I. The Ferment of Reform
A. The context of reform: industrial and urban tensions
1. The origins of progressivism lay in the crisis of
the new urban-industrial order as America began questioning the responsibilities
of government and themselves for social order and betterment.
2. By 1900, prosperity was returning and easing the threat
of social violence.
3. Underlying problems included the trend to ever-larger
corporations, working conditions, and social problems connected to immigration.
B. Church and campus
1. Reform-minded ministers launched the Social Gospel
movement that wanted to introduce religious ethics into industrial relations
and appealed to churches to meet social obligations.
C. Muckrakers
1. Journalists developed a new form if investigative
reporting known as muckraking that published exposes of societal ills.
Leading Muckrackers :
· Lincoln
Steffens, an investigator of corruption in state and municipal governments,
published Shame of the Cities in 1904
· Edwin
Markham published an exposé of child labor in Children in Bondage
(1914)
· Jacob
Riis depicted the misery of New York City slums in How the Other Half Lives
(1890), an early advocacy of urban renewal
· Ida
Tarbell wrote a series of magazine articles detailing the business practices
of Standard Oil, which appeared in McClure's and later were published in
book form as The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904)
· David
Graham Phillips' Cosmopolitan article, "The Treason of the Senate," an indictment
of political corruption, provoked President Roosevelt, but created support
for the adoption of the 17th Amendment
· Henry
Demarest Lloyd's Wealth against Commonwealth (1894) chronicled the rise of
John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil
· Upton
Sinclair's The Jungle (1906) was largely responsible for federal legislation
regulating food and drug practices; he was a founder of the American Civil
Liberties Association and a Pulitzer Prize winner.
D. The gospel of efficiency
1. Business leaders supported order, organization, and
efficiency, especially the scientific management ideas of Frederick Taylor.
E. Labor’s demand for rights
1. Workers formed unions to pursue social and economic
reforms that spanned a large spectrum from conservative wage increases to
radicalism.
F. Extending the woman’s sphere
1. The growing importance of women in the workforce,
the growth of women’s clubs, and the creation of other organizations showed
the growing activism of women for reform and equal rights.
II. Transatlantic influences
European ideas and practices were a major source of America’s progressive
movement.
A. Socialism
1. The growing influence of socialism promoted progressivism.
Reformers increasingly examined socialist criticism of industrial society.
2. Eugene Debs founded the Socialist Party of America
in 1901.
3. Most progressives believed socialist ideas were too
drastic.
B. Opponents of reform
1. Protestant fundamentalists stressed personal salvation
over social reform.
2. Business interests attacked muckrakers and labor unions
while government often resisted progressive reforms.
III. Reforming Society
A. Settlement houses and urban reform
1. Settlement houses were spearheads for social reform.
Largely modeled after Hull House in Chicago, reformers created 400 settlement
houses that were mostly led and staffed by young, middle-class women.
2. Settlement workers tried to help immigrants adjust
to American society and campaigned for housing reform, better sanitation systems,
parks, and laws to protect women and children.
B. Protective legislation for women and children
1. The National Child Labor Committee was organized in
1904 led the campaign to curb child labor.
2. In 1900, most states had no minimum working age but
by 1914, every state had such a law.
3. Manufacturers, conservatives and some poor parents
opposed government action on child labor.
4. Laws regulating the conditions under which women worked
were also passed.
5. Pensions and workers’ compensation programs were also
enacted by many states.
C. Reshaping public education
1. The modern urban public school system emerged between
1880 and 1900.
2. Compulsory school attendance, kindergartens, age-graded
elementary schools, professional training for teachers, vocational training,
parent-teacher associations, and school nurses all became standard elements
of American education.
3. Public education lagged in the South and blacks suffered
most.
4. Native American education was affected by racism that
changed the emphasis in schools to vocational education.
D. Challenging gender restrictions
1. Margaret Sanger challenged conventional ideas
on the social role of women, promoting birth control.
E. Reforming country life
1. Rural reformers worked to improve rural health and
sanitation, modernize schools, and to extend roads and communication services
into more rural areas.
2. The county agent system established by the U. S. Department
of Agriculture and business groups sought to teach farmers new techniques
and encourage changes in the rural social order.
F. Social control and moral crusades
1. The movement toward social control mixed with conservative
efforts to restrict certain groups and control behavior.
2. Racism stimulated drives to limit immigration of Japanese,
Mexicans, and eastern and southern Europeans. Some nativists demanded the
Americanization of immigrants in the United States.
3. Working through the Anti-Saloon League, Protestant
fundamentalists campaigned for local and state laws prohibiting the manufacture
and sale of alcohol.
4. Reformers also attacked prostitution.
G. For whites only?
1. Racism was a major theme of the Progressive Era. In
the South, progressivism was based on black segregation and disfranchisement.
2. In the North, race relations also deteriorated.
3. In the South, African Americans worked to realize
progressive reforms, creating black kindergartens, settlement houses, and
day care centers.
