Progressive Era (1901-1914)

Progressive Era (1901-1914)

Chapter 28

Objective #1

• Discuss the origins and nature of the progressive movement.

Objective #2

• Examine the responses of the Progressives associated with industrialization and urbanization as seen in:– Settlement house movement– Muckraker journalism– Increased regulation– Reform of government.

Objective #3

• Explain the critical role that women played in progressive social reform.

2nd Great Awakening

Antebellum Reforms[1810s-1850s]

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WAR

Populism[1870s-1890s]

Social Gospel

Progressivism

[1890s-1920]

1920s Revivalis

m

New Deal[1930s-1940s]

1950sRevivalis

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Great Society

&1960s Social

Movements

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lMovement

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The “Culture Wars”:The Pendulum of Right v. Left

The “Culture Wars”:The Pendulum of Right v. Left

Progressivism

• Often called the first modern reform movement

• Influenced by Social Gospel Movement• Upset over laissez-faire idealists and

corruption of government and business• Driven by the “forgotten” middle class stuck

between corporations and working class • Progressives in all parties and all levels of

government

Muckrackers

Environmentalists

Temperance

Suffragettes

Populists

Midclass

Women

Labor

Unions

Civi

l

Rights

Environmentalism

• Your environment, not your heredity, was most important factor in human development

• Improve environment=improve life

• Better schools, homes, etc. = better society

• Teach middle class values to everyone

Strong Government

• Progressives wanted strong government regulation

• Government should be agents of human welfare

• Government should fight trusts• Return power to the people and out of

hands of corrupt

Progressive Government Reform

• 17th Amendment (1913): Direct election of Senators

• Referendum• Recall• Election spending reform• Pro-suffrage: women fight corruption• Increase social spending to help poor

– Keep them from voting “Socialist”

Urban Reform

• Rapid urbanization continued to cause problems• Immigration seemed to threaten American way

of life to Progressives• Progressives try to wrestle control from Party

Bosses– Non-partisan commissioners– City Manager system

• Progressives, like Robert LaFollette began to shift control away from corporations back to government (through regulation)

Progressive “Muckrakers”

• Journalists drove Progressivism

• Given nickname by TR due to their investigative zeal

• Competed for audiences– American, McClures, Cosmo

• Revolutionized journalism and exposed corruption

Major Muckraker “Works”

• David Phillips: “The Treason of the Senate”

• Upton Sinclair: “The Jungle”

• Jacob Riis: “How the Other Half Lives”

• Ida Tarbell’s expose of John D. RockefellerQuickTime™ and a

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Child Labor

• Florence Kelley: Illinois’ first chief factory inspector and advocate for improved factor conditions

• 1905-1907: 2/3 of states passed child labor law

• 1912: Children’s Bureau created by Dept. of Labor

• Success limited because wanted cheap labor and poor needed to work

• Compulsory school attendance laws increase



Working Women

• Muller v. Oregon: Supreme Court ruled in favor of 10-hr. work day for women– Took some control of working conditions

away from employer– Needed to protect women from disease

and danger– Progressives also argued women were

weaker than men and needed extra protection

Women’s Suffrage

• Progressives were pro-women’s suffrage

• Needed to offset immigrant vote, protect family, social reform

• Will gain suffrage in 1920 (19th Amendment)

Progressives and Birth Control

• Comstock Law (1873)• Margaret Sanger:

opened information centers and fled country

• Returned in 1921 to found American Birth Control League (later Planned Parenthood)



More Women…

• Jane Addams continues settlement house movement– Exposed women to the

plight of impoverished, working conditions, etc.

