Topic 11 Lesson 1: Progressive Drive Reform

Vocabulary terms, key historical figures, legislation, and publications from Topic 11 Lesson 1 on Progressive Drive Reform.

Progressivism

A movement emerging in the 1890s that believed new ideas and honest, efficient government could bring about social justice to fix problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, and immigration.

Political Machines

Corrupt city organizations whose bosses used bribery and violence to influence voters, win elections, and misappropriate public funds.

Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890

A federal law that middle-class progressives criticized as inadequate and ineffective in limiting the abuses of big businesses.

Muckrakers

Sensational investigative journalists and writers in the early 1900s who exposed political corruption and social ills to push for reform.

Lincoln Steffens

Managing editor at McClure's magazine who published The Shame of the Cities in 1903, exposing municipal political corruption in cities like Philadelphia and Saint Louis.

The Shame of the Cities

A 1903 collection of articles by Lincoln Steffens exposing political bribery, corrupt politicians, and excessively high utility fees in American cities.

Jacob Riis

Photographer for the New York Evening Sun who documented the rat-infested, crowded tenement buildings where urban poor lived and published How the Other Half Lives.

How the Other Half Lives

A published work by Jacob Riis featuring photographs and accounts of tenement living conditions that shocked the nation's conscience and spurred urban housing reform.

Ida Tarbell

Muckraker who wrote The History of Standard Oil, exposing John D. Rockefeller's ruthless business tactics to ruin competitors and charge higher prices.

John Spargo

A progressive writer who focused public attention on the dangers and difficult conditions faced by child workers.

Naturalist Novel

A literary genre developed during the Progressive Era that portrayed human misery and the struggles of common people.

Sister Carrie

A 1900 novel by Theodore Dreiser tracing the fate of a small-town girl drawn into the brutal urban world of Chicago and New York.

The Octopus

A novel by Frank Norris that dramatized the Southern Pacific Railroad's stranglehold on struggling California farmers.

The Jungle

A novel by Upton Sinclair exposing the despair of Chicago stockyard workers and unsanitary meatpacking conditions, which prompted federal food safety regulations.

Frances Ellen Watkins

African American author who portrayed the struggles of Black Americans in her 1892 novel Iola Leroy.

Social Gospel

A reform movement created by Walter Rauschenbusch that blended German socialism and American progressivism, advocating that applying Christian teachings on charity and justice could reform society.

Walter Rauschenbusch

A Baptist minister and child of German immigrants who wrote Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907) and became the leading proponent of the Social Gospel movement.

Settlement House

A privately funded, volunteer-run community center in an urban slum that provided social services, classes, and childcare to the poor.

Jane Addams

Founder of Hull House in Chicago (1889) and a leading figure in the settlement house movement who later co-founded the ACLU and won the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize.

Hull House

A Chicago settlement house opened by Jane Addams in 1889 that expanded to 13 buildings offering childcare, education, and social programs to the local poor.

Florence Kelley

A lawyer who helped ban child labor in Illinois, helped found the National Child Labor Committee in 1902, and lobbied for the creation of the U.S. Children's Bureau in 1912.

Keating-Owens Act

A 1916 law passed by Congress banning child labor across all states, which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court two years later.

John Dewey

An educator who criticized schools for teaching rote memorization and advocated for teaching creative thinking, history, geography, and practical skills like cooking and carpentry.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

A March 1911 disaster in New York City where locked exits led to the deaths of 146 workers, galvanizing calls for workplace safety and workers' compensation laws.

Lochner v. New York

A 1905 Supreme Court decision ruling that state laws limiting the workday to 10 hours were unconstitutional.

Galveston Plan

A city commission form of government adopted permanently by Galveston, Texas in 1901 after a major 1900 hurricane, replacing the mayor with five expert department commissioners.

Direct Primary

An election reform established in Wisconsin by Robert M. LaFollette that allowed citizens themselves to vote on nominees for upcoming elections instead of party leaders.

Initiative

An election reform giving citizens the power to put a proposed new law directly on the ballot by gathering petition signatures.

Referendum

A reform allowing citizens to approve or reject laws passed by a state legislature.

Recall

A reform giving voters the power to remove elected public officials from office before their official terms end.

Seventeenth Amendment

A constitutional amendment passed in 1911 and ratified in 1913 that established the direct election of U.S. senators by voters rather than state legislatures.

Robert M. LaFollette

Progressive governor of Wisconsin elected in 1900 known as 'Fighting Bob' who established direct primaries and forced railroads to lower fees, earning Wisconsin the nickname 'laboratory of democracy.'

Hiram Johnson

Progressive governor of California who broke the Southern Pacific Railroad's hold on state government, adopted direct primary reforms, and promoted natural resource conservation.