Immigration 5-3.5 How did building cities and industries led to progressive reforms, including labor reforms, business reforms, and Prohibition?

Progressivism Progressivism was largely a middle class movement that promoted the idea that society’s problems could be solved by the passage of laws. The movement started as a political response to problems at the city government level and moved to the state and national level.

As the cities grew…. The increase in immigrations and movement from the farm, middle class Americans were concerned about the living conditions and corruption (dishonesty) of city government. Crowed Conditions= problems providing sanitation for water and housing. Also corruptions among city officials who were often supported by their ethnic constituents (citizens).

Middle Class Americans They lived in the cities too and paid taxes for city government! They began being called the Progressive Reformers.

Progressive Reformers Advocated (encouraged) City parks Beautification projects Safer housing Sanitation Promoted teaching immigrant to adapt to their new country using settlement houses where social skills were taught.

Progressive Reformers Concerned about unsafe conditions in factories and long hours that workers (particularly women and children) were expected to work. Didn’t support labor unions; advocated passage of laws.

Media helping the Progressive Reformers Publicized conditions in factories with photographs of unsafe working conditions. These writers were called muckrakers and they exposed the corruption of the system.

Women and ……. Child Labor

Progressive Reformers Advocated (encouraged) Restricting child labor and passing laws requiring children to attend school. Of course a lot of the families didn’t like the child labor law restriction idea because many of the families depended on their children to help out with their wage.

Progressive Reformers and Big Business Progressives were very successful at the federal level in addressing problems associated with Big Business. They feared Big Business had too much control over the economy and trusts had too much influence over the American government. A trust is a business entity formed to create a fixed prices (a monopoly)

Progressive Reformers and Big Business: Sherman Anti-Trust Act Law passed because of the Progressives declaring monopolies, or trusts to be unlawful. However, the law did not end monopolies because the Supreme Court limited its effectiveness.

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt became president of the USA in 1901. He was an assertive(aggressive) progressive who was now in the White House. He was encouraged by muckraking writers. He began to use the Sherman Anti-Trust law to successfully break up trusts and earned the name “trust-buster”.

Muckrakers who helped President Roosevelt Ida Tarbell Upton Sinclair Exposed the oil trust Exposed the meat-packing trust www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu

Theodore Roosevelt.. The Trust-Buster Protected the rights of the consumer by pushing for the passage of: Meat Inspection Act Pure Food and Drug Act Regulation of railroads.

Progressive Presidents Presidents William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson continued to work in a progressive manner and are known as the Progressive Presidents

Additional Concerns of the Progressives Advocated for the creation of national parks and the preservation of the land because of the impact of industrialization and urbanization.

Additional concerns of the Progressives Improving society by controlling the moral behavior of all Americans particularly of the immigrants. Wanted to limit the consumption of alcohol (The Temperance Movement) especially from the influx of immigrants. Some states passed prohibition laws and others passed blue laws to limit the sale of alcohol. Prohibition is the legal act of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcohol and alcoholic beverages.

18th Amendment Outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

Prohibition However, it couldn’t stop people from drinking and thus promoted illegal actives such as bootlegging and speakeasies. Bootlegging is the making and selling of alcohol illegally. Speakeasies are private clubs that illegally would serve alcohol.

Prohibition-Bootleggers & Speakeasies

21st Amendment The 21st amendment repealed (abolished) prohibition.