The Progressive Era

Reformers became Progressive in orderto solve problems caused by rapid growth

in cities and industries

Muckrakers

• Journalists who exposed problems to the public became known as muckrakers b/c they exposed corruption in society.

• Famous Muckraker :– Ida Tarbell: wrote

about Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Co. and the poor treatment of his employees

Who was Progressive?

• Progressives tended to be/have: – Middle Class– Educated– Time available to

work on society’s problems

• Progressives took what the Muckrakers were saying and began to look for ways to reform society

Class TaskTurn to page 646 in your textbook and

read the Primary Source document labeled, Muckrakers.

How was each muckraker trying to help?

1)Samuel Hopkins Adams:2)Nellie Bly:3)Lewis Hine:

Political Reform

• Most cities were controlled by political machines

• Political machines were organizations that controlled all the jobs and services in the city

• If you wanted a job or a service delivered to your community, you had to pay off the political boss

• Politicians accepted bribes in return for jobs and favors

Political Reform cont’d

• Government jobs were reserved for friends and family politicians in power (aka Spoils System)

• As a result gov’t was very corrupt and poorly run

• Common people had little power or say so in their government

• Progressives want to fix this

Political Reform cont’d

• Progressives wanted to expand democracy to give more people power– 17th Amendment:

citizens can now elect their senators

– Civil Service Commission: people who want a job with the gov’t must now pass a test to prove they’re qualified

Summary Question

How do the 17th Amendment and the Civil Service Commission expand democracy?

Urban Reform • Progressives work to

reform the way cities are built

• Problem with the cities:– Fast growth led to

poorly built and unsafe buildings (tenements and slums)

• (Progressive Solution: Make it illegal to build tenement houses and slums)

Urban Reform

• Progressives work to improve:– Safety codes for buildings– Street paving– Sanitation (garbage and

sewer)– Water supply– Pollution

• These improvements gave many urban Americans the best services in the world

Primary Resource Analysis

Read the passage from Jacob Riis’, How the Other Half Lives.

After you have finished reading, write a one-word summary of the excerpt and then a 2-3 sentence explanation for why you chose that word.

Working conditions and workers

MAJORITY OF JOBS WERE INDUSTRIAL (FACTORIES, MILLS, MINES, ETC.)

MOST JOBS WERE IN THE CITIES

WORKING CONDITIONS:– WORK 10-12 HOURS A

DAY– 6 DAYS A WEEK– WORKER COULD GET

FIRED FOR ANY REASON– BE REPLACED BY

IMMIGRANTS WHO WOULD WORK FOR LESS PAY

– CONDITIONS WERE UNHEALTHY, UNSAFE AND OVERCROWDED

WHO WERE THE WORKERS?

Uneducated and unskilled

Immigrants who came to America for work

Women - more than 1 million- Women earned 1/2

the pay as menChildren - 100,000’s of

kids had jobs- 6-12 years old- Low pay- 10 hour days- Worked in factories,

Mines, etc.

Bread & Roses

Listen to the song, Bread & Roses. With a partner, answer the following questions:

1.) What does bread symbolize? What do roses symbolize?

2.) What risks did these women face by striking?

FORMATION OF LABOR UNIONS

BUSINESSES WERE INTERESTED IN MAKING AS MUCH PROFIT AS POSSIBLE

DID NOT WANT TO PAY WORKERS WELL OR CREATE SAFE WORKING CONDITIONS B/C THESE CUT INTO THEIR PROFITS

GOV’T DID NEXT TO NOTHING TO PROTECT WORKERS’ RIGHTS

AS A RESULT, WORKERS BAND TOGETHER TO FIGHT FOR PROTECTIONS FORM LABOR UNIONS

AS A WAY FOR WORKERS TO WORK TOWARDS A COMMON GOAL AND BE STRONG

LABOR UNION LEADERS

Mother Jones Terrence

Powderly (Knights of Labor)–Trade union,

took people that were excluded from other unions

Samuel Gompers (American Federation of Labor) –Represented

skilled labor

Primary Resource Analysis

We want eight hours (i.e., an 8 hour work day) and nothing less. We have been accused of being selfish, and it has been said that we will want more; that last year we got an advance (raise in pay) of ten cents and now we want more. We do want more. You will find that man generally wants more. Go and ask a tramp (homeless person) what he wants, and if he doesn’t want a drink he will want a good square meal. You ask a workingman, who is getting two dollars a day, and he will say that he wants ten cents more. Ask a man who gets five dollars a day and he will want fifty cents more. The man who receives five thousand dollars a year wants six thousand dollars a year, and the man who owns eight or nine hundred thousand dollars will want a hundred thousand more to make it a million, while the man who has his millions will want every thing he can lay is hands on and then raise his voice (yell) against the poor devil who wants ten cents more a day.

