middle class reformers aimed to restore economic opportunities and correct injustices in american...
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Progressive MovementWho were they?
Middle class reformers Aimed to restore economic
opportunities and correct injustices in American life› Journalists- working conditions, child labor› Intellectuals-questioned large corporations › Political reformers-more responsive to
citizens
Progressive Movement1900-1917
Dealt with problems from› Industrialization› Urbanization-this brought the issue of:› Immigration (SE Europe) › Gilded Age
(Titanic) “Haves and Haves Not”
Angry over:› American Businesses: too much power,
controlled politics› Social Darwinism- poor stay poor
Progressives: citizens could perfect society (late 1800s)› Government should help out the poor› Rise of the Federal Government
Progressives start at the local level:› Women step out of home in attempt to
clean up society and the urban overcrowding and poverty
Based on Christianity› Target drinking, prostitution, gambling › “brought by immigrants, Christians duty to
save their souls”
Four Main Goals
Protecting Social Welfare Promoting Moral Improvement Creating Economic Reform Fostering Efficiency
Social Welfare Social Gospel
› Community centers› Churches› Settlement Houses
Hull House, Jane Adams Salvation Army
› Soup kitchens, nurseries, “slum brigades” YMCA- Young Men’s Christian
Association› Libraries, swimming pools, classes,
Social Welfare Florence Kelley Worked in Hull House 1899- improve factory conditions
› Improve lives of women and children “Why are seals, bears, reindeer, fish,
wild game in the national parks, buffalo, and migratory birds all found suitable for federal protection, but not children?”
Secretary of National Consumers’ League› Promoted reforms
Illinois Factory Act-1893 prohibited child labor and limited women’s working hours
Moral Improvement
Morality, not the workplace, was the key to improving the lives of poor people
Improve personal behavior Prohibition
› alcohol undermined American morals Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
› Cleveland, Ohio, 1874› Crusaded Prohibition
WCTU members entered bars: prayed, sang and urged owners to stop selling alcohol
Frances Willard transformed WCTU› 1879- small midwestern group› 1911- 245,000 members
“Do Everything”- Willard slogan› Kindergartens for immigrants› Visiting inmates in prison/assylums› Promote suffrage
Hatchetnations- Carry Nations (p. 307)› Walk into bars and destroy liquor bottles
Anti-Saloon League 1895 (After WCTU)› This caused tension between league and
immigrants› Saloons- helped immigrant community
Cashed paychecks Served meals
Economic Reform Moral reformers, focus on individual
behavior; economic reformers prompted by panic in 1893.
Questions Capitalist system Embraced socialism Eugene V Debbs- American socialist
party in 1901› Uneven balance among big business,
government, and ordinary people
Progressives are NOT socialist Saw truth to Debb’s argument
› Big business received favorable treatment from gov officials and politicians and used its economic power to limit competition
Muckrakers
John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress › “Too busy with rake to clean up the muck
of this world” Journalists who wrote about the corrupt
side of business and public life in magazines, journals, books, etc.
