U.S. History Chapter 23

1. Chapter 23: The
Progressive Era
Section 1: Sources of Progressivism

2. The Progressive Era
• Write down one thing from the video that you already knew,
• One thing that you learned,
• And one thing that you would like to learn more about
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYaaKS8vx_o

12. Inequality in America
• 20% of Americans lived in comfort…
• While 80% barely subsisted
• In 1904, 10 million Americans were underfed, poorly clothed, and poorly
housed
• Industrial workers averaged $10-$12 for a 60-80 hour work week
• Women could make as little as $6 for the same work and children made
even less
• Workers who became injured, were laid off, or remained
unemployed received no income

13. Disparity of Wealth
• In 1900, Andrew Carnegie made $25
million while his workers made $500
• The immensely rich owned huge
yachts, palatial estates, private
railroad cars, and summer retreats
• Appeared to be beyond the reach of
the government…

14. Question
• What are the possible consequences of having a wealth disparity
this large?

15. Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward: 2000-1887
• Socialist
• His novel made socialism seem to be an
attractive alternative to existing society
• Socialist Utopia
• Sold over 1 million copies
• Influenced the formation of socialist and
reform movements

16. Eugene V. Debs
• Fed up with capitalism
• Capitalism- an economic system that
provided for private ownership of property
and profits for owners
• Started the American Socialist Party
• Goal- workers gain control of the
government and use it to change the free
enterprise system
• Ran for president under the Socialist
Party in 1912

17. Daniel DeLeon
• Radical Socialist
• Democratic reform was useless, the world
needed revolution
• Thought the current labor unions
compromised too much with industrialists
• Proposed that all workers organize into new
industrial unions that would eventually take
over American business

18. Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
• Founded by Eugene V. Debs and Daniel DeLeon
• Debs left because it became too radical
• DeLeon was kicked out for being too radical
• Nicknamed the “Wobblies”
• Caused confrontation, strikes, sabotage, and
violence
• Americans rejected the group because of its
radical politics
• Most socialists were more moderate than this.

21. The Progressive Era, 1900-1915
• Broad and largely unorganized group of
reformers
• Sought solutions to economic, social, and
political problems
• Present at local, state, and national levels
• Shared desire to improve society
• Populists believed the common people
could solve societies problems,
progressives trusted the experts

23. Question
• Who do you think was more likely to join the progressive
movement? Why?
• The wealthy or the poor?

24. The Social Gospel
• Progressives amongst Catholic Priests, Jewish
Rabbis, and Protestant Ministers began to preach
a new social gospel
• Social Gospel- religious organizations should work to
improve society as well as to meet the spiritual needs
of the congregation
• Churches began providing recreational facilities,
adult education classes, nurseries for children
with working parents, and counseling for
unemployment and alcoholism
• Care for the whole person

25. The Salvation Army
• The Salvation Army was (and still is today) a religious group
devoted to helping the needy
• Provide food, lodging, and hope for the impoverished

26. The Settlement House Movement
• Expanded its reform to include slum clearance, limiting working
hours, and outlawing child labor
• Jane Addams continued to run the Hull House in Chicago
• Florence Kelley founded the National Consumers League
• Boycotted goods produced by children or workers in unsafe or unhealthy
conditions
• Julia Lathrop became the first head of the federal Children’s
Bureau

27. Jane Addams, Florence Kelley, Julia Lathrop

28. Progressive Women
• Carrie Chapman Catt was well
known for her work in the
women’s suffrage movement
• Sarah Platt Decker led the
General Federation of Women’s
Clubs which promoted the arts,
education, and community
health

29. Educational Reform
• American colleges were often church supported and were less
concerned with knowledge and more concerned with the
character of their students
• Travelled to countries such as Germany to get a Ph.D. and brought
back new teaching methods
• By the late 1800s, classes in social work, economics,
political science, and sociology were being offered
• Richard Ely and Henry Adams also implemented
new research and testing methods

30. Pragmatism
• Progressives believed expert reformers would be able to analyze
and solve problems that kept society from running smoothly
• Educational reform in America brought in a greater emphasis on
questioning and research
• This led to a new way of thinking called pragmatism
• Pragmatism- an approach to problem solving that questioned the
absolute truth of science and encouraged testing ideas to see
which ones held up

31. Pragmatists
• John Dewey argued the value of government
actions should be measured by the good they
do
• Oliver Wendell Holmes believed that law
should not be an absolute set of principles, but
a tool that meets the needs of society
• Spread his influence to the Supreme Court
• How do these men’s ideas fit the definition of
pragmatism?

