Which of these causes do you think is the most important?

• Easing the suffering of the urban poor, especially children;

• Improving unfair and dangerous working conditions;

• Reforming government at the national, state and local levels.

The Progressive Movement

• Began with the middle class in the late 1800s• The “Social Gospel”• Looking for purpose; feelings about wealth

and poverty• Rejected Social Darwinism in favor of

pragmatism – solving problems

• Informed by “muckraking” journalists who reported on industrial dangers, corruption in government, unprincipled businessmen

Jacob Riis, “How the Other Half Lives,” 1895

Upton Sinclair, The Jungle

“ … and as for the other men, who worked in tank rooms full of steam, and in some of which there were open vats near the level of the floor, their peculiar trouble was that they fell into the vats; and when they were fished out, there was never enough of them left to be worth exhibiting—sometimes they would be overlooked for days, till all but the bones of them had gone out to the world as Durham's Pure Leaf Lard!”

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire1911 – New York• 146 deaths• Average age 19• Mostly immigrants

Major goals of ProgressivismHelp the urban poor

Jane Addams and Hull House

Settlement Houses

• Education for immigrant families – basic child care, etc.

• Education for children• Community enrichment

Women’s reforms

• Woman Suffrage (voting rights) movement led by Jane Addams and Florence Kelley

• Specific tactical efforts at changing federal suffrage rights – Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt

• Women’s trade unions

Working Conditions

• Basic safety• 10-hour work day• Child labor addressed• Due to union involvement, every industrial

state enacted insurance laws that would cover workers injured on the job

Consumer Protection

• Medicine labels were misleading, dangerous

• Factory conditions were unsanitary, practices unhealthy

1906• Pure Food and Drug Act• Meat Inspection Act• Food and Drug

Administration est.

Political Reform• Political machines had too much power; they

bought votes, embezzled funds, and took bribes.

Robert LaFollette

• fought the Republican machine in Wisconsin, was a leader of political reform

• Became governor of Wisconsin

Political Reforms

• Direct primaries – the people vote to nominate a party candidate, taking the decision out of the hands of political bosses.

• Initiative – allows voters to place an issue up for vote (starting with a petition)

• Recall – allowed voters to remove officials who had lost their confidence.

Civil Rights- Washington v. DuBois• Booker T. Washington had

been a slave;• Believed that blacks must

work with whites to gain equality, and must not alienate them;

• “Atlanta Compromise” speech seemed to say that blacks were content to be second-class citizens. (1895)

• Established the Urban League in 1911.

• W.E.B. DuBois was Harvard-educated;

• Took a more aggressive stance toward equal rights;

• Called together the Niagara Movement in 1906:

• Encouragement of black pride;

• Demand for equal rights• Founded National Assoc. for

the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal• The “trust-busting”

president• Railroad regulation – set

rates, standard bookkeeping practices

• Established the Public Lands Commission for the purpose of conservation of natural resources

• Forest Service expanded

Roosevelt• Born and lived in NY; highly athletic and rugged; for three

years he left politics and ran a cattle ranch, also becoming a deputy sheriff in North Dakota.

• Wrote several books on history, botany, ranching etc.• Ran the NYC police department in the late 1800s• Secretary of the Navy when the Spanish American War

started; resigned to lead a regiment called the Rough Riders in Cuba.

• Governor of New York State• President 1901-1909; the youngest ever to assume the

presidency (stepped up to replace Pres. McKinley)• In 1912 he ran again for president, under the Bull Moose

Party, but lost.