What is Progressivism?

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What is Progressivism?

• From 1890s to 1914, progressives addressed the
  rapid economic social changes of the Gilded Age
• Progressive reform had wide appeal but was not a
  unified movement with a common agenda
• Progressive reforms included prostitution,
  poverty, child labor, factory safety, womens
  rights, temperance, political corruption

Democrats, Republicans, Socialists all found
reasons to support progressivism
Some reformers targeted local community problems,
others aimed for state changes, others wanted
national reforms
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What is Progressivism?
Social Gospel taught Christians that it was their
duty was to end poverty inequality
Optimism belief in progress (investigate,
educate, legislate)

• But, Progressive reform had distinguishing
  characteristics
• Progressive Themes

Looked to the government to help achieve goals
Desire to humanize industry urbanization
Their actions impacted the entire nation not
regions like the Populists
Led by educated middle-class experts who
developed rational solutions
Change the environment in order to change people
(no Social Darwinism)
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Industrial Exploitation Case Study The Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911)
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Reforming Americas Cities
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Reforming Americas Cities

• Progressive reform 1st began in cities in the
  1890s to address factory, tenement, labor
  problems
• Early reformers realized that private charity was
  not enough to cure all social ills
• The Social Gospel movement was a new religious
  philosophy that focused on improving society
  saving individual souls

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The Female Dominion

• Some of the 1st reformers were educated,
  middle-class women
• Women found reform was a way to improve their
  communities to break out of their traditional,
  19th century social roles
• Led by Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago,
  settlement houses were built in slums, offering
  health care, baths, cheap food

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Hull House in Chicago
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The Female Dominion

• Women were key leaders in
• Charity Org Societycollected data on poverty
  slums led to the NY Tenement Commission
• Natl Conference of Social Work used professional
  social workers called for minimum wages,
  maximum hours, widow pensions
• In the 1930s, the govt passed the National Child
  Labor Laws

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The Female Dominion
Membership grew in the WCTU

• Womens groups, like the WCTU, helped gain key
  reforms
• ProhibitionShocking reports of alcohol abuse led
  19 states to outlaw booze the passage of the
  18th Amendment (1920)
• ProstitutionBy 1915, almost all states banned
  brothels the Mann Act banned the interstate
  transport of immoral women

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Standardizing Education

• Psychologist William James promoted the idea that
  ones environment dictates behavior
• School leaders applied these ideas to reform
  pubic education
• Schools became a primary vehicle to assimilate
  immigrants
• John Dewey promoted creative intelligence, not
  memorization or strict teaching

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Muckraking Journalism

• New muckraking journalism drew attention to
  social problems, such as urban poverty,
  corruption, big business practices
• Popular monthly magazines, like McClures
  Colliers, used investigative journalism photos
• Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives (1890) was
  the 1st exposé of urban poverty slums

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Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives included
photographs!
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Muckraking Journalism

• Other groundbreaking exposés
• Henry Georges Progress Poverty (1879) showed
  the growing gap between rich poor
• Lincoln Steffans Shame of the Cities (1902)
  exposed corrupt political machine bosses
• Ida Tarbells History of Standard Oil (1904)
  revealed Rockefellers ruthless business practices

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Attacking Political Machines

• Mugwumps were reformers who strove to end
  corruption among political machines in cities
• The Gilded Age saw the height of urban machines
  whose politicians controlled lawmaking, police
  depts, the courts
• The Good Govt movement found ways to shift
  power from bosses to mayors city councils

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Nasts Favorite Target Boss Tweed
Tweeds DownfallThose damn pictures
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Thomas Nast was the Gilded Ages most
important Mugwump cartoonist
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Political Progressivism in the Cities States
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Progressive Reform in the Cities
Most cities formed committees to focus on
improving quality of life
Many cities used gas water socialism to
control public utility costs

• Political progressivism began in cities in
  response to corrupt political machines
  deteriorating urban conditions
• Good government reformers created the National
  Municipal League in 1894 to find ways to make
  city governments less political less partisan

Many mid-sized or small cities hired a
non-partisan city manager to oversee the city
bureaucracy
Galveston, Texas was the 1st city to use a city
commission rather than a mayor city council
These urban reforms were less democratic but much
more efficient less corrupt
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Progressive Reform in the States

• Progressive reformers impacted state governments
  too
• A New York corruption scandal linked politicians
  utility suppliers leading NY to form a
  utilities regulatory board
• Most states created regulatory commissions to
  oversee state spending initiate investigations

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Progressive Reform in the States
Allowed citizens to create laws by petitioning to
have an issue placed on a state ballot allowing
voters (not politicians) to decide

• Progressives helped make state governments more
  democratic
• Western states were the 1st to allow public
  initiatives, referendums, recalls
• Passage of the 17th amendment in 1912 allowed for
  the direct election of Senators
• By 1916, most states had direct primaries to
  allow voters to choose candidates, not parties

Allowed citizens to vote on an issue (such as tax
increases) suggested by the state legislature
Allowed voters to directly remove an elected
official by popular vote
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Action in the States
TR called Wisconsin the Laboratory of
Democracy

• The most significant state reform was governor
  Robert La Follettes Wisconsin Idea
• Used academic experts from the University of
  Wisconsin to help research write state bills
• Wisconsin was the 1st state to use direct primary
  income tax, create industrial commissions, set
  utility prices, regulate RRs

California, Missouri, Iowa, Texas copied La
Follettes plan
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Working-Class Reform
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Immigration to the USA, 1901-1920
From 1901 to 1920, 14.5 million new European,
Mexican, Asian immigrants traveled to America
to join the U.S. labor force
By 1914, 60 of the U.S. work force was foreign
born Most immigrant laborers were unskilled,
lived in poverty in ethnic conclaves
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Mexican Immigration to the USA, 1900-1920
Mexican immigrants worked in Western farms,
railroads, mines as well as Southern
California agriculture
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Working with Workers

• Many businesses used violence to break up
  strikes, but others improved workers conditions
• Henry Ford introduced an 8-hour workday the
  five dollar day
• The Amoskeag textile factory in NH used
  paternalism benefits, like playgrounds health
  care

Led to an increase in production a more
stable loyal workforce
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Amoskeag Textile Company
Amoskeag built playgrounds baseball fields for
families their children
Amoskeag hired whole families
and provided company housing