32. Investigative Journalism
• Some writers played a major role in investigating and
exposing a variety of social problems
• Teddy Roosevelt nicknamed these writers
muckrakers, because they constantly looked down
and raked filth
• Wrote for popular magazines, like McClure’s
Magazine, Cosmopolitan, or Collier’s
• Similar to yellow journalism, but were not written to
boost sales
• They identified problems for progressive reformers
to fix

33. Famous Muckrakers
• Lincoln Steffens exposed graft and corruption in city
governments
• David Phillips linked 75 U.S. Senators with big businesses
• John Spargo documented abuses of child labor
• Ray Stannard Baker revealed discrimination against blacks
throughout the nation
• Frank Norris exposed how railroad companies took advantage of
western farmers
• Booth Tarkington recounted the working man’s struggle dealing
with political bosses and organized crime

34. Famous Muckrakers
• Ida Tarbell exposed the corrupt
business practices of the Standard
Oil Company
• Upton Sinclair exposed terrible
working conditions in
slaughterhouses as well as lack of
regulations when dealing with food

35. Question
• Do we have anything similar to muckrakers today?
• How does the government feel about them?

36. Chapter 23: The
Progressive Era
Section 2: Progressive Reforms

37. Galveston, Texas
• This city is a great example of how progressive reforms worked
• In 1900, a hurricane wiped out the town and the corrupt city
government could not handle the disaster
• Local businessmen and progressive leaders got the state
legislature to change the local government
from a mayor and city council to a commission
• 5 commissioners, elected in a non-partisan election
• Each commissioner led their own department

38. Galveston, Texas
• Transitioned into the City-Manager Plan
• An elected city council would hire a
professional manager to run the city
government
• Similar to a business hiring a superintendent
to run a factory
• No mayor and no politics
• By 1915, over 400 cities adopted the
commission or city-manager plan

39. Robert La Follette
• Wisconsin Governor elected in 1900
• First to bring progressive reform to the state
level
• Attacked the tradition of party nominating
conventions as they had been under the
control of party bosses
• Reformers would have little chance at running
for office
• Pushed for a direct primary, or preliminary
election

40. Direct Primary
• We still use these today, they take place in May, before the
November election
• Voters choose candidates for the general election
• Party bosses and political machines lost the power to nominate
party candidates to the people

41. Review
• Last week, we started our new chapter by looking at the sources of
progressivism.
• What caused progressivism to take hold in America?

42. Initiative, Referendum, Recall
• Three more reforms introduced by La Follette
• Initiative: allowed a group of citizens to introduce legislation and
required legislators to vote on it
• Referendum: allowed proposed legislation to be submitted to the
voters for approval
• Recall: allowed voters to remove an elected official from office by
holding a special election
• Wisconsin became the “laboratory of democracy” and progressives
in other states copied their reforms

43. Women
• Women become increasingly impatient
• Progressives were arguing that the people should have a greater
voice in the government
• Shouldn’t that include women?
• By 1914, 11 Western states had granted women the right to vote

44. Question
• How could allowing women the right to vote positively or
negatively effect the progressive movement?

45. “Caveat Emptor”
• “Let the buyer beware”
• People who purchased worthless life insurance, bread made with
sawdust, or colored water labeled medicine had only themselves
to blame
• The consumer had to protect themselves
• Progressives argued that the consumer had no way of knowing
when products were misrepresented