4. Northern blacks actively fought discrimination. Ida
Wells fought against racial injustice while W.E.B. DuBois and other reformers
founded the Niagara Movement that later created the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People.
IV. Reforming Politics and Government
A. Woman suffrage
1. Woman suffrage was a major achievement of the Progressive
Era.
2. In the early 1900s, suffragists adopted activist tactics
such as parades, mass meetings, and automobile “suffrage tours.”
3. Some suffrage leaders argued for the vote using traditional
ideas about women.
4. By 1919, 39 states had established full or partial
woman suffrage.
5. The Nineteenth Amendment passed in 1920 gave women
the right to vote.
Map: Woman suffrage in the United States
B. Electoral reform
1. Electoral reforms included the secret ballot, public
regulation of the voting process, and direct primaries that weakened the influence
of political parties.
2. Voter participation fell and nonpartisan organizations
and pressure groups gained influence promoting narrower objectives.
C. Municipal Reform
1. Urban reformers changed the structure of urban government
and introduced the city commission and city manager systems.
D. Progressive state governments
1. Progressives reformed state government through the
initiative and referendum.
2. The Seventeenth Amendment passed in 1913 provided
for the direct popular election of U. S. senators.
3. Ten states adopted the recall.
4. Dynamic governors pushed progressive reforms.
V. Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Presidency
A. TR and the modern presidency
1. Theodore Roosevelt rejected the limited role of late
nineteenth century presidents. He sought to broaden executive power by exerting
legislative leadership, reorganizing the executive branch, and encouraging
the development of a personal presidency.
B. Roosevelt and Labor
1. Roosevelt was actively involved in the 1902 coal strike.
2. After White House negotiations between miners and
the mining owners stalled, Roosevelt threatened to have the army operate
the mines, leading to a negotiated solution.
3. Roosevelt’s intervention set a precedent of active
government involvement in labor disputes.
C. Managing natural resources
1. Reckless exploitation of natural resources spawned
a conservation movement.
2. Roosevelt made conservation a cornerstone of his presidency.
He tripled the size of federal forest reserves, set aside land for mineral
and petroleum,and established dozens of wildlife reserves.
3. Some naturalists favored setting aside permanent wilderness
areas.
4. Westerners favored the Bureau of Reclamation that
helped shape the modern West.
Map: The Growth of National Forests and National Parks
D. Corporate regulation
1. Roosevelt became known as a “trustbuster,” because
of his attempts to regulate large trusts.
2. The 1902 antitrust suit against the Northern Securities
Company led to the company’s dissolution.
3. After his election in 1904, Roosevelt pushed through
the Hepburn Act, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the Meat Inspection Act
E. Taft and the insurgents
1. William Howard Taft was Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor.
2. Taft pursued a more active anti-trust program than
Roosevelt and supported the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910. He also supported the
Sixteenth Amendment that established the income tax.
3. Taft alienated progressives and became involved in
a political morass because of divisions among Republican reformers, attempts
to restrict the power of the obstructionist Speaker of the House, and his
failure to support tariff reform legislation.
4. The 1912 election pitted Taft as the Republican candidate
against Roosevelt on the Progressive Party ticket and Woodrow Wilson, the
Democratic candidate.
IV. Woodrow Wilson and Progressive Reform
A. The election of 1912
1. Southern Democrats more consistently supported reform
measures in Congress than Republicans did.
2. In the election of 1912, Roosevelt’s New Nationalism
stressed a strong government to promote economic and social order, defending
big business as inevitable and healthy if controlled by the government.
3. Wilson’s New Freedom called for regulated competition
with the government breaking up monopolies and removing tariffs. Wilson
also opposed social welfare legislation,
4. Wilson won an easy victory and Democrats gained control
of Congress.
Map: The Election of 1912
B. Implementing the New Freedom
1. Wilson proposed a full legislative program.
2. The Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act of 1913 was the first
substantial reduction in duties since the Civil War.
3. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 reformed the nation’s
banking and currency system.
4. The creation of the Federal Trade Commission promised
government oversight of business activity to prevent monopolies.
5. Wilson did not support woman suffrage and introduced
segregation into the federal government.
C. The expansion of reform
1. As the 1916 election approached and the Republicans
had settled their differences, Wilson supported more reform measures.
2. The Federal Farm Loan Act assisted farmers.
3. The Keating-Owen Act prohibited interstate shipment
of goods made by child labor.
4. The Adamson Act established the eight-hour day for
railroad workers and the Kern-McGillicuddy Act set up a workers’ compensation
system for federal employees.
5. Wilson also appointed Louis Brandeis to the Supreme
Court.
VI. Conclusion
• In the early 1900s, progressive reformers responded
to the tensions of the emerging urban industrial order by seeking to change
society and government.
• Progressives promoted social change and an interventionist
state.
• Racism created ironies and paradoxes in progressive
activities as democratic reform helped disfranchise southern blacks and northern
immigrants.
• During the Progressive Era, the nature of politics and
government changed significantly.