What is the Progressive Era?

• Period from 1890-1920

• Progressives wanted to get rid of corrupt government, eliminate the abuses of big business.

• Most were Americans of average wealth

• Progressives: promoted reforms/ progress in

society

The Origins of Progressivism

• The nation continued to be plagued by

unemployment, unsafe working

conditions, & political corruption

– Some began to argue that the government

should get involved

– Unions worked for reduced hours, and gaining

better wages & working conditions

Goals of Progressives

• Did not want drastic economic & political

changes:

– Opposed drastic changes/revolution

– Wanted to keep democratic ideals & a free-

enterprise system

• Wanted to free the existing government of

corruption:

– Make it more efficient

– Provide assistance to the workers & poor

Goals of Progressives • Wanted the government to regulate activity:

– prevented businesses from treating workers unfairly

– Believed the government should increase its responsibility

for human welfare & well-being

– Wanted more….

social welfare programs: programs designed to

ensure a basic standard of living for all citizens

• Unemployment, accident, & health insurance

• Social security system to aid the disabled and elderly

• Allow experts to design & manage programs

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle

• When you go to the grocery

store, do you trust the food

you are buying? Why?

• http://youtu.be/2naOghGVh2g

Opening Activity

1. Why did society need

changes after the gilded

age?

2. What did Progressives try

to change?

Learning Target: I can identify and describe the

conditions that led to the reform movements of the

Progressive Era.

• Journalists who alerted the

public to wrongdoing in

politics & business

– Lincoln Steffens: Political

Corruption

– Jacob Riis: Tenement

conditions

– Ida Tarbell: Standard Oil Trust

– Upton Sinclair: Meatpacking

Industry

Exit Ticket

How was Upton Sinclair

a Muckracker? 1. Define Muckracker.

2.How does Upton Sinclair fit

this description?

• Opening Activity (5)

• Pass out tests

– Hand back

Finish reading the

Jungle –collect/

discuss

Start working on

notes for

Progressivism

Opening Activity

Upton Sinclair said….

“I aimed at the public’s hearts but

accidently hit them in the

stomach”

1.What does this mean as it relates

to the story?

2.What is a Muckraker?

3.How does Upton Sinclair fit the

description of a Muckraker?

Opening Activity For your opener, please work on

finishing your Progressive Note Sheet

• After you finish, work on the below

assignments

• In Class work:

• Section 1- Pg: 219- questions 1, 4-

6 in your book

• Section 4- pg:239 question 1

Essential Question #5: How Should

Jacob Riis be Remembered by history?

OPENING

• Who was Jacob

Riis?

• What did he take

pictures of?

• Why is he

considered a

Muckraker?

-How does this

photograph

make you feel?

-Describe your

emotional

reaction to this

photo.

-What in this

picture makes

you feel this

way?

JACOB RIIS

Essential Question #5: How Should

Jacob Riis be Remembered by history?

The Truth Behind the Photograph

• The photographer, Jacob Riis, hired these

small children to pull on the “heartstrings” of his

American audience who would naturally feel

bad for the impoverished youth. He actually

convinced many young boys like these to pose

for his photos by paying them with cigarettes.

This picture, based on the shadows cast within

it, seems to be taken in broad daylight and

other similar photos indicate the boys were fake

sleeping.

Should the fact that Jacob

Riis staged the photographs

diminish their meaning?

• Discuss/ Answer the below questions with

your group

1. Does the fact that these photos are

stages make them mean less?

2. Do you still think they are

representative of the Progressive Era?

3. Is he still a Muckraker?

REFORM MOVEMENT

Women Work for Reform • Women focused

on reforms including:

– Outlawing alcohol

– Improving workplace conditions

• End child labor

– The right to vote—suffrage

The Rise of Political Bosses

• The Political

Machine: unofficial

organization designed

to keep a particular

party or group in

power

– Usually headed by a

single, powerful boss

– Worked through the

exchange of favors to

keep one group in

office

Corruption, Corruption,

EVERYWHERE!! • Graft: the use of one’s job to gain profit

– Handed out city jobs, contracts, & other favors to residents of their wards

– Individuals & companies wanting a favor from the city could get it by funding the machine

• Boss Tweed:

– Controlled Tammany Hall:

political club that ran

New York City’s

democratic party

– Used graft to gain

personal profit—amassed

millions of dollars

City Reform • Reforms made at the city level:

– Criticized political machines & bosses

– Worked to put utilities (gas, water, & electric) under city

control—more affordable

– Provide welfare services

State Reforms

More Power to Voters:

• End corruption by

limiting the power of

party bosses &

politicians

• Give voters more

direct say in

lawmaking & in

choosing candidates

• 4 important gains

were made:

Wisconsin Governor, Robert M. La Follette

1. Direct Primary: An election in which voters

cast ballots to select nominees for upcoming

elections

2. Initiative: Citizens can propose new laws by

obtaining a certain percentage of voter’s

signatures

3. Referendum: Process by which citizens vote

on a law passed by their legislature--get

chance to play an active role in legislation

4. Recall: Procedure where voters can remove

public officials from office before the next

election

Ideas for Reform • American cities faced serious

problems and needed solutions:

