The progressive era saw reforms aimed at addressing social issues, corruption, and economic power. Reformers pushed for protections for workers, consumers, and social welfare. Women gained suffrage after decades of activism. Teddy Roosevelt championed trust-busting and conservation. Later presidents like Taft and Wilson took a more moderate approach and the era ended with U.S. entry into WWI under Wilson.

1. PROGRESSIVISM
Chapter 17
Presented by Ms. Wopperer

2. Origins of Progressivism
Remember: big business ruled
America at this time. Labor unions
were just beginning. Men like Carnegie
and Rockefeller ran the show.
Women had yet to gain voting rights
while African Americans still suffered
under Jim Crow.
Intellectuals began to question the John D. Rockefeller
power of industry. “The Rock”
The progressive movement was a
period of social, economic, and
political reforms created to right the
wrongs of American injustices.
KKK Symbol

3. GOALS of Progressivism
• Efficiency
• Scientific Management Studies or “Taylorism”: named
after Frederick Winslow Taylor became the newly
accepted industrial practice.
• The aim was to use time and motion studies in order to
improve efficiency. Manufacturing tasks were broken
into smaller simpler parts.
• The assembly line came into play here as well. Many
workers called for reforms, however, due to continued
fatigue and injury.

4. GOALS of Progressivism
• Protection of Social Welfare
• Workers wished to improve the harsh conditions of
industrialization.
• Volunteers helped poor through community centers,
churches, and social services
(eg. YMCA, Salvation Army)
• Florence Kelly: helped pass Illinois Factory Act in 1893,
which improved the lives of working women and
children because it prohibited child labor and lowered
women’s working hours.

5. GOALS of Progressivism
• Prohibition
• Workers wished to improve the harsh conditions of
industrialization. promote morality and improve lives of
the poor.
• WCTU: Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was the
most prominent supporter of prohibition. Their slogan:
“Do everything”. Also, the Anti-Saloon league battled
“Demon Rum” among other evils.
• Carry Nation: would walk into saloons, scold customers,
and destroy bottles of liquor with a hatchet.
• Many immigrants reacted against Prohibition. They
claimed alcoholic beverages were an integrated part of
their culture and customs. Also, saloons provided other
services like cashing paychecks and serving food.

6. GOALS of Progressivism
• Social and Economic Reform
• Socialists: The Panic of 1893 caused many to question
their capitalist economic system. Many embraced
socialism. Eugene V. Debs, who organized some of the
first labor union movements, eventually became a
prominent socialist supporter.
• Muckrakers: Journalists uncovered the corrupt side of
business and public life by writing detailed and
sometimes sensationalized exposes in magazines.
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a premier example
• Quiz: What color is the Socialist Flag !?
Socialist Flag

7. REFORM on Local and State Levels
Locally:
New political leaders divided control over the city into
different departments.
Each leader took charge of one department and
maintained the city better as a whole.
Argument: A bunch of people in control of a city is better
than one big cheese.
AGREE or DISAGREE?

8. REFORM on Local and State Levels
State:
Protecting the Children:
Child labor proved to be a difficult problem to solve:
Industries opted to hire children due to their small
hands. Immigrants allowed their children to work
because they rationalized them as apart of the family
workforce.
Harsh conditions and low wages made life for child
laborers very hard. They were devoid of a childhood and
grew up at a very young age.
National Child Labor Committee (1904): sent
investigators to gather evidence of harsh conditions.
New evidence and support of labor unions prompted the
passage of the Keating-Owen Act in 1916. Goods made
through child labor were no longer allowed across state
borders.

9. REFORM on Local and State Levels
State:
Limiting the Workday:
Muller v. Oregon (1908):
argued for the plight of poor
working women. Women were
then limited to a 10-hr workday.
Bunting v. Oregon (1917):
upheld a 10-hr workday for men.
Progressives also won workers’ compensation to aid families
who suffered and work-related injury or death.

10. REFORM on Local and State Levels
State:
Elections:
Secret ballot (or the Australian
Ballot): voting was no longer public.
Initiative: “The Bill” the people put
forward a bill they created
Referendum: “The Vote” they vote
and accept or reject the initiative
Recall: “The Boot” voters could
remove public officials from elected
positions by forcing another election
on them before their term’s end.
Primary: “The Choice” voters chose
their candidates instead of political
machines and bosses like Tweed.

