The Progressive Era
(1890s-1920s)
Problems during the Gilded Age?
• Unequal distribution of wealth• Poor working conditions– long hours, few safety precautions, child labor
• Few protections for consumers• Overcrowding, sickness, disease, unsanitary• Racism, discrimination (race, gender)• Inadequate (no) health care• Moral vices• Political corruption…
Response to the Gilded Age?
• The Progressive Movement– Personal Responsibility v. Social Baseline
• If the “system” or those with the ability to do so are not going to look out for the best interest of the people, who will?
Progressivism• Not a single, unified movement, but most
progressives held four common beliefs:
1. Gov. should be more accountable to its citizens
2. Gov. should curb power and influence of wealthy interests
3. Gov. should be given expanded powers to become active in improving lives of citizens
4. Gov. should become more efficient and less corrupt (so that they could competently handle this expanded role)
Progressives Overall
• Were of average wealth/status
• Wanted a government free of corruption that would guard the welfare of workers and the poor
Socialism
• An economic and political philosophy favoring public or government control of property and income
• Progressive era saw rise in popularity of socialism, but NOT ALL PROGRESSIVES WERE SOCIALISTS!
Urban Conditions:
Settlement Movement
• Hull House, Chicago 1889
• Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr
Jacob Riis
• Emmigrated from Denmark (1870, 21yrs)
• Flash Photography
• Photojournalism
• (The one who bought the gun!)
• How the Other Half Lives (1890)
Building Codes
• Second NYC Tenement Act (1879) mandated an outward facing window in every room
• Led to creation of dumbbell tenements with “air shafts” between buildings to let in fresh air/light
• Garbage tended to accumulate between buildings, attracting rats
Municipal Corruption
• Lincoln Steffens – The Shame of Cities (1904)– Originally published as articles in McClure’s
• Thomas Nast – Harper’s Weekly Cartoonist
Big Business
• Unionization– Knights of Labor – Uriah Stephens (1869)– American Fed. of Labor – Samuel Gompers (1881)
• Ida Tarbell – The History of the Standard Oil Co. (1904)
• Upton Sinclair – The Jungle (1906)
Progressive Reforms
Early Federal Reforms
• Interstate Commerce Act (1887)– Created Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)– Regulated Railroads
• Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)– Not all trusts broken up, but maintained competition– Designed to prevent “Price Fixing,” or the artificial
raising of prices– Not strictly enforced
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909)
• Republican, Progressive, Outdoorsman, Conservationist
• Veteran of Spanish American War
TR’s “Square Deal”• 1902 United Mine Workers coal strike
• Union ignored an injunction
• Used arbitration and threatened federal intervention
• 1903 “Square Deal” became slogan of his presidency
Antitrust Activism
• TR Enforced Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890– Northern Securities Company in 1904– Beef trust, Standard Oil, and American Tobacco
Company broken up
• TR administration filed 42 antitrust actions
• Gained “trustbuster” nickname
Railroad Regulation
• Used presidential mandate to pass 1906 Hepburn Act– Gave the ICC strong enforcement powers– Authorized ICC to set and limit RR rates to
prevent against “price gouging”
Protecting Public Health
• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
• Meat Inspection Act (1906)
• Laws required accurate labelling of ingredients, strict sanitary conditions, and a rating system for meats
Conservation
• National Reclamation Act (1902)– Money from sale of public lands used for irrigation
projects in arid states
• US Forest Service (1905)– Headed by Gifford Pinchot– “managed” resources
• TR set aside 200 million acres – Forests, reserves, and water projects
New Constitutional Amendments
• 16th Amendment (1913)– Authorized Congress to collect federal income tax
• 17th Amendment (1913)– Direct election of senators
• 18th Amendment (1919)– Prohibition
• 19th Amendment (1920)– Women’s suffrage
Progressive Political Reforms
• Power to the People (Populism)– Direct primaries– 17th: Popular vote of senators– Initiative: voters can put bills before legislature– Referendum: voters can vote on bills directly– Recall: voters can remove elected officials from
office– 19th: Women’s suffrage
Other Significant Legislation
• Cabinet-level Department of Labor (1913)
• Federal Reserve Act (1913)– Created federal reserve system of gov. banks to
provide flexible money supply
• National Park Service (1916)