1. The Progressive Era

2. The Progressive Era
Greatest period of political reform in American history
Wanted government to be more responsive to the people
Embraced many, but not all of the goals of the Populists
Emphasized government REGULATION NOT nationalization
Led by the emerging urban middle class
Motivated by intellectuals and Muckrakers
First reforms began at the local and state level

3. The Progressive Era Local Reforms State Government Reforms
City Mayor and City Manager systems
Public utilities
Example: Sam “Golden Rule” Jones ~ Mayor of Toledo, Ohio
State Government Reforms
Business regulations
Laws to protect workers and consumers
Example: Wisconsin’s (Robert) La Follette plan
Example: California Worker’s Compensation ~ Gov. Hiram Johnson

4. The Progressive era
Political Reforms (Making government more responsive)
Initiatives (Voter proposed legislation)
Referendum (Legislation “referred” to the people for a vote)
Recall (The ability to remove an elected official with a special vote)
Primary Elections
Federal Amendments
16th ~ Federal Income Tax (1913)
17th ~ Direct Election of Senators (1913)
18th ~ Prohibition of Alcohol (1919)
19th ~ Women’s Suffrage (1920)

5. The progressive era Social Reform Movements
Muckrakers (Jacob Riis, Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, many more )
Women’s Christian Temperance Union & Anti-Saloon League
Women’s Suffragists & Black Suffragists (Ida B. Wells)
Niagara Movement & NAACP
International Workers of the World (IWW ~ Big Bill Haywood)
National Consumer’s League
Florence Kelley led against child labor and to improve working conditions for women. Largely motivated by the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Muller v. Oregon ruling

6. The Progressive Era Influential Muckrakers
Henry Demarest Lloyd, Wealth Against the Commonwealth (about Standard Oil)
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (about the meat packing industry, immigrants and tenements)
Jacob Riis, (New York Times) “How the Other Half Lives” (series of articles about the tenements of New York City – led to their elimination)
McClure’s Magazine
Lincoln Steffens, “The Shame of the Cities”
Ida Tarbell, “Mother of Trusts” (Expose’ on Standard Oil)
Cosmopolitan
David Phillips, “The Treason of the Senate”

7. The Progressive era “Progressive” Presidents
Three main areas of reform were addressed to some extent
Regulating business
Protecting consumers
Improving working conditions
Theodore Roosevelt (“TR”) Republican
William H. Taft Republican
Woodrow Wilson Democrat