• Temperance Movement: an organized campaign to eliminate alcohol consumption

–Supported prohibition: a ban on the manufacture & sale of alcoholic beverages • Linked drinking to saloons,

immigrants, & political bosses

• Alcohol consumption undermined morals

• Helping the Needy:

–Social Gospel Movement:

• Social reform movement that developed within religious institutions

• Sought to apply the gospel of Jesus directly to society

• Focused on the gospel ideals of charity & justice

• Worked for labor reforms & improved living conditions

The Settlement Movement

• Settlement House: A

community center

organized to provide

various services to the

urban poor

– Located in the middle

of a poor neighborhood

– Created by young

reformers who put the

“Social Gospel” into

practice

The Settlement Movement

• Began in Britain—1st in

U.S. started by Jane

Addams & Ellen Gates

Starr called the Hull

House:

– Became a center of

community activity: offered

cultural events, classes,

child-care, employment &

legal-aid, and health-care

clinics

– Other similar settlement

house sprang out across the

country

Making Progress…. • National Consumers

League (NCL):

– Organized in 1899 by

Florence Kelley

• Hoped to make the prices

of household goods lower

– Worked to investigate

the conditions under

which goods were

made & sold

– Promoted safe

working conditions &

a minimum wage

Regulating Food & Drug

Industries

• Meat Inspection Act:

– 1906 law that allowed

the federal

government to inspect

meat sold across state

lines

– Required federal

inspection of meat

processing plants

– Passed in response to

the novel The Jungle

Regulating Food & Drug

Industries • Pure Food and Drug Act: 1906 law that

allowed federal inspection of food & medicine

– Banned the interstate shipment and sale of impure

food and the mislabeling of food and drugs

•

Conservationism • The act of conserving;

prevention of injury,

decay, waste, or loss;

preservation

– President Roosevelt

closed off more than 100

million acres of

forestland, though

thought resources were

meant to be used

– Made plans to preserve &

use the forests

Conservationism • National Reclamation Act:

– Passed in 1902

– Gave the federal government

the power to decide where &

how water would be

distributed

– As a result, the government built &

managed dams that created

reservoirs, generated power, and

directed water flow

– Led to building of the Hoover

Dam

New Constitutional Amendments

• 16th Amendment (1913): Gave Congress the

power to levy an income tax

• 17th Amendment (1913): Allows the people to

vote directly for their senators

• 18th Amendment (1919): Prohibited the

manufacture & sale of alcoholic beverages. Supporters believed that it would protect society

from the poverty & violence associated with

drinking. Was controversial.

• 19th Amendment (1920): Women have the

right to vote.

Theodore Roosevelt: Square Deal • The Square Deal was

President Theodore

Roosevelt’s program formed

upon three basic ideas:

– conservation of natural

resources,

– control of corporations,

– and consumer protection.

• Established the Department of

Commerce and Labor

• Meat Inspection Act

• Pure Drug and Food Act

• National Reclamation Act

The Limits of Progressivism

• Focused mainly on the problems of cities

• Supported the government’s imperialistic

policies from abroad—wanted to civilize

undeveloped nations

• Little effort to help Native Americans

• Reform spirit died as war broke out in

Europe—only the struggle for women’s

suffrage remained strong…

“We women of America tell you that America

is not a democracy. Twenty million women

are denied the right to vote.” –Alice Paul

• Women

activists first

formally

demanded the

right to vote in

1848 at a

meeting in

Seneca Falls

and issued the

Declaration of

Sentiments

and

Resolutions

Why Are you Opposed Women’s Suffrage?

1. Women are powerful

enough without the

right to vote.

2. Giving women the right

to vote would blur the

distinctions between

the sexes and make

women more

masculine.

3. Women voters would

establish prohibition

Susan B. Anthony

• Worked for the temperance movement & fought to abolish slavery

• Headed the National Woman Suffrage Association

• Practiced Civil Disobedience: a nonviolent refusal to obey a law in an effort to change the law—when she attempted to vote

National American Woman

Suffrage Association

• Formed in 1890 to push

for women’s voting rights

• Veteran leaders

including Susan B.

Anthony, Elizabeth Cady

Stanton, & Lucy Stone

joined with younger

activists

Suffragist Strategies

• Strategy #1:

Pushed for a

constitutional

amendment

– Difficult

– First attempt in 1868

• Strategy #2: Get

individual states to

permit women to

vote

Two Different

Approaches:

•National American Woman

Suffrage Association:

– Pursue individual states to give

women the right to vote

•Congressional Union:

– An aggressive militant

campaign for a constitutional

amendment

– Held demonstrations—including

in front of the White House

Victory for Suffrage!!

The 19th Amendment • Congress formally

proposed the

suffrage amendment

in 1918

• Ratified by enough

states (2/3) on

August 24, 1920

• The 19th Amendment

marked the last

major reform of the

Progressive Era