progressivism. era of progressivism progressivism: action- oriented political response to...
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Progressivism
Era of Progressivism
• Progressivism: action-oriented political response to industrialization and its social by-products: – Immigrants’ suffering– urban growth– growth of corporate power– widening class divisions
• Differed from Populism: urban movement, not agrarian
• Never cohesive, aided by intellectuals, journalists, unionists, socialists
The “Social Gospel”• Social Gospel
– Belief that Christians should work for social reform
– Belief that desire for wealth had led to corrupted some Americans
– Belief that society must take responsibility for the poor and less fortunate
• Progressives believed that
– government should actively defend average people from power of corporations and the rich
– Capitalist system was good, but could be fairer
– government could improve society
Jane Addams and Hull House• Jane Addams founded “Hull
House,” a settlement house in Chicago
• Worked to improve living conditions for Chicago immigrants
• University women provided services to poor immigrants
• Education, day care, medical care
• Advocated for first public play ground in Chicago
• Worked for a child labor law, women’s suffrage, occupational safety, mandatory education, and immigrant rights
• Eventually became 13 buildings
Ending Child Labor• 1893: Hull House worker
Florence Kelly led Illinois to outlaw child labor
• 1904: She founded the National Child Labor Committee to pressure states to outlaw child labor
• By 1912, 39 states had outlawed child labor
• By 1930, half of US children attended high school
• By 1915, 48 states had separate juvenile courts: help young delinquents
Women’s Suffrage
• 1848: Seneca Falls conference women demanded right to vote
• National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) worked toward national suffrage
• Some states gave women right to vote
• 1876: Wyoming
• 1893: Colorado!
• 1914: Montana elected a woman to the House of Representatives
• 1919: Congress passed 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, giving women full voting rights
Jeanette Rankin, first female representative
Improving Life for Blacks
• Opposing views held by prominent Black leaders
• Booker T. Washington:– Blacks should work hard and
improve their conditions themselves
– Work with dignity, even if in low-paying agriculture
– “Accommodate” to the existing system
• W.E.B. Du Bois wanted to go further:– Push hard for civil rights through
political action
– Protest unfair treatment
– Fight for equality