46. Charles Evans Hughes
• Investigated the insurance industry and uncovered
bribery of elected officials and huge salaries that
insurance executives paid to themselves and their
families
• Led to laws regulating insurance companies
• Eventually became governor of New York in 1907
and a Supreme Court Justice in 1910

47. Local Reforms
• City zoning laws regulated how land and buildings could be used
• Set minimum requirements for light and air, fire escapes, room
size, and sanitation in tenement houses
• Protected the residents and made sure the land was being used in
the best interest of the people

48. Upton Sinclair
• Famous muckraker for his work The
Jungle
• His intention was to shed a light on the
poor working conditions in Chicago
factories
• He ended up portraying the horribly
unsanitary conditions in
slaughterhouses
• Still led to change…

52. The Pure Food and Drug Act, 1906
• Roosevelt was outraged and demanded reform
• Established the Food and Drug Administration as a government
agency
• Also passed the Meat Inspection Act
• Together, these acts regulated the content and inspection of food,
prohibited the use of addictive drugs in non-prescription
medicines, and required accurate labels on food and drug products

53. Protecting Workers
• Workers were often blamed for industrial accidents and
employees who became seriously injured were fired
• No one was on the side of the workers and without income they could not
afford medical treatment
• Progressives joined with labor union leaders to push for worker’s
compensation laws
• Employers paid into insurance funds and if an employee was injured in an
industrial accident, they would be paid from the fund
• Related legislation also established state agencies to inspect
factories, limit worker hours, and bring an end to crowded,
unsanitary work environments

54. Women Workers Reform
• By 1900, 20% of all workers were women
• Progressives believed women needed
special protection
• Oregon was the first state to pass a law
limiting women to a 10 hour work day
• Employers challenged this law saying that it
violated a women’s civil right to choose how
long she wanted to work
• In 1908, the case was brought to the
Supreme Court…

55. Muller v. Oregon
• Progressive attorney Louis Brandeis used data
collected by the National Consumers League (run by
Florence Kelley) to show long working hours
damaged women’s health
• The court was persuaded by Brandeis’ findings and
upheld the law
• This was a landmark case because it looked beyond legal
precedent and took into consideration what was best for
society

56. Campaign Against Child Labor
• Factory work was monotonous,
unhealthy, and dangerous
• Children workers were treated like adults
• Reformers created the National Child
Labor Committee in 1904 of campaign
for the abolition of child labor

57. Child Labor
• In anthracite coal mines, “breaker
boys” aged 9 or 10 picked slag out of
coal
• Paid 60 cents for a 10 hour day
• The work permanently bent their
backs and crippled their hands
• In textile mills, more than 1/8th of the
workers were under 16 years of age
• Some cotton factory workers were as
young as 7 or 8

58. Children’s Bureau
• Investigated and published information to
help the campaign against child labor
• By 1914, all but one state set a minimum
age of employment
• Many other limits were also put on child labor

59. The 16th Amendment
• In 1895, the Supreme Court declared an income tax
unconstitutional
• In 1913, the 16th amendment empowered the federal government
to levy an income tax
• Started with the idea of taxing corporate profits

60. • How did Americans feel about the
16th Amendment?

61. The 17th Amendment
• Previously, Senators were chosen by state legislatures, shielding
them from public pressure
• Progressives believed the Senators should be more responsive to
the people and less influenced by business interests
• In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment was passed and provided
for the direct election of U.S. Senators

63. Regulation of Public Utilities
• Street-car lines, waterworks, electric
companies, and other public services
were not regulated by the
government
• Called for city governments to buy
them out so they could be reformed
and work in the best interest of the
people instead of the company

64. Progressive Youth Organizations
• The Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls, and Girl
Scouts were formed during this time
• Offered a better life for urban youth
• Private charities, like the Rockefeller
Foundation led health related campaigns to
keep kids healthy
• Juvenile courts and reform schools offered
reform for young lawbreakers

65. Education Reform
• Laws were passed requiring attendance causing the number of
high schools to more than double
• Why did the number of high schools increase and not elementary schools?
• The school year was lengthened
• The curriculum was also expanded to include:
• Music
• Arts
• Home Economics
• Industrial Arts
• Covers the needs of modern society

