The Progressives Lesson 1

political machines

powerful organizations that used both legal and illegal methods to get their candidates elected to public office

Progressives

reformers who wanted to solve the problems of a fast-growing society

muckrakers

journalists who exposed the corruption, scandal, and filth of society

Seventeenth Amendment

a law letting Americans vote directly for U.S. senators

recall

a vote to remove an official before the end of his or her term

Initiative

procedure allowing voters to propose a new law by collecting signatures on a petition

referendum

procedure permitting voters to approve or reject a law

Robert M. La Follette

Wisconsin governor whose progressive reforms became a model for other states

bosses

Corrupt political leaders who used bribery and favors to win votes and elections

secret ballots

An election reform requiring that voters' choices be kept confidential

Spoils System

A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.

Lincoln Steffens

Muckraker who exposed political corruption in cities and wrote "The Shame of Cities"

Upton Sinclair

muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat-packing industry in Chicago. The book was fiction but based on the things Sinclair had seen.

Illegal activities used by political machines to change election results

buying votes, bribing vote counters, and stuffing ballot boxes.