The Progressive Era 1900-1917

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The Progressive Era1900-1917

• The Americans, Chapter 9

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The Roots of Progressivism

• Throughout the 1800s there were organized efforts
  to reform specific problems in society
• The abolitionist movement worked to end slavery.
• Temperance activists sought to ban alcohol
• The suffrage movement championed womens right to
  vote.
• Individuals worked to improve conditions in our
  prisons and mental health facilities.
• Volunteers established settlement houses in
  cities to provide services to poor immigrants.

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• During the Gilded Age in the late 1800s,
  muckraking journalists called attention to
  corruption in government, poor working
  conditions, and poverty in our cities.
• By the turn of the century, the growing middle
  class had come to believe that the government
  could play an active role in improving our
  society.
• Under the umbrella of the Progressive Movement,
  they pursued a variety of reforms.

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The Progressive Umbrella

• Economic Ending Expansion of
  Moral Protecting
• Reform Corruption Democracy
  Issues Workers
• ? in State
  ? ? ?
• Anti-Trust and Local Womens
  Temperance Child
• Legislation Governments Suffrage
  ? Labor Laws
  
• 
  ? Prohibition
• 
  Direct Election
• 
  of Senators
  
  

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The Issue of Trusts

• Theodore Roosevelt, the first President of
  the Progressive Era, liked to be known as a
  trust-buster.
• The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 was later
  reinforced by the Clayton Anti-Trust Act of
  1914, which outlawed specific types of trusts.

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Trusts

• The Grange- this club was to serve as a social
  club for farmers but it later developed into an
  organization that fought for economic and
  political reforms for farmers.
• The Interstate Commerce Act- this act prohibited
  railroads from charging more for short hauls than
  for long hauls over the same route. This marked a
  change from laissez-faire policies of the past.

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The Populist Platform

• Like the Grangers before them, the Populists
  wanted government interference in business and
  society. They wanted the following
• A) Government Ownership of railroads
• B) Graduated income tax so that wealthy
  individuals paid a higher rate
• C) Immigration Restrictions with quotas
• D) Shorter Work day of 8 hours

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William Jennings Bryan

• In 1896, the Democratic Party nominated William
  Jennings Bryan for President after he delivered
  His Cross of Gold speech. The speech praised
  farmers and denounced bankers for Crucifying
  mankind on a Cross of Gold.
• Bryan narrowly lost the election to
• William McKinley, a pro-business candidate.

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Cross of Gold Speech
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The 16th and 17th Amendments

• The Sixteenth Amendment made it
  legal for the national
  government to collect income
  taxes.
• The Seventeenth Amendment changed the way our
  U.S. Senators are chosen. They are now directly
  elected by the citizens of their states, not by
  their state legislatures, as they had been
  before.
• (See underlined memory hints above.)

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The Temperance Movement

• Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s,
  reformers worked to ban the sale of alcohol
  (pictured in the banner as a snake). They
  believed that most social problems were caused or
  compounded by alcohol use.
• The 18th Amendment was passed in 1919 and the
  Prohibition Era began.

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The Womens Suffrage Issue

• Susan B. Anthony was one of many famous
  suffragists who worked throughout the second
  half of the 19th Century and the Progressive Era
  to win women the right to vote.
• The 19th Amendment finally gave women the right
  to vote in national elections in 1920.

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Social Gospel Movement

• Social Gospel Movement- called for social reforms
  like the abolition of child labor and safer
  working conditions
• Jane Addams- Founder of Hull House a settlement
  house created to aid new American immigrants in
  crowded cities.

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The Issue of Child Labor

• Child labor laws varied from state-to-state.
• Some states continued to allow children as young
  as 5 or 6 years old to work long days in the
  factories. Many poor families chose to send
  their kids to work instead of school.

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• At this time, the U.S. Constitution was
  interpreted to mean that
  only state governments,
  not the national government,
  could pass ? laws related to
  child labor.
• Many progressive state governments set
  minimum age laws or mandatory
  school attendance laws
  during the Progressive Era.

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Muckrakers

• Muckrakers were journalists that exposed the
  muck or dirt of American life.
• Upton Sinclair exposed the Meat Industry in his
  book, The Jungle

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Conservation Issues

• The conservation movement began during
  Progressive Era
• 1903- First national wildlife refuge (in Florida)
• 1905- U.S. Forest Service created
• Altogether, Roosevelt set aside 16 national
  monuments, 51 wildlife refuges and 5 new national
  parks (including the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde,
  and Yosemite National Park)

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The Issue of Civil Rights

• Despite the serious problems with racial
  discrimination during this time period, race
  relations and the rights of minorities were not
  considered major issues by the typical
  progressive reformer. This issue was not under
  the Progressive umbrella.
• However, a major accomplishment during this
  period was the establishment of the NAACP by
  W.E.B. DuBois and others.

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The Progressive Era and WWI

• Americans went off to war in 1917 with a
  progressive zeal, believing that they would make
  the world safe for democracy and that this might
  be the last war of all time.
• Despite the Allied victory in 1918, the
  brutality of the war and the harsh terms of the
  Treaty of Versailles, damaged the progressive
  spirit in America and turned public attention
  away from reform.