An Era of Reform

1
An Era of Reform

• Essential Question

How did the turn of the century become an era of
reform?
2
Working Conditions

• Many jobs in Washington were dangerous and deadly
  to workers.
• Workers wages were low and hours were long.
• Women and children were paid less for doing jobs
  as dangerous as the men.
• Workers created labor unions to push for improved
  working conditions.
• Unions sometimes denied membership to blacks,
  women, and unskilled workers.
• Labor unions organized strikes to improve working
  conditions.
• Some companies fired strikers and hired
  strikebreakers in their place.
• Fired workers were angry with the strikebreakers,
  which led to discrimination and violence.
• Companies sometimes blacklisted labor leaders to
  make it difficult for them to get a job.

3
Fear of Unions

• Many Americans feared that labor unions were
  violent and wanted to overthrow rich business
  owners.
• The Industrial Workers of the World was one of
  the most well-known labor unions.
• IWW membership was open to all workers.
• The IWW championed the concept of One Big Union
  and the overthrow of capitalism.
• It supported the deliberate destruction of
  company property.
• Fears about the IWW led to the Everett Massacre.

4
The Seattle General Strike

• Workers all over Seattle held a five-day labor
  strike.
• The city nearly shut down.
• Soldiers and special deputies were posted
  around the city to prevent possible violence.
• Although the strike was peaceful, the public saw
  unions as unpatriotic and disloyal.
• The strike was not helpful in strengthening the
  unions.

5
The Centralia Massacre

• IWW members planning a meeting in Centralia were
  warned of a possible attack.
• IWW members were prepared with guns to fight
  back.
• World War I veterans called legionnaires were
  hired to attack the IWW meeting.
• The legionnaires were met with gunfire, and three
  were killed.

6
The Gilded Age

• Industrial growth in Washington and around the
  country made many Americans wealthy.
• Beneath the countrys gold cover, there were many
  problems.
• Business leaders and government officials were
  sometimes corrupt.
• Corrupt politicians worked together to stay in
  power.
• The wealth of the country was in the hands of
  very few people.
• Reformers wanted to solve the countrys problems.
  The result was a period of reform, or change.

7
The Progressive Movement

• Progressives were reformers who wanted to end
  corruption, fix economic problems, and improve
  society.
• Some progressives wanted to ban alcohol.
• The 18th Amendment made alcohol illegal.
• The amendment was canceled, or overturned, in
  1933.
• Progressives worked to stop the corrupt political
  practices.
• The initiative let citizens propose laws
  themselves by gaining enough signatures on a
  petition.
• The referendum allowed citizens to vote for or
  against laws already passed by their states
  lawmakers.
• The recall allowed citizens to remove an elected
  official from office if they did not like how he
  was doing his job.

8
The Progressive Movement

• Government started to take greater control of
  businesses that had too much power.
• Laws were passed to shorten the workday to eight
  hours.
• Laws were passed banning child labor in mines.
• Children were required to go to school.
• Laws that would end child labor took a little
  longer.
• Women were given the right to vote in state and
  local elections, hold public office, and serve on
  juries.
• Washington was the fifth state to grant voting
  rights to women.
• The 19th Amendment giving all women in the nation
  the right to vote took another 10 years.

9
World War I

• The war raged in Europe for a few years before
  the United States became involved.
• America remained neutral in the war until German
  U-boats attacked ships carrying U.S. citizens.
• German-Americans faced discrimination in the
  United States.
• Members of the IWW did not support American
  participation in the war.
• Laws made it illegal for anyone to write or say
  anything critical of the war effort, the
  military, the government, the flag, or the
  Constitution.

10
Washingtons Economy Booms

• The war created many new jobs.
• Washingtons industries benefited from the demand
  for war supplies.
• Men who were too old to go to war took jobs of
  those who left to fight.
• Women took jobs of men who were fighting in
  Europe.
• Washingtons shipbuilding and airplane industries
  grew because of the war.
• The war helped create the states largest
  industrial employerthe Boeing Company.

11
The War Ends

• The government no longer needed to produce war
  supplies.
• Farms, shipyards, and lumber mills were not
  needed as much as they were during the war.
• Many people lost their jobs.
• Many African Americans left the South and moved
  to northern and western cities in what became
  known as the Great Migration.
• People became angry again at immigrants and
  blacks who competed for scarce jobs.
• The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was reborn in Washington
  to threaten non-whites and foreigners.

12
The Roaring Twenties

• Many Americans were ready to let go after years
  of sacrifice and loss.
• Americans became consumers, or buyers, of goods
  and services.
• Automobiles became affordable and the number of
  roads and highways increased.
• Most American homes had electricity.
• People began buying on credit to pay for their
  purchases a little bit at a time.
• Education improved and one-room schools were
  replaced with larger ones.

13
Help from Hydropower

• The Pacific Northwest had about 40 percent of the
  nations hydropower potential.
• Hydropower became important to help meet the
  demand for electricity.
• Farmers of the Columbia Basin wanted a dam to be
  used to irrigate the basins dry lands.
• Supporters of the dam hoped to use it to create
  hydropower as well.
• In the late 1920s, the government approved the
  plan to build the Grand Coulee Dam.