific management.

The ideas of scientific management had beendeveloped in the late 1800s and were popularizedbyFrederick W Taylor in his book The Principles ofScientific Managemenf, published in 1911. Taylor

described how a company could become more effi-cient by managing time, breaking tasks down intosma1l parts, and using standardized tools.

Efficiency progressives argued that managing amodern city required experts, not politicians. Theydid not want more democracy in government, forthey believed that the democratic process led to com-promise and corruption. In most American cities, themayor or city council chose the heads of city depart-ments. Tiaditionally, these jobs went to political sup-porters and friends, who often knew little about cityservices.

Efficiency progressives wanted either a commissionplan or a council-manager system. Under thecommission plan, a city's government would bedivided into several departments, which would eachbe placed under the control of an expert commis-sioner. These progressives argued that a board of com-missioners or a city manager with expertise in cityservices should hire the specialists to run city depart-ments. Galveston, Texas, adopted the commission sys-tem in 1901. Other cities soon followed.

Explaining Why dtd progresstveswant t0 reorganize city government?

On September 8,,!900i a massive hurricane devas-tated the city of Galveston, Texas. About 6,000 people

died. When, ttre. polltieal.machine that controlled the citygovernmentproved:incapable of responding to the disas,ter, local business leaders convinced the state to let themtake control. ln April 1901, Galveston introduced thecommission system of government. Under this system,Galvesto.hdos:i:five cO rnisioners to replace the ,, ,lmayor and city council." ''Four'cornmiS5ioners were local business leaders.

When thetli& cuickly receivered, reformers in other citieswere impressed. Calveston's experience seemed toprove the.henelits of -.running a'eify.like a :business by diViding its r:government into

';

departmenE,a,nd plac- .:ing eachuder dn : :exp-ert esfi miiiioner.,r..,,,Many gthCr.,gities soon .,'

,fslloWeiladopting ,,,eithei,theeorTrmission .plan'br the'council-

manager system.

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420 CHAPTER 13 The Progressive Movemenr

Demosacy and ProgressivismNot all progressives agreed with the efficiency

progressives. Many believed that society neededmore democracy, not less. They wanted to makeelected officials more responsive to l,oters.

"Laboratory of Demo ctacy" political reform firstcame to the state level when Wisconsin voters electedRepublican Robert La Follette to be governor. LaFollette used his office to attack the way political par-ties ran their conventions. Because party bosses con-trolled the selection of convention delegates, theyalso controlled which candidates were chosen to runfor office. La Follette pressured the state legislature torequire each party to hold a direct primary, in whichall party members could vote for a candidate to runin the general election.

La Follette's great reform success gave Wisconsina reputation as the "laboratory of democracy.,, La

Follette claimed, "Democracy is based upon knowl-edge. . . . The only way to beat the boss . . . is to keepthe people thoroughly informed."

Inspired by La Follette, progressives in other statespushed for similar electoral changes. To force state leg-islators to respond to voters, three new reforms wereintroduced in many states. The initiative allowed agroup of citizens to introduce legislation and requiredthe legislature to vote on it. The referendum allowedproposed legislation to be submitted to the voters forapproval. The recall allowed voters to demand a spe-cial election to remove an elected official from officebefore his or her term had expired.

GOVERNMENT

Direct Election of Senators Another reform theprogressives favored affected the federal govern-ment-the direct election of senators. As originallywritten, the United States Constitution directed eachstate legislature to elect two senators from that state.Political machines or large trusts often influenced theelection of senators, who then repaid their supporterswith federal contracts and jobs. By the early 1900s,muckraker Chdrles Edward Russell charged that theSenate had become "only a chamber of butlers forindustrialists and financiers. "

To counter Senate corruption, progressives calledfor the direct election of senators by all state voters.In 7912 Congress passed a direct-election amend-ment. Although the direct election of senators wasintended to end corruption, it also removed one ofthe state legislatures' checks on federal power. In1913 the amendment was ratified, becoming theSeventeenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Evaluating What was the impact ofthe Seventeenth Amendment? What problem was it intended t0solve?

The Suffrage MovementIn July 7848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia

Mott organized the first women's rights conventionin Seneca Falls, New York. Stanton proposed to thedelegates that their first priority should be gettingwomen the right to vote. The movement for women,svoting rights became known as the suffragemovement. Suffrage is the right to vote.

Woman suffrage was an important issue for pro-gressives. Although the suffrage movement began wellbefore progressivism emerged, many progressivesjoined the movement in the tate 1800s and earlv 1900s.

i actions approved byappoints

IHeads of CitvOepartmenii

*m*E t'r carry out policySource: The World Book Encyclopedio.

Voters f police Commissioner

elect F-- fire CommissionertlBoaid of _f- Parks Commissioner

Commissioners I--"-"";---"-'' l- Finance CommissionerttI u Public Works Commissioner

pass ordinances; Icontrol funds carry out poliry

Source: Ihe World Book Encyclopedio.

# City Manager| (ChiefAdministrator)hires t

J uppiint,I

Heads of City Departments

icarry out policy

VotersI

electI

City Council(makes policy)

telects

ll

Mayor

Source: Ihe World Book Encyclopedio.

CHAPTER 13 The Progressive Movemenr 421