66. Family Planning
• Margaret Sanger was a nurse in a poor area of
New York City
• She made a connection between high birth rates,
poverty, and infant mortality
• In 1914, she began movement to educate women
on family planning options
• Faced strong opposition and was arrested twice for
breaking public obscenity laws
• Her organization endured to become the Planned
Parenthood Federation

67. Temperance
• Reformers saw this as a protection for
women and children, as well as a way to cut
ties between saloonkeepers and corrupt city
officials
• Employers believed alcohol increased
absenteeism, decreased efficiency and
productivity, and contributed to accidents
• At the forefront was the WCTU
• Their main focus was a crusade against alcohol,
but they spoke out on other issues such as prison
reform and women’s suffrage

68. The 18th Amendment
• In 1919, Prohibition was passed by Congress and added as an
amendment to the Constitution making it a nationwide law
• Outlawed the production and consumption of alcohol

70. Exit Slip
• Which of the Progressive Reforms do you think was the most
important and why? Which do you think was the least important
and why?

71. Chapter 23: The
Progressive Era
Section 3: Limits of Progressivism

72. Progressive Reform
• Progressivism was most effective at the state and local levels
• It was difficult to organize a nationwide campaign and effectively change
the federal government
• Many social reforms were not within the constitutional bounds of the
national government
• Benefits of progressivism were spread unevenly
• Skilled workers benefitted more than unskilled, which left the largest
sector of the labor force unaffected

73. Reformers and Immigrants
• An average of 1 million
unskilled immigrants
were coming to America
every year
• The majority came from
Southern and Eastern
Europe
• “New Immigrants”
• The “Old Immigrants”
came from Northern and
Western Europe

74. Question
• Why do you think immigration shifted from Northern and Western
Europe to Southern and Eastern Europe during this time period?

75. Reformers and Immigrants
• Because these workers were unskilled,
they kept wages in factories, mines, and
mills low
• Labor unions and organizations such as
the Immigration Restriction League
pushed for limits on these New
Immigrants
• Convinced Congress to pass a bill requiring a
literacy test that was vetoed by the president
three times before passing into law
• They had to be literate in their native language
(not English) to prove they had some skills

76. Reformers and Immigrants
• Many progressive reformers feared socialist
ideas that the New Immigrants brought over
from Europe
• They also worried about preserving existing
values and cultures and allowing the new
“masses” the right to vote
• Sought to weaken the power of these immigrants
by instilling “proper American values”
• John Dewey pushed for American History to be made
a required course
• Essential to teach students to be good citizens

77. Connection
• When America was founded, one of the biggest worries of the
founding fathers was that the ignorant masses of the nation would
derail our democracy with an uneducated vote
• We can see this theme replaying itself throughout history here in
the Progressive Era, as well as in our current society

78. Reformers and Immigrants
• Reformers fought to decrease the power of political machines, but
this disenfranchised the New Immigrants as they received political
power, jobs, and voices through party bosses
• Immigrants, therefore, opposed progressive reforms
• They needed their children to work in factories to make money
• They needed the support of party bosses
• It was seen as acceptable and expected that they drink beer or wine
regularly
• They didn’t need training on what others saw as proper hygiene and
childcare

79. Reformers and Race
• Like the majority of Americans,
Progressives had racist attitudes
• Accepted the segregation of Japanese-
Americans in California as well as the
quotas on Asian immigration
• While they often sympathized with the
plight of African-Americans, they
believed that they were an inferior race
• Did not object to Jim Crow Laws
• Passed no progressive reforms when Plessy
v. Ferguson was decided on
“Black as a race and as
a whole are inferior to
the white man.”
-Teddy Roosevelt

80. Question
• How was the plight of the African-American similar and different
to that of the New Immigrant?
• Why did these two groups not always get along?
• Think of their jobs

