Unit 6: Progressive Era

OHS History Team

Learning Objectives

• Explain the roles played by muckrakers

• Explain the roles of progressive idealists

• Analyze the progressive achievements of Theodore Roosevelt

Big Concepts

• Progressives were Americans hoping to fix the many problems of the Gilded Age.

• They were activists, writers, and politicians

• Muckrakers were writers and journalists who wrote about the many problems in society.

• Their writings helped create positive change and reform

• Theodore Roosevelt was the first “progressive” president

• Roosevelt passed laws to protect American consumers

• Roosevelt broke up some powerful trusts and monopolies

Vocabulary

• Yellow = MUST COPY

• Green = Copy if you have time

Muckraker

• reform-minded American journalists

• attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupt

• Writings published in magazines

Muckrakers

• Influenced America through written articles, books, and political cartoons.

• Exposed the “ills of society” to the American people.

• This term “muckraker” was coined by T.R. because he said these people spent more time raking up muck about America than living their life.

Upton Sinclair

• Muckraker who wrote “The Jungle”

• Exposed the terrible working conditions

• Meat packing factories in Chicago

• Unsafe food

THE JUNGLE

◼ The meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage. ... Under the system of rigid economy which the packers enforced, there were some jobs that it only paid to do once in a long time, and among these was the cleaning out of the waste barrels. Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water—and cartload after cartload of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public’s breakfast.

Upton Sinclair

• T.R. read this book and obviously was disgusted just like everyone else

• The government needed to reform this right?!?

Ida Tarbell

• Muckraker

• Wrote “History of Standard Oil”

• Criticized John D. Rockefeller’s and Standard Oil’s ruthless business tactics

Lincoln Steffens

• Muckraker

• Wrote “Shame of the Cities”

• Attacked political machines and political corruption

Robert M. La Follette

• Progressive Governor

• “Wisconsin Idea”• More political power to the voter

• Helped workers

• Regulate big business

• Direct Primary – voters select candidates

President Theodore Roosevelt

• First Modern President

• Actively used office to fix problems

• Progressive President

• Becomes president when McKinley is killed

Square Deal

• TR promised the American people a fair treatment

• Support the working class more

Square Deal

• Term was used to describe the various progressive reforms sponsored by Teddy Roosevelt.

• He wanted to “change” or reform America to help the problems.

• NOT LASSIEZ FAIRE ANYMORE

“Trust Busting”

• TR uses the Sherman Antitrust Act to go after powerful businesses

• Breaks up JP Morgan’s Northern Securities (Railroad Trust)

Pure Food and Drug Act

Food and drugs must be properly labelled

Ingredients listed

New Government Agency – Food and Drug Administration

Pure Food and Drug Act

• Stopped the sale of contaminated foods and medicines and called for truth in labeling.

– Before companies would say their product could do things from curing cancer to growing hair.

– Also, products contained opium, cocaine, or alcohol.

Meat Inspection Act

• Caused by “The Jungle”

• Federal meat inspectors

Conservation

• TR believed in protecting the natural environment from big business

• Listened to environmentalist John Muir

• Protected 230 million acres of public land

• National Forests

Chronology Timeline

1900 – Robert Follette “Wisconsin Idea”

1901- Theodore Roosevelt becomes President

1902 – TR breaks up Northern Securities

1904 – Tarbell publishes “History Standard Oil”

1904 – Steffen’s publishes “Shame of the Cities”

1905 – Sinclair publishes “The Jungle”

1906 – Pure Food and Drug Act passed

1906 – Meat Inspection Act passed

Continuity and Change

Continuity Change

IndustrializationUrbanizationAssimilation

ProgressivismReformRegulationSocial reformGovernment action