The Progressive Era

1. The Progressive Era

2. The Progressive Era • The ProgressiveEra—The period of US History between 1890 to 1920 when a great variety of groups were working to bring “progress” to American society. …Progressives called for expanded government involvement in fixing society’s problems. …Some progressive movements included the: • --Nativists • --Prohibitionists • --Purity crusaders • --Political reformers • --Workplace reformers

3. The Origins of Progressivism • In the last part of the 1800’s… • American cities grew very quickly… • American industries expanded rabidly… • The American population exploded…And national wealth increased greatly. • And also caused: Unemployment, unsafe working conditions and massive political corruption. • Many felt that private efforts to solve society’s problems were insufficient… • And that the government needed to step in. “TR”

4. Urban Living Conditions • Most workers live in company housing or tenements (cheap apartments). • Poverty, overcrowding, neglect, open sewers, and vermin become common. • Hundreds crammed into spaces built for a few families. • In NYC, 6 in 10 babies died before their first birthday. • Fires often destroyed dozens of city blocks (Great Chicago Fire—18,000 buildings burned). • Many neighborhoods become “Ghettos”, dominated by one particular ethnic group. Aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire

5. On the West Coast… • The west coast (particularly California) saw an explosion of immigration from Japan and China. • Culturally and physically, they differed greatly from Americans, which made them easy targets… • For discrimination and physical abuse.

7. The Gulf between the Rich and Poor • In 1890, the richest 9% of Americans held 75% of the national wealth. • Most factory workers earned only a few hundred dollars per year… • While factory owners lived extravagant lifestyles. • This disparity caused many workers to become politically active. Cornelius Vanderbilt

8. The Biltmore Family Estate, Asheville, NC.

9. “The Breakers”—Vanderbilt’s Summer Cottage

10. Vanderbilt’s 5th Avenue “Apartment”

11. Vanderbilt’s Weekend “Getaway” in upstate New York

12. Jacob Riis • Worked as a police reporter on New York’s Lower East Side in 1873… • Wrote a book called “How the Other Half Lives”, which exposed the lives of tenement dwellers. • The book shocked the American public into supporting reform of the tenements. • However, wealthy families continue to flee to the suburbs, making cities concentrations of urban poor.

13. Harlem

14. New York City, 1867

15. Wall Street, 1870

16. Mulberry Street, Manhattan

17. Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan

18. Five Points, Manhattan (now demolished)

19. A Bowery Flophouse

20. A Tenement’s Exterior

21. A Tenement’s Interior

22. “Bandit’s Roost”, Greenwich Village

23. Basement Dweller

24. Factory Work • In most industry, employers paid workers for the amount they produced, not for the time they worked. • Piecework—those who worked fastest earned the most money. • Division of Labor—factory workers performed one small task over and over. • Discipline in factories was very strict… • Fatigue, faulty equipment, careless training, frequent fires and accidents killed 675 workers per week.

25. Working Families • In urban areas, factory work was a family affair… • Every family member worked in some way. • Children left school at the age of 12 or 13 to go to work… • Children as young as 6 or 7 often had jobs. • Unemployment insurance and government assistance did not exist… • Due to the theory that poverty was the result of personal weakness (social Darwinism).

26. Workplace Reformers • Workplace reformers demanded that government take an active hand in the American workplace. • Some reforms achieved by workplace reformers included… • Unemployment insurance • Worker’s compensation • Health insurance • The abolition of child labor • Fire-marshal and safety inspections.

27. The Muckrakers • Most reform and progressive movements relied on the investigation and exposure of society’s problems… • Journalists who alerted the public to wrongdoing in business and politics were called the Muckrakers. • “The Jungle”, by Upton Sinclair—revealed the horrors of the meatpacking industry… • And led to the creation of a federal meat inspection program… • And the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act.

28. Chicago’s “Packingtown”

29. Ida Tarbell • Was a progressive-erateacher, author & journalist… • She is known today for her investigative journalism… • In 1904 she published “The History of the Standard Oil Company”… • In which she accused its owner, John D. Rockefeller of using unfair and illegal business practices. • Standard Oil was later targeted by “trust-buster” Teddy Roosevelt and broken up.

30. Jane Addams & Settlement Houses • One way Progressives worked to improve the lives of the urban poor was the establishment of… • SettlementHouses—community centers that provided social services… • Classes in child care, English lessons, nursery schools, etc. • The most notable was Jane Addams’ Hull House, in Chicago.

31. State and Federal Reforms • The 17thAmendment—direct election of Senators by the people… • Recall—the ability of voters to remove public officials from office. • The 16thAmendment—authorized Congress to collect income taxes. • The 18thAmendment—Prohibition.

32. Trust-Busting • Trust—an organization of businesses that functions as a monopoly. • When Roosevelt became president he immediately focused on destroying their power… • To the extent that he became known as the “Trust Buster”. • Some trusts broken up by Roosevelt included: • Standard Oil (Rockefeller’s trust… • The American Tobacco Company, and… • The Beef Trust.

33. Environmental Protections • The ConservationMovement—to protect and preserve national parks and forests… • Roosevelt was an avid outdoorsman and hunter… • And became the first president to focus on protecting the environment. • In 1905, Roosevelt set aside 200 million acres for national forests, mineral reserves and water projects.

34. The Taft Administration • In 1904, after his reelection, Roosevelt announced that he would not run for President again… • And handpicked his Secretary of War to be the next Republican nominee. • Taft easily won the election of 1908… • And vowed to continue Roosevelt’s aggressive reform programs… • But he did not follow through on promised reforms… • And this greatly angered Roosevelt.

35. The Election of 1912 • Roosevelt, still wildly popular, decided to run again… • However, he was dismissed by the Republican Party leaders, who supported Taft. • Forms the Progressive Party and enters the race as a third-party candidate. • Progressive Party nicknamed “The Bull Moose Party” (“I’m fit as a bull moose!”)… • The party platform calls for women’s suffrage; more regulation of business and an end to child labor.

36. A Four-Way Election • William HowardTaft—Republican candidate… • TheodoreRoosevelt— “Bull Moose” Progressives… • Eugene V.Debs—Socialist party… • WoodrowWilson—Democratic candidate. • Roosevelt and Taft split the Republican vote… • Giving victory to Woodrow Wilson with 42% of the vote.

37. Woodrow Wilson’s Domestic Policies • Wilson was the former president of Princeton University and a leading intellectual… • Established the Federal Reserve System in 1913—a system that allows member banks to borrow money from the government, helping to prevent bank failures. • Nominated progressive Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court—the first Jewish justice… • And opposed women’s suffrage.

38. Susan B. Anthony • Demanded after the Civil War that women be given the same rights as African Americans under the 14th and 15th amendments… • Arrested for civil disobedience when she led a group of women to the polls and insisted on voting… • And she eventually became the most well-known woman’s rights activist in American history.

39. Views of the Anti-Suffrage Movement • A “women’s place was in the home”… • Women were powerful enough WITHOUT the right to vote… • Giving women the right to vote would “blur the difference between the sexes”… • Women would vote to outlaw liquor as their first action.

40. Struggle and Victory • Some women’s groups pressed for a constitutional amendment… • Some tried to get individual states to permit women to vote… • Causing a SPLIT in the movement… • When WW1 broke out, women began taking jobs left by men… • Prohibition was passed (liquor interests are out of the fight)… • The 19thAmendment was proposed in by Congress in 1918… • And was ratified in August of 1920.