11. REFORM on Local and State Levels
State:
Direct Election of Senators:
The primaries were a SUCCESS!
They paved the way for the Seventeenth Amendment, which
allowed for the direct elections of senators.
Corruption was slowly funneling OUT of the legislative system in
America.
More voices of the people were heard…half of those people?
WOMEN

12. WOMEN OF PROGRESS
Work Force
On the Farm: In addition to homemaking, women were expected
to raise livestock, plant, and plow fields. Their jobs had not
changed much since the previous century.
In Industry: Although unions excluded women, they found job
opportunities in cities. They worked in factories, textile mills,
schools, offices, and stores.
Domesticated: In order to support their families, some women
worked as cooks, laundresses, scrubwomen, and maids. 70%
were employed as servants.
Dangerous conditions, low wages, and long hours led many
female industrial workers to push even harder towards reform!

13. WOMEN OF PROGRESS
Reform
Women were not allowed to run for office or vote. Duh.
Therefore, they strove to improve conditions where they
worked: the home and the workplace.
NACW: The National Association of Colored Women
managed nurseries, reading rooms, and kindergartens.
Susan B. Anthony: After the Seneca Falls convention in 1848,
women were angered over the 14th and 15th Amendments,
which gave African American men the vote, but excluded
women. Anthony was a leader in favor of women’s suffrage,
or the right to vote.
NAWSA: National American Woman Suffrage Association

14. WOMEN OF PROGRESS
3 STEPS to SUFFRAGE
STEP 1: Convince state legislators to
give women the vote
STEP 2: Pursue court cases and test
the 14th Amendment
STEP 3: Push the AMENDMENT

15. TEDDY ROOSEVELT
26th President of the United States
THE ROUGH RIDER
After McKinley’s assassination, Roosevelt (the VP) took
office. The youngest president to date, Roosevelt went
to work wowing his countrymen with daring feats such
as galloping 100 miles in a day and boxing in the white
house.
He was affected by muckrakers and promised to put an
end to the “specific evils” the journalists exposed.

16. TEDDY ROOSEVELT
POLICIES and CONTRIBUTIONS
Square Deal: His politics were just as aggressive as his
lifestyle. He promised the common people that they
would receive a series of very progressive reforms.
Trustbusting: By 1900, trusts controlled almost 4/5th of
industry. After the completely failed attempt at
restriction (Sherman Antitrust Act), Roosevelt took a
firm stand. Roosevelt did not slow the merger movement,
but he did success in dissolving a number of powerful
trusts and therein earned the nickname “The
Trustbuster”
Monroe Doctrine (revisited): TR added the Roosevelt
Corollary declared the United States to be in control of
the entire western hemisphere after European
intervention in South America served as a military threat
to America.

17. TEDDY ROOSEVELT
POLITICAL CARTOON

18. TEDDY ROOSEVELT
Regulation and Conservation
Regulation
Railroads: tightened management, limited free passes, and
restricted severe price changes. Sued the heck out of J.P. Morgan.
Food and Drugs:
Meat Inspection Act: required companies to inspect their meat,
but not to label canned goods with expiration dates – EEK!
Pure Food and Drug Act: halted the sale of contaminated food
items and demanded true labeling. The belief became that
people would act wisely if given the correct information. Duh.

19. Panorama of
Beef Industry
Circa 1900

20. TEDDY ROOSEVELT
Regulation and Conservation
Conservation: Antiquities Act
During his trips west, Roosevelt observed the disappearance of
wilderness. He saw certain areas as American heirlooms and
sought to preserve them (eg. Grand Canyon and Yosemite).
Natural Resources: Split between conservation and usage for the
betterment of American lifestyles.

21. TEDDY ROOSEVELT
Civil Rights
Yes and No
He supported few, not all, African Americans.
He invited Booker T Washington over for dinner, but did not take
the fight for Civil Rights seriously.
Booker T and W.E.B. DuBois continued to push.
NAACP: National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People

22. MUCKRAKERS
They were brave, eloquent, and sick of it!

23. MUCKRAKERS
They were Journalists who uncovered the corrupt
side of business and public life by writing detailed and
sometimes sensationalized publications.
Ida Tarbell: The History of the Standard Oil Company
She exposed John D. Rockefeller after he transformed the
transcontinental railroads into a monopoly on the backs of poor
workers. He would lower his rates, run all competitors out of
business, and then jack them up afterwards.
Upton Sinclair: The Jungle
Sinclair’s main goal was to expose the terrible living conditions of
immigrants to America. When the book went on sale, however,
Americans reacted more to the conditions of the meat industry.
Everyone eats, after all, for richer or poorer.
Lincoln Steffens: The Shame of the Cities and
The Struggle for Self-Government
He was the muckraking leader who went after business AND
government at once. His stories were published in McClure’s
Magazine before they were collected and reprinted.