81. Booker T. Washington
• At best, many progressives were indifferent when it
came to helping blacks
• This led to a significant shift in black leadership
during this time
• Booker T. Washington- former slave that founded
the Tuskegee Institute in 1881
• Trained African-Americans in 30 different trades
• Equality of the races would come when blacks
gained the education and skills necessary to
become valuable members of society
“Cast down your
bucket where you
are.”
-Booker T.
Washington

82. W.E.B. Du Bois
• Rejected Washington’s approach to equality
• Harvard educated history professor at Atlanta University
• Suffrage, not job skills, would end white supremacy, stop the
lynching of blacks, and gain better schools
• Attended and led the Niagara Convention
• African-American leaders met to decide how to demand full political
rights and responsibilities for all African-Americans
• Resulted in the founding of the NAACP

83. The NAACP
• The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
• A reform movement that pushed for
racial equality
“The power of the ballot
we need in sheer self-
defense else what shall
save us from a second
slavery?”
-W.E.B. Du Bois

84. The End of Progressivism
• The progressive movement ended as the
U.S. entered WWI
• Moved from reforming our own society
to making the world safe for democracy

85. Activity

86. The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land
to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates
shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose
flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her
name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild
eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities
frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!”
cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your
poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming
shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to
me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

87. Document 1

88. Document 2

89. Document 3

90. Document 4

91. Document 5
• After visiting several second hand furniture stores, the Saranoffs bought two second hand beds, a
kitchen stove, a kitchen table and four chairs. They unpacked the bedding that they had brought with
them from Russia and spent their first night in their first American home.
• The next morning the children were enrolled in the public school. The first great ambition of Jacob and
Sarah Saranoff had been realized. Their children were in school.
• After paying a month's rent and the price of the furniture and the most necessary household utensils,
Jacob had two dollars left. It was necessary for Jacob to take the first job that he could find. The job was
sorting rags. His wages were eight dollars a week. The rent was six dollars a month. Jacob and Sarah
decided that they could get along.
• The rag-shop was located in an abandoned barn. There was a small window in the rear of this barn
which had been opened when the horses were housed in it. But since it had become a rag-shop, the
window had been nailed up to keep out any possible thieves. Ventilation was not considered.
• The floor of the rag-shop was never swept. The dust was allowed to gather day after day, week after
week. But Jacob paid no attention to the dust. His children were in school. They could not have gone to
school in Russia. There were no schools for Jewish children in the village where he had lived. So why
pay attention to dust?

92. Document 6

93. Document 7

94. Document 8
• "About my work in America. At first I work in the mill at Gilbertville, Massachusetts. There
were about 24 of us in one house. That house is still standing but has been moved. It was a
company house. In one room about twice the size of this one (20x15) there were three beds
and six boys slept there. We bought our own groceries and gave them to the woman who kept
the house and she cooked for us. She would furnish the salt and pepper and so forth but we
bought the rest and paid each $3 a month for room and the cooking; because, you see, we
could only earn about $2.64 a week. I was a spinner, there, but when I wanted to get married I
did not want to board but to have a tenement of my own and the company houses could not
be bought there.
• "So I came to Pittsfield where they told me I could get a job with the Berkshire Woolen, but
when I got here they told me to go to Pontoosuc (Pontoosuc Woolen [Mig.?] Co.) as I would
get a better job. Well, I could not talk English yet and I worked there one day and then the
boss told me I would have to go. I did not know why. He paid me, I think, $1.50 and I went to
the Berkshire Woolen. The boss at Pontoosuc was Irish, his name was Pat Fleming. He is dead
now. I was a Polack. You see, I did not know why I was fired at first. . . .”

95. Document 9

96. The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land
to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates
shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose
flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her
name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild
eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities
frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!”
cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your
poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming
shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to
me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

97. Exit Slip
• Does the experience of the New Immigrants that we see in our
primary documents mirror the sentiments of Emma Lazarus’
poem the New Colossus?
• Did America accept the New Immigrants like Lazarus’ claimed
they did?

98. Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. Du Bois
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV3RiCAETuA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wemGETdjx0w