Progressivism and Its Impact

Size and Progressivism

  • The idea that physical exercise for men would reduce temptations toward sex workers, masturbation, or drinking.
    • Key organizations involved in promoting healthy physical activities:
    • Salvation Army:
      • Originated in England, still operational today.
      • Focus: Providing food and shelter.
      • Employment of individuals in rehab or living in poverty.
      • Accepts donations of furniture and household items.
  • Progressivism: A varied response to issues stemming from the Gilded Age.
    • Context:
    • Women’s activism responded to social, economic, and political problems rather than being spontaneous.
    • Gilded Age context is crucial for understanding progressivism.

Characteristics of Progressives

  • Majority characteristics:
    • Mostly middle class, predominantly white individuals. Some African American progressives existed but were often excluded from mainstream movements.
    • Not revolutionary; moderate in their approach.
    • Belief in regulatory reform instead of overthrowing systems (capitalism).
    • Various occupations represented:
    • Journalists engaging in muckraking—exposing corruption and societal issues.
    • Participants in labor unions, temperance movements, and some feminists.
  • Existence across political parties, including both Republican and Democratic progressives.

Historical Debate Around Progressivism as a Movement

  • Historians argue whether progressivism constitutes a unified movement due to varying focuses:
    • Expansion of democracy.
    • Emphasis on different issues among progressives, leading to challenges in categorization as a coherent movement.
    • Overall unity: A collective belief that government should actively address societal problems.

Prongs of Progressivism

  • Expansion of Democracy:
    • Direct Primaries:
    • Voters choose party candidates rather than party leadership.
    • Seventeenth Amendment:
    • Establishes the direct election of U.S. Senators.
    • Referendum Voting:
    • Voters have a say directly on specific issues rather than through representatives. Examples include legalizing marijuana and same-sex unions.
    • Uncommon Understanding: Not all progressives supported every prong, leading to disunity even within the movement.

Regulatory Reforms

  • Food and Drug Regulation:
    • Prior to progressivism, medications often contained harmful, unregulated ingredients (e.g., cocaine, morphine).
    • Upton Sinclair: Muckraker and author of The Jungle (1906).
      • Aimed to expose labor conditions in meatpacking but raised awareness about food safety.
      • Famous quote: "I meant to hit them in the heart, but I hit them in the stomach instead."
    • Legislative Responses to Outrage:
    • Meat Inspection Act (1906): Ensures sanitary processing of meat.
    • Pure Food and Drug Act (1906): Required transparency in drug ingredients and efficacy, prohibiting false advertising.
    • Milk Adulteration:
    • Dangers of diluted and contaminated milk prior to regulations.
    • Pasteurization: Developed by Louis Pasteur, killed harmful microorganisms, drastically reducing milkborne illnesses.
      • Impact: Rate of illness dropped from 70% to 1%.

Social Justice Initiatives

  • Settlement Houses: Originated in Europe, aimed at helping poor immigrant communities. Services included:
    • Language and vocational classes.
    • Childcare and savings account-type services.
  • Biggest American settlement house: Hull House in Chicago.
    • Founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr; known for their progressive reform efforts.
    • Discrimination against black women in volunteering.
  • Child Labor Movement: Focus on rights, education, and well-being of children in labor.
    • Formation of the National Child Labor Committee (1904) and Children's Bureau (1912):
    • First federal agency run by women to focus on welfare of children.
    • First national legislation on regulating child labor was the Child Labor Act, though it faced constitutional challenges and was limited in scope initially.

Dark Aspects of Progressivism

  • Eugenics Movement:
    • Coined in England (1883), advocating for selective breeding to improve societal gene pools.
    • Positive Eugenics: Encourages certain demographics (white, middle-class educated individuals) to reproduce.
    • Negative Eugenics: Discourages procreation among perceived ‘undesirable’ populations (e.g., working-class and minority groups).
    • Surgical sterilization targeted women primarily; gruesome and invasive procedures were implemented.
    • Example: Youngest sterilization case involved a 5-year-old girl.
  • Linkage to future horrific practices, such as those carried out under Nazi Germany.
    • Quote from Hitler in Mein Kampf: Praising U.S. eugenics as a model for his policies.

Racism within Progressivism

  • White progressive movements excluded black women and marginalized communities. Therefore, an alternative black progressive emergence arose:
    • Booker T. Washington: Promoted vocational education and acceptance of segregation to improve economic opportunities for black Americans, seeing it as a means to progress.
    • W.E.B. Du Bois: Harvard-educated, advocated for liberal arts education and immediate equality without compromise.
    • Co-founder of NAACP (1909) and wrote The Souls of Black Folk.
    • Belief in the Talented Ten: top ten percent of black men deserving of education and leadership.

Conclusion

  • The complexity of progressivism includes both positive social reforms and problematic racial and eugenics ideologies.
  • The movement's contributions to democracy and regulation cannot be divorced from the discrimination and ethical implications in its methods and beliefs.