Primary Resource Analysis

1. According to the passage, what do the workers want?

2. What point is Gompers trying to make in this speech?

HOW DO UNIONS GET WHAT THEY WANT?

Organize people and use collective bargaining–When employers

and employees work together to settle problems

Boycott a product or company (to not buy or use something)

Strike - a work stoppage to get the employer to do what the employees want

PARTNER REVIEW

How did the growth of businesses lead to the formation of labor unions?

Child Labor • Progressives work to improve the workplace

• Child Labor results from low wages for adults

• Florence Kelley - fought child labor as a practice in Chicago – By 1916 there were laws

against child labor– The Supreme Court rules

these laws unconstitutional

Literature

Review

Turn to page 648 in your textbook and read the excerpt from the novel, Counting on Grace.

With a partner, answer the following questions in the space provided in your notes.

1.Name 2-3 dangerous working conditions Grace had to endure while working in the factory.

2.Why do you think the state inspector didn’t expose the owners of the factory for hiring child labors?

3.What do kids like Grace miss out on because they have to work?

Workplace Reform

• Safety at work and an 8 hr work day is what the progressives help the unions achieve – Some states passed a

minimum wage and maximum hours law for women workers

• In 1900, almost 1,500 people were killed in coal mining accidents

• In 1999, the number of deaths reduced to 35

• Major changes came about b/c of horrible accidents (e.g. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire)

Temperance

• Progressive women felt that alcohol was to blame for many of society’s problems

• 1874 - The Women’s Christian Temperance Union fought alcohol abuse– Francis Willard and the

WCTU was in every state and territory and succeeded in passing the 18th amendment

18th Amendm

ent

• Outlaws the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcohol

Women’s Suffrage Movement

• Began in the temperance movement

• People didn’t want women to vote b/c they were unsure what women might do – Women fight corruption

and this worried the political machines

– Businesses thought that women would support minimum wage and child labor laws

– Others believe that women belonged at home and not in politics

Suffragist Groups

• National Women’s Suffrage Association– Susan B. Anthony &

Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the NWSA in 1890

– Worked to get women the vote in states (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho)

– Carrie Chapman Catt organized 1 million women

• She felt that women should have a say in laws that affected them

• National Women’s Party– Alice Paul,

founder– More radical than

the NWSA•Used parades,

demonstrations, hunger strikes, pickets to bring awareness

•Jailed many times

• The NWSA and the NWP’s work was a success– See map on p.

653– 1920 - 19th

Amendment to the Constitution is ratified

– Gives all American women the right to vote

Partner Task

Read the given passage with a partner and answer the following questions:

1.How did new inventions of the 2nd Industrial Revolution affect women?

2.How might this have made a difference in the women’s suffrage movement?

African Americans Fight for Change

Often ignored by White

progressives, Blackprogressives had

threegoals to improve

the blackcondition1. Education2. Better pay3. Job opportunities

Black Progressiv

es

• Booker T. Washington - founded the Tuskegee Institute for African Americans

• Advocate for education

• Believed that African Americans’ lives would improve through better education opportunities

• Ida B. Wells –Fought discrimination by publicizing the practice of lynching in the South (A Red Record)

- lynch: kill (by hanging) for something without a trial

• W.E.B. DuBois• Believed African

Americans’ lives would improve through legal protections– Founded the NAACP

(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)– NAACP fought

discrimination and segregation

– Fought to give blacks more rights and protections

Partner Review

1. What was the main difference between Du Bois and Washington?

2. How did Wells’ work improve the lives of African Americans?

Limits to the Progressive Reforms

• Left out of Progressive Reform:– Native Americans -

land taken, wouldn’t assimilate

– Chinese - harsh labor and treatment

– Mexican - harsh labor treatment, discrimination

People in History

Turn to pages 666-667 in your textbook. Read the brief descriptions of each progressive reformer and then answer the following question:

What were each of these activists fighting for?

Progressive Presidents

• The Presidents who served during the Progressive Era worked to improve the lives of Americans and end corruption in the business and political world

Teddy Roosevelt 1. Better Food - safe

food, standards2. Conservation- set

aside land for future3. Breaking up Trusts

and Monopolies - shifting power to the people and away from business

Essential Question

How did the Progressive Era movements change American cities and businesses?

Changes in citiesChanges in businessSafety codesTenements illegalPollutionSanitationWater supplyPaved streets

Breaking up monopoliesMaximum hoursSafer working conditionsBetter pay8 hour work day