• Women form activist organizations and women’s clubs such as Women’s Trade Union League and National Consumers League– Extension of woman’s

place in the home, not a rejection of this concept



Home and School

• Better housing and schools would transform lives of poor

• Jacob Riis• John Dewey: Better

schools=better citizens



Prohibition

• Progressives opposed alcohol– It contradicted concept of healthy, educated

citizens (some called it sin)– Women’s Christian Temperance Union– Anti-Saloon League– 1906-1912: 7 States passed temperance laws– By WWI: 50% of U.S. territory was dry (usually

rural areas)– 1917: 18th Amendment--full Prohibition

Brothels and Movie Houses

• Progressives believed dance halls and movie houses threatened the morals of people (especially women)– Linked prostitution to movie houses and saloons– Mann Act (1910): Prohibited the interstate

transportation of women for immoral purposes

• First motion picture: 1889• First full length motion picture: Birth of a

Nation--1915

Progressives and Workers

• Progressives sympathized with industrial workers but had little understanding of their plight– Supported unions attempt to improve

working conditions but opposed strikes– Pushed legislation to protect workers

Scientific Management

• Many innovations, high supply of workers, laissez-faire government meant low pay, unsafe working conditions, lack of union success

• Factories stressed efficiency and profit

• Frederick Taylor: Scientific management

• Progressives supported efficiency

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Union Movements

• Unions were against Scientific management because it reduced importance of worker

• 2 million unionized by 1904 (75% in AFL)– AFL represented skilled craftsmen and

ignored unskilled and women– Companies continued to win battles in

early 20th c.

Danbury Hatters Case (1908)

• Supreme Court stated that unions were subject to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act– Unions could be held financially liable to

businesses during a strike– Number of strikes dip

• Progressives did little to help unions but did help workers– Tried to improve working conditions

Women in Workplace

• 5 million by 1900, 8.5 million by 1920

• Ignored by most unions (1.5% in unions in 1920)

• Women’s Trade Union League founded in 1903

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

• Many women in NYC garment industry– 16-25 yrs old, of Italian or Jewish descent– 56-hr weeks– $6/week

• Over 600 shirtwaist factories employed 30,000 workers

• Stress on scientific management led to overcrowding, women renting machines, paying for electricity, breaks minimized, safety shortcuts due to costs

Women strike!

• 1909: Women want better pay, working conditions, don’t want to costs

• Mass strike in 1909

• Strikers fired, arrested, etc.

• Government support of factories meant they did very little to improve working conditions

Rosa Schneiderman, Garment Worker

Rosa Schneiderman, Garment Worker

Child LaborChild Labor

Typical NYC Sweatshop, 1910


Typical NYC Sweatshop, 1910Typical NYC Sweatshop, 1910

Women Voting for a Strike!Women Voting for a Strike!

Public Fear of Unions/Anarchists

Public Fear of Unions/Anarchists

Arresting the Girl Strikersfor Picketing

Arresting the Girl Strikersfor Picketing

Scabs HiredScabs Hired

“The Shirtwaist Kings”Max Blanck and Isaac Harris

“The Shirtwaist Kings”Max Blanck and Isaac Harris

Triangle Shirtwaist FactoryAsch Building, 8th and 10th Floors

Triangle Shirtwaist FactoryAsch Building, 8th and 10th Floors

Inside the Building After the FireInside the Building After the Fire

Most Doors Were LockedMost Doors Were Locked

Crumpled Fire Escape, 26 DiedCrumpled Fire Escape, 26 Died

10th Floor After the Fire10th Floor After the Fire

Dead Bodies on the SidewalkDead Bodies on the Sidewalk

Scene at the MorgueScene at the Morgue

Relatives Review Bodies145 Dead

Relatives Review Bodies145 Dead

Out of the AshesOut of the Ashes Union membership surged.

NYC created a Bureau of FirePrevention.

New strict building codes werepassed.

Tougher fire inspection ofsweatshops.

Growing momentum of support for women’s suffrage.

Ludlow Massacre

• Strike for better working conditions in Colorado in 1913

• Colorado Fuel and Iron Industries owned by John D. Rockefeller

• Strikebreakers and national guard fired on strikers killing 13 women and children

• Shift to protect workers and reform working conditions because of events like these.

Progressive Era (1901-1914)

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