Progressive Era Big Ideas Reviewed 

Context

• In the late 19th century the U.S. continued its shift from a rural, agricultural economy to an urban,
• industrial economy led by large corporations’ Industrial growth expanded opportunity and changed American society
  • New jobs & technology
  • Movement to urban areas
  • Immigration increased (especially from Southern and Eastern Europe)
• Economic instability led to new efforts to reform U.S. society and laissez faire capitalism
  • Panic of 1893 & other economic declines led for calls for reform
  • Interstate Commerce Act & Sherman Anti-Trust Act were rarely enforced

<<The Progressive Era of the early 20th century responded to economic instability, political corruption, and social concerns by calling for greater government action and other political and social measures<<

• BIG IDEA: Effort to use government power to regulate and improve society
  • Rejection of laissez faire ideology

Progressive Era

• Progressive journalist attacked what they saw as political corruption, social injustice, and economic inequality
  • Muckrakers: investigative journalist that advocated for reform
  • Economic- Ida Tarbell's "History of Standard Oil": John D. Rockefeller's business practices
  • Political-Lincoln Steffens "The Shame of the Cities": political machines
  • Social: Jacob Riis "How the Other Half Lives": urban poverty
• Progressive Era reformers were often from the middle and upper classes
  • Many women were involved in various Progressive Era reforms
  • Temperance, suffrage, child labor, consumer safety, etc.
  • Worked to effect social changes in cities and among immigrant populations
  • Jane Addams settlement house movement (Hull House)
  • Florence Kelly: National Consumers League
    • It's complicated: often immigrants needed their children to work\

The progressive movement was not actually a unified movement

The Progressive “Movement”

• Race and the Progressive Movement
  • Some Progressive reformers were racist
  • Support for Southern segregation
  • Black activism during the Progressive Era
  • NAACP created from Niagara movement
  • W.E.B. Du Bois, lda B. Wells actively fought against racism
• Some Progressive reformers sought to expand popular participation in government
  • Initiative, referendum, recall, & primary system were all reforms that expanded popular participation in government
  • 17th Amendment- direct election of Senators
  • Nevertheless, black voting rights continued to be denied and racism flourished
• Greater reliance on professional and technical experts to make government more efficient
  • Hope to reduce graft and corruption of political machines

Progressive era reforms took place at the local, state, and federal level

National Movement

• Progressive reformers advocated for federal legislation to:
  • Effectively regulate the economy
  • Muller v. Oregon (1908) limited work hours for women
  • Meat Inspection Act & Pure Food & Drug Act (1906)
  • Trust busting: Sherman Anti-Trust Act, Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914)
  • Regulation of railroads: Elkins Act (1903) & Hepburn (1906)
  • Expand democracy
  • 17th Amendment: direct election of senators
  • Implement moral reform
  • Prohibition, immigration restrictions, support for eugenics
• Progressive Amendments to the Constitutions
  • 16th Amendment: income tax
  • 17th Amendment: direct Election of Senators
  • 18th Amendment (Prohibition)
  • 19th Amendment: women’s suffrage

Protecting the Environment

• Preservationists and conservationists both supported the establishment of national parks while advocating different government responses to the overuse of natural resources.
  • Preservation: protect the environment by restricting human development
  • Conservation: protect the environment by advocating for managed use of resources
• Sierra Club (1892) advocated for the preservation of natural areas
  • Led by John Muir
• Theodore Roosevelt used the presidency to pursue various conservationist projects
  • Creation of national parks, national forests, national monuments

Connections

• Progressive Movement (1890s-1917ish): response to problems/challenges caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and other problems in American society
• New Deal (1933-1940s): response to Great Depression
• Great Society (1960s): response to racial issues, poverty, and other issues

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