Muckrakers
David Philips-Treason of State› Competition in the Senate
Theodore Dreiser-The Financer; The Titan› Industrialist
Ida Wells- Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in all its Phases › Lynching of AA
Edith Wharton- The House of Mirth› Ecclesiastes 7:4- The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of
fools is in the house of mirth
› Close mindedness of elite society Ida Tarbell- History of the Standard Oil Co
› Company’s cut-throat methods of eliminating competition
Lincoln Steffens- The Shame of the Cities› Corruption with political machines
Economic Reform
Move away from Lassiez- Faire Government starts stepping in to
control monopolies and to encourage competition
Fostering Efficiency Experts and scientific principles to make
society and work place more efficient Frederick Winslow Taylor- time and motion
› Taylorism aka Scientific Management Breaks down every job, action and task into
smaller sections Book Principles of Scientific Method Maximum efficiency from both machine
and worker=maximum profit Treated workers as mindless, emotionless
Henry Ford and the Assembly Line
First one to build conveyer belt Keep workers happy and to prevent
strikes:› Reduced workday to 8 hours› $5 a day› “Everybody will be able to afford [a car],
and about everyone will have one”
Political Reform (local and state level)
Make government more efficient Problems:
› #1 in big cities, political bosses rewarded supporters with jobs and kickbacks Favors or bribes for votes
› #2 Big business owners having a strong hold with politics
Political Reform: Mayor Hazen Pingree- Detroit, Michigan
› Economic focus- fair tax structure, lowered fares for transportation, removed corruption, work relief system for the unemployed
Tom Johnson Cleveland, Ohio› Socialist› Citizens active role in city government› Circus tent meetings-anyone invited to
question officials on business conduct Both worked to remove greed from
utility owners
Political Reform: State Level
Many states passed laws to regulate Railroads, mines, mills, telephone companies, and other large business
Robert M. La Follette- Wisconsin governor› Regulate big business› Main focus- rail road
Taxed railroad property Regulated rates Forbade free passes to state officials
Political Reform: Elections
William U’Ren, Oregon- secret ballot (Australian ballot)
Initiative- a bill originated by the people rather than lawmakers
Referendum- voters either accept or reject
Recall- remove public officials from office by another election before term ends
Political Reform:Seventeenth Amendment
Senators elected by the people NOT the House of Representatives
Populist Reform (Hunter’s Awesome)
Protecting Children
Child labor increasing› Worked cheaper and small hands › Parents needed kids to work to pull the
family out of poverty More prone to accidents due to fatigue
› Serious health problems and growth stunt 1904, National Child Labor Committee
› Investigations› Used” photographs› “Child labor lowered wages for all workers”
Keating-Owen Act-1916› Prohibited the transportation across state
lines of goods produced with child labor
› Two years later SC called unconstitutional bc interfered with states’ rights to regulate labor
1908 Muller v Oregon
Louis Brandeis worked with Florence Kelley
Women required the states protection against powerful employees
10 hour work day
Women in Industry Garment industry $$ half as men Offices, stores,
classrooms High school
education Business schools
› Telephone operator (p.314)
› Receptionist, shorthand
Domestic Workers U.S. Census Bureau any
occupation that includes:› launderers, cooks,
housekeepers, childcare workers, cleaners and servants
70 % women 1870 2 million AA
Gender Roles + Progressivism
Still expected to fulfill domestic roles, women colleges still strived to provided an excellent education.
By the late 1800s, marriage not the only option for women
› Late 1800s, ½ of the college-ed women never married to retain own independence
Applied education and skills to promoting social reforms
“We Need Reforms!”- women
Dangerous conditions Low wages Long hours Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire 1911
› 146 workers (Jewish and Italian girls) died
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKdMuVu1wi8
“social housekeeping”
Educated women strengthened existing reform groups and provided leadership for new groups› Targeted workplace reform› Housing reform› Educational improvement› Food and drug laws
NACW In 1896, AA women National Association of
Colored Women (NACW)› Harriett Tubman, Ida B. Wells
1st came together to dispute a letter written by James Jacks-president of Missouri Assoc. Press› He referred to African-American women as thieves
and prostitutes. During the next ten years campaigned in favor
of women's Suffrage and against lynching and Jim Crow Laws› Mission of organization: “The moral education of
the race with which we are identified” – Josephine Ruffin
Seneca Falls Convention of1848In July of 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott spearheaded the first women's rights convention in American history. Although the Convention was hastily organized and hardly publicized, over 300 men and women came to Seneca Falls, New York to protest the mistreatment of women in social, economic, political, and religious life. The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions issued by the Convention, which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence, detailed the "injuries and usurpations" that men had inflicted upon women and demanded that women be granted all of the rights and privileges that men possessed, including the right to vote.
Fourteenth Amendment
The right to vote for African Americans, but excluded women
Susan B. Anthony-leader of the women’s suffrage movement› Founded National Women Suffrage
Association (NWSA)› In 1890 united with National
American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
Powerful women feared by many
Liquor industry- prohibition Textile industry- child labor protests Men (not all)- changing role of women
in society
Three-part strategy for suffrage
#1- tried to convince state leg. for right to vote› Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Idaho
#2- used court cases to test 14th amendment› Susan Anthony and others tried to vote
150 times using this argument: “women citizens too”
#3- push for constitutional amendment› It will take 41 years for this to happen
“Night of Terror”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_q2Aw464KI
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