Key Concepts in Progressive Era Politics and Social Movements

Single Tax Movement

Proposed by Henry George in 1879; the single tax - a 100% tax on any increase in the value of real estate - was designed to keep property values low and therefore limit the accumulation of wealth while spreading opportunity more broadly in the society

Social Darwinism

The application of Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution to society, holding that the fittest and the waltiest should thrive and lead, the weak and the poor "deserve" their fate, and government action is unable to alter this "natural" process

Muckraking Journalists

Journalism exposing economic, social, and political evils, so names by Theodore Roosevelt for its "ranking the muck" from the bottom of American Society

Tammany Hall

Dating from well before the civil war, New York City's Democratic Party organization, which evolved into a powerful political machine after 1860, using patronage and bribes to maintain control of the city administration

Initiative

Procedure by which citizens can introduce a subject for legislation, usually through a petition signed by a specific number of votes

Referendum

Submission of a law, proposed or already in effect, to a direct popular vote for approval or rejection

Recall

The process of removing an official from office by popular vote, usually after using petitions to call for such a vote

Woman's Christian Temperance Union

National organization formed after the civil war dedicated to prohibiting the scale and distribution of alcohol

Social Gospel

Application of religious ethnics to industrial conditions and thereby alleviating poverty, slums, and labor exploration

Sherman Antitrust Act

The first federal antitrust measure, passed in 1890; sought to promote economic competition by prohibiting business combinations in restraint of trade or commerce.

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act

A law of 1883 that reformed the spoils system by prohibiting government workers from making political contributions and by creating the Civil Service Commission to oversee their appointment on the basis of merit rather than politics

New Freedom

Woodrow Wilson's 1912 program for government intervention in the economy to restore competition by curtailing the business monopolies, thereby providing opportunities for individual achievement

Federal Trade Commission

Government Agency established in 1914 to provide regulatory oversight business activity

Temperance

A social movement that called for moderation or the total elimination of alcohol

Patronage

Giving jobs in exchange for loyalty

Trusts

Were large, monopolistic business combinations that consolidated control of an industry by having the most shock of several competing companies transferred to a board of people called trustees

Utopia

an imagined place where everything is perfect

Progressive

a group, person, or ideal favoring or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas

Political Machines

organization that controls a local government, typically through a political party, and maintains power by exchanging favors and services for votes and loyalty