1. Reforming Government  Many Progressives believed that by reforming government, society would reform itself.  These reforms started at the city level.  Instead of having just a mayor, many cities adopted a commission form of government– known as the Galveston Plan.  The election process of city officials also needed to be reformed.  Four new forms of election regulation came to pass during the Progressive Era– the direct primary, the initiative, the referendum and recall.

2. Reforming Government  Direct primary  election in which citizens choose their nominees for office.  Initiative  allows citizens to propose new laws on a ballot by collecting signatures.  Referendum  allows citizens to reject laws passed by the legislature.  Recall  ability to remove a public official before their term ended.  New, ‘progressive’ governors swept across the nation. These included:  Robert La Follette (WI); Theodore Roosevelt (NY); Woodrow Wilson (NJ).

3. Women Make Progress CHAPTER 13, SECTION 2

4. Progressive Women Expand Reforms  Women achieved their goals through greater access to education during the early 1900s.  Women who worked outside of the home faced many difficulties including low wages, long hours and dangerous conditions.  They were also supposed to hand their wages over to their husbands, fathers or brothers.  Florence Kelley founded the Women’s Trade Union League which advocated for a minimum wage, 8-hour workday, and started a strike fund.

5. Working for Changes in Family Life  Improving family life was the main goal of progressive women.  Specifically, women focused on the temperance (abstaining from alcohol) movement, fueled by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.  This helped lead to the passage of the 18 th amendment.  Margaret Sanger opened the nation’s first birth-control clinic, leading eventually to the ability for women to gain information from their doctors about family planning.

6. Winning the Right to Vote  The main goal of Progressive Era women was to gain suffrage– the right to vote.  Women lobbied Congress to pass an amendment (19 th );  Used the referendum process to pass state suffrage laws;  Recruited wealthy, well-educated women to fight for their cause;  Held protest marches and hunger strikes.

7. Women and their Goals  Many prominent women emerged to lead during the movement, focusing on specific goals.  Carrie Chapman Catt  encouraged people to join the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which focused on working to achieve legal gains.  Alice Paul  encouraged public protest marches  Ida B. Wells  National Association of Colored Women focusing on family assistance.

8. Progressivism Presents Contradictions  While making overall social gains, many Progressives were prejudiced against those who were non-white, non-Protestant, and non-middle class.  They worked towards Americanization of immigrants.  Some Progressives agreed with southern legislation that segregated African Americans, while others supported African American growth.

9. African Americans Demand Reform  W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington were split on how African Americans should achieve change.  Du Bois went on to start the Niagara Movement, which later grew into the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.  Both groups focused on organization to promote change.