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

UPTON SINCLAIR JACOB RIIS The Jungle How the Other Half Lives

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

Thank you Taylor!

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”

Henry Ford and Model T

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

1917 Bunting V Oregon 10 hour work day for men

Progressives= workers comp

Aid families of workers who were hurt or killed on the job

WOMEN Gender roles

› What women were expected to do› Devote time to taking care of families

Women Farmers Cook, clean,

sew, laundry Raise

livestock Plow and

plant

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

Betye Saar. The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, 1972.

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

Write down everything you notice. Read A Personal Voice on page 317