Chapter 8, Section 1 The Roots of Progressivism

Who Were the Progressives?

Big Ideas: Progressivism was a response to the excesses

of the “Gilded Age”. There was no single group or movement, but a

collection of groups that emerged to tackle the social problems in industrial American society.

Who Were the Progressives

• Many progressive groups believed that the government’s laissez-faire approach to dealing with the economy resulted in a climate where the poor and working class were being taken advantage of.

• Progressives came from both the Democrat and Republican parties, from various economic and social levels, and occupations.

• Progressives believed that, through science and technology, many social problems could be cured.

King Gillette’s Metropolis

King Gillette’s Metropolis

Who Were the Progressives

Street and building layout for Gillette’s

Metropolis City

A= education building

B= entertainment building

C= food storage building

Who Were the Progressives ?

• Journalists were among the first progressives.

• They crusaded to bring injustice, inequality, and corruption to light.

• Teddy Roosevelt nicknamed these writers muckrakers.

Who Were the Progressives ? • Many writers focused on

particular issues or industries.

• Today we call this “investigative journalism”.

• Charles Edward Russell attacked the beef industry.

• Ida Tarbell wrote critically of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company.

• Lincoln Steffens reported on corruption involving elections and political machines.

Who Were the Progressives

• One of the most influential books of the period was Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives.

• His photos and descriptions of poverty, disease, and crime that afflicted immigrant neighborhoods in NY City brought awareness and calls for reform.

Reforming Government

Big Ideas: Progressives wanted to reform the government

to make it more responsive to the people. Progressives condemned corruption in government,

but did not always agree on how to fix the problem.

Reforming Government

• Progressives wanted to bring a scientific efficiency to government.

• Progressives had two main proposals for reforming city government.

• 1. Divide city government into several departments with an expert in charge.

• 2. A city council would hire a professional city manager to run things instead of a mayor.

Reforming Government

• Progressives also sought to diminish the power of party bosses by changing the way parties choose candidates.

• Led by Governor Robert M. La Follette, Wisconsin became the model of reform.

• By law, parties had to hold a direct primary in which all party members could vote for a candidate instead of letting the party bosses pick.

Reforming Government • Other local political reforms

followed in the wake of Wisconsin’s success with direct primaries.

• The initiative permitted a group of citizens to introduce legislation that the legislature had to vote on.

• The referendum allowed citizens to vote on proposed laws, bypassing the legislature.

• The recall provided voters with the option to vote an elected official out of office before their term was up.

• Washington Referendum 74

• To allow same-sex marriage in Washington State

• The law was upheld by voters in the 2012 election by a final margin of 7.4% (53.7% approve, 46.3 reject)

Reforming Government

• When it came to the federal government, progressives wanted to tackle corruption in the US Senate.

• Before 1913, state legislators chose the state’s senators.

• The decision was usually heavily influenced by party bosses and business interests.

• Progressives successfully pushed through the 17th Amendment that allowed for the direct election of senators by the voters of the state.

Suffrage

Big Ideas:

Many progressives supported suffrage: the movement to win voting rights for women.

Issues that were important to families were not getting support at the ballot box.

Suffrage

• Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton convened the Seneca Falls Conference on women’s rights in 1848.

• Suffrage, the right to vote, was not granted to women until 1920.

• Women entered the political arena usually on two main issues: abolition and /or temperance.

Suffrage

• Anthony and Stanton broke with the abolitionist movement and formed the National Women’s Suffrage Association in NY.

• Their group denounced the 15th Amendment and did not allow males to join. They focused on changes to the Constitution.

• A rival group based in Boston, the American Women’s Suffrage Association, focused on getting states to grant women the vote.

• -Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah were the first states to do so.

Suffrage

• Eventually the two groups joined forces and formed the NAWSA.

• The movement gained momentum as middle-class and working women saw the vote as the only way to achieve social and workplace reforms.

• March 3, 1913, the day before Wilson’s inauguration, suffragists marched on Washington DC.

• The women stormed the White House and many were arrested.

• By this time, suffrage was achieved fully in 15 states and partially in 13 states.

Suffrage

• In 1915 Carrie Chapman Catt became the leader of the NAWSA.

• She put her organizing power behind Wilson’s reelection campaign after he agreed to support the suffrage.

• In 1918 the Senate failed to pass a suffrage amendment by two votes.

• In 1919, the Senate voted again and passed the 19th Amendment which was ratified by ¾ of the states in 1920.