24. WILLIAM HOWARD
TAFT
27th President of the United States

25. WILLIAM HOWARD
TAFT PS...
- Taft never wanted to be president.
Nellie made him do it.
- He was by far our biggest president and my favorite!
- He had a lifelong dream to be a Supreme Court Justice.
- He was TR’s choice mostly because TR thought Taft would be a good
puppet president who would do everything TR told him to do.
So you must ask yourself...
Will Taft do well? Will he ever become a JP? Will Teddy get mad?
Will Taft be able to fit in the White House bathtub?

26. WILLIAM HOWARD
TAFT
Taft’s humor: “I got up and I gave my seat to three ladies”
Taft got into trouble when he took on a more conservative approach. This ticked
off Teddy Roosevelt who heard the news while on safari in Africa.
Payne-Aldrich Tariff: made fewer tariff cuts and increased rates. Many
progressives saw it as an abandonment of progressivism everywhere.
Weak leadership: gave power to his administration. Taft did not follow in Teddy
Roosevelt’s style and Teddy could not handle watching many of his groundbreaking
programs fall through. Teddy began to bad talk Taft. Thus the friendship soured.
Unable to balance the conservative and progressive sides of his party, Taft
watched it fragment.

27. WILLIAM HOWARD
TAFT
GET OUT A PIECE OF PAPER
(or ask me for one)
WE WILL NOW WATCH TAFT’S EPISODE ON
THE HISTORY CHANNEL’S
“PRESIDENTS” SERIES
Prepare to hand 3 decent factoids to me
that you learned from watching this most excellent program
Thank You :-)

28. WILLIAM HOWARD
TAFT
HERE’S TEDDY!
REP Split: Bull Moose Party
TR returned from Africa touting a “New Nationalism” where the
federal government would use its power to help the people.
He began speaking against his old friend Taft calling him terrible
names and, at one point, causing Taft to break down in tears. :-(
TR’s Progressive Party became known as the Bull Moose Party.
It advocated: woman suffrage, workmen’s comp, 8-hr workday,
min wage for women, and federal restrictions of child labor.
BUT, a split in the party meant a split in supporters.
NO REPUBLICAN WON, IN FACT, A DEM DID...

29. ELECTION OF 1912:
DEMOCRATS WIN: WILSON’S IN
WOODROW WILSON
28th President of the United States

30. WOODROW WILSON
Wilson’s New Freedom
Antitrust: attack the triple wall of privilege:
trusts, tariffs, and high finance.
Clayton Antitrust Act: prohibited corporations from acquiring the
stock of another if doing so would create a monopoly. Labor unions
and farm organizations gained the right to exist. Strikes, peaceful
picketing, boycotts, and collections of strike benefits became legal.
WOO!
Federal Trade Commission (FTC): A “watchdog” agency that was given
the power to investigate corporate violations and put an end to unfair
business practices.
Federal Income Tax:
Lower tariff rates = a decrease in revenue.
Federal Income Tax under the 16th Amendment taxes individuals and
corporations to increase revenue. Gov’t eventually made MORE in
Income Tax than they ever did on tariffs.

31. WOODROW WILSON
Wilson’s Federal Reserve System
Wilson divided the country into 12 regions and gave each a bank:

32. WOODROW WILSON
Wilson’s Federal Reserve System
Banks could:
issue paper currency
offer loans to customers
transfer funds to banks in danger of bankruptcy in order to
protect customer savings
System still serves today (check out your dollar bills!).

33. WOMEN WIN SUFFRAGE
Carrie Chapman Catt: frontrunner and Susan B’s
successor as NAWSA president.
5 Tactics
1. Organization
2. Close ties between local, state, and national workers
3. Establishment of Support Base
4. Cautious lobbying
5. Ladylike behavior

34. WOMEN WIN SUFFRAGE
Boston Movements:
Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government
College Equal Suffrage League
19th Amendment: 1920
Congress finally gave women the right to vote.
After 72 years of fighting for it (Remember, they first met
at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848)

35. Limitations of Progressivism
Like Roosevelt and Taft, Wilson backed off Civil Rights once
he won office.
He promised to treat blacks equally and spoke out
against lynching, however, Wilson’s big dirty secret was
that he was in league with the friggin’ KKK (which
skyrocketed to its all time highest membership rates
during Wilson’s presidency)...which, in many ways,
makes him a big fat liar.
Many African Americans came to call Willsonian politics the
“New Slavery”
The Progressive Era ended when Wilson decidedly broke his
isolationist stance and entered American into WWI.