THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT

1890 - 1920

ORIGINS OF PROGRESSIVISM

• As America entered into the 20th century, middle class reformers addressed many social problems

• Work conditions, rights for women and children, economic reform, environmental issues and social welfare were a few of these issues

OBJECTIVES:• 1. Causes of the Progressive Movement• 2. Analyze the role Journalists played in

the Progressive Movement• 3. What were some of the social

reforms• 4. What were some of the political

reforms

FOUR GOALS OF REFORMERS

• 1) Protect Social Welfare• 2) Promote Moral

Improvement• 3) Create Economic

Reform• 4) Foster Efficiency

1.PROTECT SOCIAL WELFARE• Industrialization in the late 19th

century was largely unregulated• Employers felt little responsibility

toward their workers• As a result Settlement homes and

churches served the community• Also the YMCA and Salvation

Army took on service roles

2. PROMOTE MORAL DEVELOPMENT

• Some reformers felt that the answer to societies problems was personal behavior

• They proposed such reforms as prohibition

• Groups wishing to ban alcohol included the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

3. CREATE ECONOMIC REFORM

• The Panic of 1893 prompted some Americans to question the capitalist economic system

• As a result some workers embraced socialism

• Eugene Debs organized the American Socialist Party in 1901

Debs encouraged workers to reject American Capitalism

4. FOSTERING EFFICIENCY• Many Progressive leaders put

their faith in scientific principles to make society better

• In Industry, Frederick Taylor began using time & motion studies to improve factory efficiency

• Taylorism became an Industry fad as factories sought to complete each task quickly

American Lifestyles at the turn of the Century

•Annual wage of American workers: $400-$500•Cook: $5/week or $260/year•Maid: $3.50/week or $180/year

FACTORY WAGES

•MASSACHUSETTS MILL PAID 14 CENTS/HOUR•NATION’S STEEL WORKERS less than 18 cents/hour

•TOOK $800 /YEAR TO SUPPORT A FAMILY = 110 HOURS/WEEK

MILLIONAIRES

•1900: 1% of population owned over 80% of the wealth

•Andrew Carnegie earned over $23,000,000 (no income Tax )

Change needed:

•Government had to play a greater role in regulating business, public health and safety

MUCKRAKERS

•Journalists whose writings began in the late 1800s

•Exposed corruption in •business and politics

MUCKRAKERS CRITICIZE BIG BUSINESS

• Though most progressives did not embrace socialism, many writers saw the truth in Debs’ criticism

• Journalists known as “Muckrakers” exposed corruption in business

• Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil Company’s cut-throat methods of eliminating competition

Ida Tarbell

Some view Michael Moore as a modern muckraker

THE JUNGLE

• UPTON SINCLAIR

•Described in gory detail the unhealthy practices in meatpacking plants

PROGRESSIVES

•Jacob Riis•Exposed

•Tenement housing

The Jungle; Upton Sinclair

PROTECTING WORKING CHILDREN• As the number of child

workers rose, reformers worked to end child labor

• Children were more prone to accidents caused by fatigue

• Nearly every state limited or banned child labor by 1918

EFFORTS TO LIMIT HOURS

• The Supreme Court and the states enacted or strengthened laws reducing women’s hours of work

• Progressives also succeeded in winning worker’s compensation to aid families of injured workers

Settlement Houses

• Jane Addams

Social Reforms• Safer working conditions• Shorter work days

RISE of SWEATSHOPS

•Violates 2 or more of the basic labor laws:•Child Labor•Minimum wage abuse/overtime•Fire safety

ELECTION REFORM• Citizens fought for, and won,

such measures as secret ballots, referendum votes, and the recall

• Citizens could petition and get initiatives on the ballot

• In 1899, Minnesota passed the first statewide primary system

DIRECT ELECTION OF SENATORS

• Before 1913, each state’s legislature had chosen its own U.S. senators

• To force senators to be more responsive to the public, progressives pushed for the popular election of senators

• As a result, Congress passed the 17th Amendment (1913)

Constitutional Amendments

•Amendment 16: income tax (1913)•Amendment 17: direct election of senators,

•Amendment 18: Prohibition (1919)•Amendment 19: Women’s Suffrage (1920)

Roosevelt takes on the food industry!

• In response to The Jungle, Roosevelt pushes through the Meat Inspection Act, so that the gov’t could check out all meat products crossing state lines for health concerns.

• The Food and Drug Act did the same for medicines. Today, we have the FDA.

Roosevelt: the Environmentalist

Conservation under Roosevelt

•150 National Forests•51 Fed. Bird reservations•5 National Parks•18 National Monuments•7 conservation conferences

Roosevelt Corollary

• “A Civilized nation had the right to stop chronic wrongdoing throughout the western hemisphere.”

•Reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine to keep the Western Hemisphere free from intervention by European powers

Great White Fleet

• President Roosevelt won support from Congress to build the Great White Fleet, a force of sixteen new battleships. He then sent the fleet on a world cruise in 1907 to demonstrate the nation’s growing military power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tr_great_white_fleet_tr_addresses_us_conneticut_feb_1909.jpg

http://www.canalmuseum.com/canalphotos/panama-views-0114.html

PANAMA CANAL

• 1904-1914• $352,000,000• 80,000 workers• 30,000 deaths

• The United States needed permission from Colombia, which owned the Isthmus of Panama.

• Colombia wanted more money than the United States was willing to pay.

• Roosevelt dispatched U.S. warships to the waters off Panama to support a Panamanian rebellion against Columbia.

• The United States recognized the Panamanian government.

• Roosevelt negotiated to lease the “Canal Zone” from the new Panamanian government for $10 million and an annual rent.

The Panama Canal was constructed between 1904 and1913.