The document provides an overview of the key social, political, and economic problems addressed by the Progressive Era from 1890-1920 in the United States. It discusses issues like corruption in government, poor working conditions, women's suffrage, child labor, alcohol abuse, and the unregulated power of big business. Reform efforts sought to curb these issues through initiatives like social welfare programs, direct democracy measures, workplace regulations, and antitrust laws. The document outlines the various progressive presidents and movements during this era that helped enact reforms to address the many problems arising from rapid industrialization.

2. The Progressive Era
• Today we will:
• Key movements and reforms of the Progressive Era
• Briefly look the situation in Europe in 1914
• Next time we will:
• Move into the Great War
• Have a good weekend!

3. Overview of Progressive Presidents
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7flSW1PGsA

4. The Progressive Era
• 1890-1920
• All of the ideas surrounding the effort to “fix” business and society
coming out of Industrialization and the Gilded Age of politics.
• There were progressive wings of both mainline political parties, and
the Socialists were by their nature progressive, as well.
• People who identified or leaned toward progressivism tended to be
middle-class, educated, urban.
• Many journalists, social workers, educators, and clergy members
joined or led progressive movements.
• All sought to address issues, but disagreed on how.
• Who were muckrakers?

5. Muckrakers
• Jacob Riis – How the Other Half Lives – 1890
• Ida Tarbell – “The Rise of the Standard Oil Co.” – 1902
• Lincoln Steffens – The Shame of Cities – 1904
• Political Machines in Philadelphia
• Upton Sinclair – The Jungle – 1906
• “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident, I hit it in the stomach.”
• Lewis Hine – Child labor conditions – 1908 (and the decade after)
• And many others…
• These drive the push for reforms by mobilizing
readers/viewers

6. Problems Progressives Addressed: Social Welfare
• Largely addressed by religious groups and social workers
• YMCA/YWCA, YMHA/YWHA groups expand rapidly after the 1870s
• The Salvation Army comes to the US in 1879
• The Social Gospel becomes widespread among progressive religious groups
• Rejects Social Darwinism, seeks to help those less fortunate
• Settlement Houses
• Jane Addams and Hull House
• Residence, job training, health clinics, lectures, art classes, concerts, even a bank
• First American woman to win the Nobel Prize (1931)
• Movement spreads to many other Midwestern cities

7. Problem: Municipal Corruption
• Mayors often made appointments based on donors, favors, or friends
• Results in people who don’t know how to do jobs in positions of authority
• Develop Alternatives to the strong Mayor system
• Areas of municipal purview split into departments (Public Works, Police, FD, etc.)
• Voters elect a Board of Commissioners (sometimes a City Council)
• This group hires experts to lead each department based on their ability and experience
(commissioners)
• Or, they hire a City Manager, who then hires experts
• Examples: Galveston, TX in 1900
• Traditional political machine was overwhelmed by a devastating hurricane
• Adopt a Commission Plan and recover much more quickly
• Examples: Dayton, OH in 1913
• First major US city to adopt a Council-Manager system

8. Problem: State Government Corruption
• Direct Primaries: Registered party members vote for candidates
• No longer just chosen by political machines
• Initiatives: Directly allows citizens to petition for new laws, which state
legislatures have to vote on
• Referendum: Directly allows voters to approve/reject laws
• Recall: Voters can demand a special election to remove elected officials
• 17th Amendment (Federal) 1912 – Directly allows citizens of a state to
elect their Senators (previously chosen by state legislatures)
• Citizens have more direct control than ever before, especially at the
state level

9. Problem: Suffrage for Women
• Even though efforts were made to disenfranchise men of color, they
were (at least federally) guaranteed the right to vote
• Women had begun to push for voting rights after the 14th and 15th
amendments were passed
• National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) 1890
• Merger of the NWSA (Susan B. Anthony’s group) and the AWSA
• Marches, Protests, and Lobbying
• Pushed for rights at the state level
• In 1915, Carrie Chapman Catt takes over as leader and establishes the
“Winning Plan,” to push for rights
• Push gains momentum with a number of states granting rights
• 1919, The 19th Amendment is passed (ratified 1920)

11. Problem: Poor Working Conditions
• Terrible conditions, long hours, low wages
• No safety regulations
• 1911 – Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
• Around 150 people die because the exits were locked from the outside
(common practice at the time)
• Factory was on the 8-10th floors of the building
• In response the NY State Legislature forms the Factory Investigating
Commission
• As a result 60 new laws regulating the workplace were passed from
1911-1913

13. Problem: Poor Working Conditions
• Progressives nationwide pushed for cities and states to pass:
• Workers compensation laws for those injured on the job
• Codes for workplace safety (lighting, circulation, size, sanitation, and exits)
• Health codes for restaurants
• Child Labor
• Estimated that in 1900 1.7 million children
under 16 in the workforce
• National Child Labor Committee is started
in 1904 to advocate
• Muckraking by Lewis Hine and John Spargo
(writer) detail conditions for children
• States begin passing hour limits, age limits,
and compulsory schooling for children

14. Problem: Alcohol Abuse
• Considered to be at the root of many
social problems
• The Temperance Movement
• Push to limit or eliminate alcohol
• Had been around since the early 1800s
• Had some success at the state level
• 1881 Kansas outlaws alcohol – Carrie Nation
• Women’s Christian Temperance Union
• The Ant-Saloon League
• Many Christian denominations (not Roman
Catholic, Episcopalian, and Lutheran)
• 1917 – 18th Amendment is passed
• Volstead Act 1920 – to enforce it

15. Problem: Big Business
• Progressive Republicans, Democrats, and Socialists all wanted to curb
the interests of Big Business
• Pro-business
• Republican – Taxation, regulation
• Democrat – Stimulate competition, stronger anti-trust laws, promote small
businesses
• Pro-nationalization
• Socialists – State control of the railroad and other big business

16. Federal Regulations
• Hepburn Act 1906 – More power to the ICC
• Government had to approve changes in rates for transport and storage
• Pure Food and Drug Act 1906 – FDA
• Meat Inspection Act 1906 – Placed under USDA
• Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act 1913
• Reduces tariffs on many imported goods, hurting monopolies
• 16th Amendment 1909 – Ratified in 1913
• Allows the government to establish income tax (to make up for the loss of income from
reduced tariffs)
• Federal Reserve Act 1913
• Establishes Federal Reserve, allowing the government to regulate money
• FTC – Federal Trade Commission – 1914
• Replaced the Bureau of Corporations in overseeing big business

19. Final Thoughts
• Take out a sheet of paper.
• Who is missing from all of the aspects of the Progressive Era?
• Turn it in on your way out.
• For next time:
• Read Chapter 22
• We will look at the situation in Europe before the Great War
• Look at the War before US entry.
• Have a good weekend!