Progressivism and the Age of Reform

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Progressivism and the Age of Reform
This political cartoon shows President Theodore
Roosevelt as a hunter whos captured two bears
the good trusts bear hes put on a leash
labeled restraint, and the bad trusts bear
hes apparently killed.
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Essential Questions

• Why did the Progressive Era begin? What social,
  economic, and political factors contributed to
  the movement toward Progressive reform?
• How did the issues prominent during the
  Progressive Era, and the changes that occurred
  then, affect the lives of immigrants, African
  Americans, and women?
• How did the social and moral values of white
  middle- and upper-class citizens influence
  Progressive Era reform agendas?
• In what ways did Progressive reforms depend on
  the work of individual activists? In what ways
  did they depend on the participation of larger
  groups of people?
• What impact did political leadership have on
  shaping Progressive reforms?

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The Gilded Age

• 1870s and 1880s
• U.S. as worlds main industrial power
• Industrialists and financiers formed trusts
• Robber barons
• Criticism of unfair practices and poor worker
  treatment

A cartoon criticizing robber barons such as
Gould and Vanderbilt for their treatment of
workers
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Standard Oil and Trusts

• Founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1867
• Controlled 90 percent of U.S. oil-refining and
  soon almost the entire petroleum industry
• Other industries followed his model
• Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) had little impact
  for a decade after its passage

John D. Rockefeller
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The Panic of 1893

• Overspeculation during the 1880s
• Banks, railroads, and other companies failed
• Unemployment, homelessness, and financial ruin
• Reform-minded Americans began to organize

The New York Stock Exchange during the Panic of
1893
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Progressivism An Overview

• Making progress
• A variety of organizations and interests
• Not a cohesive movement
• Three broad categories social, economic, and
  political reform

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Progressivism State and Local

• Many changes could be more easily attained
• Local high schools, playgrounds, less
  corruption, better sewage, beautification,
  settlement houses
• State reduced overcrowding, safety measures in
  factories, workers compensation, restricted
  child labor, minimum wage
• Wisconsin and La Follette

Robert La Follette
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Women and Progressive Reforms

• Women became much more involved in social and
  political causes
• Mainly middle- and upper-class women
• Aimed to increase moral behavior of lower
  classes
• Organizations such as YWCA and National Consumers
  League

A YWCA poster
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Muckrakers

• Journalists who exposed corruption and social
  injustices
• Term coined by Theodore Roosevelt
• Works published in popular magazines
• Riis, Steffens, Tarbell, Baker et al.

Magazines like this one often published
muckraking articles
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Jacob Riis

• Photographed and wrote about conditions in
  tenements and factories, and on the streets
• How the Other Half Lives (1890)
• Set the stage for Progressive urban reforms