The Progressive Movement

the age of reform

age of reform: a widespread movement to improve american life by expanding democracy and achieving economic and social justice

• use government as an agency of human welfare

1. objectives

• [middle class] accepted and hailed benefits of machine age but sought to correct its evils and problems

• began to look for ways to provide welfare and justice for everyone - all americans

• restore the public's beliefs of free enterprise and equality of opportunity: american dream was a myth, not a reality

2. aims

• political reform - wanted to restore control of government to people

• economic + social reform - correct the abuses in american life

• eg. child labor

• restore equality of opportunity - sought business + labor reforms

3. progressives - who were they?

• unifying characteristic: cause (not just one cause)

• general characteristics:

• spirit or attitude - call to action

• cut across party lines, economic groups, classes, gender, writers, labors, women, black people, etc.

• new middle class: young, educated professionals (20-30)

• strong faith in progress but use expertise to create a better world

• repelled by inefficiency + immorality in government, business, society, etc.

• belief: america can + should be a better place for all

• battle cry: strengthen the state

4. causes / roots of the progressive movement

• scientific investigation

• observation + experimentation = facts + truth

• idealism - "high" principles

• abraham lincoln → hero of the progressive movement

• radical traditions → politicians, radicals, socialists - writers: lloyd, veblen, riss

• religion - jesus → "hero" of the progressive movement; social gospel

• feminists, middle class

5. writers

• jacob riis: how the other half lives - inequities between rich and poor

• walter rauschenbusch: the social gospel

• key muckrakers: ida tarbell - lincoln steffens - thomas lawson - david phillips - ray stannard baker - john spargo - upton sinclair

6. feminists

• jane addams - hull house (chicago); created idea of social work

• lilian wald - henry street settlement (nyc)

political progressivism

• goals: get rid of trusts, improve labor conditions

• key reforms + legislation: initiative - referendum - recall (state governments)

• people can take the initiative to propose a new law

• direct primaries (people can choose candidates)

• corrupt practices act - aims to remove corruption from politics

• 17th amendment

• australian ballot - secret ballots

• cities + states

• new city governments → commissions or city managers

• remove politics from city governments

• progressive governors - wisconsin, california, new york

• robert "fighting bob" lafollette (wisco)

• feminists + other progressive women

• eg. florence kelly (national consumers league), alice paul (women's suffrage), frances willard (temperence), charlotte perkins gilman (new morality + new feminism), margaret sanger (birth control)

• racism + the civil rights movement

• booker t washington: policy of compromise - separation; black people had to earn rights, training + education, industrial school

• naacp: web dubois - demands for black equality + rights, guaranteed these as us citizens

• william monroe trotter: policy of resistance (failed); military stand may be necessary

• niagara movement (canada) - black pride, uncompromising demand for political and civic equality

• national urban league - needs of black people in northern urban areas

• ida b wells - formed the national association of colored women

• pattern of resistance to racial subordination

• wrote a red record, crusade against lynchings

• mary white ovington - settlement houses for urban black people

progressive presidents

• common views

• need for a strong national government

• guide the affairs of an industrial society

• president should lead, act boldly

• strong - dynamic - charismatic; "man of the people"

• end of laissez-faire

• some government regulation of economy

• regulate monopolies, restore free enterprise + equality of opportunity

• extended beyond party lines - any politician can be progressive

teddy roosevelt: 1901-1908

• ny legislator - cowboy - conservationist

1. high voltage energy

2. boyish + bellicose - "bully"

3. outspoken moralizer + reformer

4. gains popularity from "teddy bear" - refuses to shoot bear cub on trip out west

• 3 Cs: trust-buster

1. consumer protection

2. trust-busting: some trusts can benefit the people (good v bad trusts) - initially goes after jp morgan, most wealthy / powerful man in nation; wanted to prove power of the president

3. control of corporations

4. trust-busting

5. conservation

6. national forests, public reserves

7. the primary reason he ended up on mt. rushmore

the progressive movement and the industrial age

positives of the industrial ages

• growing middle class → more could get better wages and raise families regardless of education level (better quality of life)

• more variety in job opportunities, not just agricultural / industrial

• development of consumer goods

• new inventions (eg. lightbulb, electricity) now available to people → public benefit

• women's rights - could now work (invention of typewriter provided new jobs)

problems/evils of the industrial ages

• worker / employer relationships - workers were easily fired

• poor working conditions, low wages

• issues with striking, difficult to ban together + fight for fair working conditions

• employers against workers' rights - blacklists, etc.

• trusts + monopolies; cutthroat economic competition, excluded black labor

• immigrants ended up in poorer areas ("ghettos") within cities

• reorganization of work on the clock - prices decrease but assembly makes a cog in the machine rather than actually giving skills (quantity > quality), cheap, mass-produced products > good quality products

• child labor (main issue from a progressive perspective)

major proponents of the progressive movement

• muckrakers - suffragettes - populists - temperance - women - middle class - labor unions - civil rights