THE PROGRESSIVE ERA AMERICA SEEKS REFORMS IN THE EARLY 20 TH CENTURY

Who were the Progressives? 1.Mostly urban (in contrast to the mostly rural Populists) 2.Mostly middle-class intellectuals (especially with the rise of white collar jobs) 3.Protestant church leaders 4.African-American civil rights leaders 5.Feminists 6.Liberal Republicans (T.R. & Robert La Follette) & Democrats (William Jennings Bryan & Woodrow Wilson) 7.Pragmatists - replacing Laissez Faire & Social Darwinism w/ practical solutions

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FOUR GOALS OF REFORMERS 1) Protect Social Welfare 2) Promote Moral Improvement 3) Create Economic Reform 4) Foster Efficiency

1.PROTECT SOCIAL WELFARE Industrialization in the late 19 th century was largely unregulated Employers felt little responsibility toward their workers As a result - the Social Gospel Movement - Settlement homes (like Jane Addams’ Hull House) and churches served the community Florence Kelly lead fight for women & children in factories, education, courts, housing. Also the YMCA and Salvation Army took on service roles

2. PROMOTE MORAL DEVELOPMENT Some reformers felt that the answer to societies problems was personal behavior They proposed such reforms as Prohibition Groups wishing to ban alcohol included the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) & Anti-Saloon League led by Carry “The Hatchet” Nation The “Drys” - prohibition in 2/3 of states by 1915

3. CREATE ECONOMIC REFORM The Panic of 1893 prompted some Americans to question the capitalist economic system Many rejected Laissez-Faire and pushed for more gov. regulation. As a result some workers embraced socialism Eugene Debs organized the American Socialist Party in 1901 Debs encouraged workers to reject American Capitalism

MUCKRAKERS CRITICIZE BIG BUSINESS * Journalists for McClure’s Magazine known as “Muckrakers” exposed corruption in business (also Collier’s & Cosmopolitan) Ida Tarbell exposed Standard Oil Company’s cut-throat methods of eliminating competition Jacob Riis - Lincoln Steffens’ Shame of the Cities - political machine corruption Novels: Frank Norris The Octopus (railroads) Theodore Dreiser, Upton Sinclair Ida Tarbell Some view Michael Moore & Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) as modern muckrakers

4. FOSTERING EFFICIENCY: CLEANING UP LOCAL GOVERNMENT Efforts at reforming local government stemmed from the desire to make government more efficient and responsive to citizens Some believe it also was meant to limit immigrants influence in local governments

ELECTION REFORM Citizens fought for, and won, such measures as “Australian”secret ballots, initiatives, referendum, and the recall In 1899, Minnesota passed the first statewide primary system

DIRECT ELECTION OF SENATORS Before 1913, each state’s legislature had chosen its own U.S. senators To force senators to be more responsive to the public, progressives pushed for the popular election of senators As a result, Congress passed the 17 th Amendment (1913)

REGULATING BIG BUSINESS Under the progressive Republican leadership of Robert La Follette, Wisconsin the “Laboratory of Democracy” led the way in regulating big business - especially the railroad industry Robert La Follette

EFFORTS TO LIMIT HOURS The Supreme Court and the states enacted or strengthened laws reducing women’s hours of work Progressives also succeeded in winning worker’s compensation to aid families of injured workers

PROTECTING WORKING CHILDREN As the number of child workers rose, reformers worked to end child labor Children were more prone to accidents caused by fatigue Nearly every state limited or banned child labor by 1918

SECTION 2: WOMEN IN PUBLIC LIFE By the late 19 th and early 20 th century, 20% of women in the workforce: garment trade, office work, department stores, teachers. More women graduated from colleges like Vassar and Smith but limited jobs opportunities Joined clubs and organizations

WOMEN AND REFORM “Suffragettes” pushed for the vote. Carrie Chapman Catt president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1900 In 1896, black women formed the National Association of Colored Women (NACW)

THREE-PART STRATEGY FOR WINNING SUFFRAGE Suffragists tried three approaches to winning the vote 1) Convince state legislatures to adopt vote (Succeeded in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado) 2) Pursue court cases to test 14 th Amendment 3) Push for national constitutional Amendment

Militant Suffragists Some wanted a more radical approach - mass pickets, parades, hunger strikes, civil disobedience. Alice Paul broke from NAWSA to form National Woman’s Party in focused on Amendment Alice Paul

19th Amendment (1920) Women support for WWI persuaded Congress and President Wilson to finally support suffrage Guaranteed women right to vote in all local, state, and national elections. Carrie Chapman Catt founded League of Woman Voters to inform women on candidates and issues

NAACP FORMED TO PROMOTE RIGHTS In 1909 a number of African Americans including W.E.B. Du Bois and prominent white reformers formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The NAACP had 6,000 members by 1914, 100,000 by 1920 The goal of the organization was full equality among the races The means to achieve this was the court system

2 nd Great Awakening Antebellum Reforms [1810s- 1850s] CIVICIVILWARCIVICIVILWAR Populism [1870s- 1890s] Social Gospel Progressivism [1890s-1920] 1920s Revivalism New Deal [1930s- 1940s] 1950s Revivalism Great Society & 1960s Social Movements Christian Evangelical Movement CONSERVATIVECONSERVATIVEREVOLUTIONREVOLUTIONCONSERVATIVECONSERVATIVEREVOLUTIONREVOLUTION The “Culture Wars”: The Pendulum of Right v. Left