The Progressive Age 1876-1920

1. The Progressive Age1876-1920 Who were the Progressives? We should probably have called them “activists” They argued that social evils will not remedy themselves. The Progressives felt it was wrong to sit by and wait for time to take care of their problems. The Progressives believed in ACTION!

2. What was life like at the time? Some people were living better then ever. They weren’t rich or poor, they were the new middle class. Life was changing quickly, all the new inventions and as well as city life was creating many new opportunities but also many problems. This new class enjoyed:-Mass Produced goods-Factory made clothes-AppliancesMost importantly some people now had leisure time, or free time instead of working all the time.

3. But what about the others? The living conditions were awful, but the Progressives wanted to do something about it! As you’ve learned, life wasn’t as easy for the new immigrants in the slums and tenement buildings.

4. Many writers were Progressives, they wrote about what they saw in the cities which shocked many in the middle class. They were called Muckrakers. The Progressives would work their best to remedy some of the problems caused by industrializationand urbanization. Upton Sinclair, a muckraker, wrote about the horrors of the meat packing industry. Once people read his book, they demanded that the government make sure their food was safe.

5. Jacob Riis, another muckraker showed the reality of urban poverty. His book How the Other Half Lives made many middle class readers want to help the cause, and become Progressives, working to better city living conditions.

6. Fixing many of the problems were very hard though. The powerful people who were responsible for many social, economic, and political problems wanted things to stay the way they were. Why didn’t they want to help others? They didn’t want to help because they were profiting from the cheap labor, and didn’t want new groups like immigrants and women to have a say in how things should be run. They would lose their power.

7. In the cities, political bosses would run almost everything. In NYC, Boss Tweed ran government dishonestly. He took bribes and stole money from the people. He was hated by many Progressives because of his actions.

8. Boss Tweed became infamous because he was constantly being featured in political cartoons which were popular at the time. Even if an immigrant couldn’t read, they could understand the cartoon. Why were political cartoons so important?

9. Progressives didn’t just want honest government, they wanted fair business leaders too. They felt that the trusts and monopolies were taking advantage of people. Once again were can see this in political cartoons of the era.

14. Many Progressives were women. They fought for many issues that women were faced with. They fought child labor, sweatshop conditions, and most importantly they fought for SUFFRAGE. -Suffrage means winning the right to vote. CATT STANTON MOTT

15. Women’s Suffrage groups used many tactics to get their message across.

16. With the 19th Amendment, women would win the right to vote!

17. The progressive movement would shape the country and change many attitudes that people held. Even the 26th President of the United States embraced the spirit of the Progressive movement!