The Origins of Progressivism

1
The Origins of Progressivism
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nation

• Chapter 9 Section 1
• The Americans
• Reconstruction through the 20th Century

http//www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/biopictures.
htm
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Sources of Progressive Reform

• A. Industrialization, with all its increase in
  productivity and the number of consumer goods,
  created
• 1) Unemployment and labor unrest 2) Wasteful use
  of natural resources 3) Abuses of corporate
  power
• B. Growing cities magnified problems of poverty,
  disease, crime, and corruption
• C. Influx of immigrants and rise of new
  managerial class upset traditional class
  alignments
• D. Massive depression (1893-1897) convinced many
  that equal opportunity was out of reach for many
  Americans.

http//home.earthlink.net/gfeldmeth/lec.prog.html

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Who Were the Progressives?

• A. New middle class composed of young
  professionals
• 1. Sought to apply principles of professions
  (medicine, law, business, teaching) to problems
  of society2. Strong faith in progress and the
  ability of educated people to overcome problems
  3. Rise in volunteer organizations organized to
  address issues (American Bar Association, U.S.
  Chamber of Commerce, National Association for
  the Advancement of Colored People, National
  Municipal League, eg.)4. Mainly urban in
  residence and orientation
• B. Muckraking journalists attacked corruption and
  scandal with a sense of moral outrage
• 1. Lincoln Steffens exposed city machines in The
  Shame of the Cities (1904)2. Ida Tarbell exposed
  Standard Oil Trust abuses 3. Upton Sinclair's
  The Jungle (1906) attacked the meat-packing
  industry
• C. Political reformers (many opposed to
  traditional party politics)
• D. Socialists--frustrated workers who promised to
  destroy capitalism. Led by Eugene Debs (who
  polled 900,000 votes for president in 1912),
  socialists were rejected by most Progressives as
  too extreme in their goals and methods

http//home.earthlink.net/gfeldmeth/lec.prog.html
4
Progressive Movement

• Aim was to return control of government to the
  people, restore economic opportunities, and
  correct injustices in American Life.
• Many different opinions on both the problems of
  society and the solutions.

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4 Goals of Progressivism

• Protect Social Welfare
• Promote Moral Improvement
• Create Economic Reform
• Foster Efficiency

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Protecting Social Welfare

• YMCA Young Mens Christian Association
• Libraries
• Classes
• Swimming Pools
• Handball Courts
• Salvation Army
• Soup Kitchens
• Daycares
• Slum Brigades to convert poor immigrants to
  middle-class values and temperance.
• Women Reformers (See Next Slide)
• Florence Kelley
• Women Christian Temperance Union

7
Florence Kelley

• Advocate for improving the lives of women and
  children
• Chief Inspector of Factories (Illinois)
• Won passage of Illinois Factory Act 1893
• Prohibited child labor and limited womens
  working hours
• Model for other states

http//www.boisestate.edu/SOCWORK/DHUFF/history/ex
tras/kelly.htm
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Promoting Moral Reform

• Prohibition
• the banning of alcoholic beverages
• Women Christian Temperance Union
• Entered saloons sang, prayed, and urged
  saloonkeepers to stop selling alcohol
• Largest womens group in nations history
• Motto Do Everything
• Opened Kindergartens
• Visited inmates in prison
• Worked for suffrage for women
• Anti-Saloon League

http//www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAsaloon.htm

http//www.wctu.org/
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Opposition to Prohibition

• Conflict with immigrant groups
• Saloons served several roles for immigrant groups
• Inexpensive meals
• Cashed paychecks
• Provided rooms for meetings and gatherings

http//www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1
110.html
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Carrie Nation

• Worked for prohibition by walking into saloons,
  scolding customers, and using her hatchet to
  destroy the bottles of liquor.
• Lived in Kansas
• See link to the right for more information.

http//www.kshs.org/exhibits/carry/carry1.htm
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Creating Economic Reform

• Laissez-Faire Theory Denounced
• Belief that the government should leave the
  economy alone
• Socialism
• An economic system in which the government owns
  most of the means of production.
• Goal is for the government to reduce inequality.
• Involves government regulation of business.
• Problem Monopolies

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Socialism Grows

• Eugene V. Debs
• Competition was natural enough at one time, but
  do you think you are competing today? Many of
  you think you are competing. Against whom?
  Against Rockefeller? About as I would if I had a
  wheelbarrow and competed with the Santa Fe
  railroad from here to Kansas City.
• FROM - Debs His Life, Writings and Speeches

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs
13
Muckrakers

• Journalist who wrote about the corrupt side of
  business and public life in mass circulation
  magazines.
• Ida M. Tarbell
• History of Standard Oil Company (see pg. 326)
• Described the companies cut-throat business
  practices.
• Upton Sinclair and Lincoln Steffens
• See info on them later in section

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_M._Tarbell
14
Fostering Efficiency
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordism

• Fredrick Winslow Taylor
• Scientific Management (Taylorism)
• Effort to improve efficiency in the workplace by
  applying scientific principles to make tasks
  simpler and easier.
• Studied factory operations to see how quickly
  each task could be performed.
• Assembly Line
• Ford Motor Company and
• Henry Ford

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Tay
lor
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fordism
15
Henry Ford
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford

• Assembly Line huge increase in production
• Problems with Assembly Line Process
• Required people to work like machines, thus there
  was a high turn-over rate
• Injuries and worker exhaustion trying to keep up
  the pace
• Five Dollar Day and 8 hour work day employed to
  keep workers happy and reduce strikes. (Unheard
  of pay scale at that time.)

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Clean Up Government

• Political Machine Politics / Corruption
• Inefficiency in Government
• Government not responsive to the electorate

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Reforming Local Government

• Mayor / City Council Form
• Commission Form
• Council City Manager Form
• Reform Mayors
• Hazen Pingree Detroit
• Tom Johnson Cleveland
• Gas and Water Socialism public ownership of
  utilities

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Reform at the State Level

• Reform Governors
• Robert M. La Follette / attacked the railroads
• James S. Hogg
• Protecting Workers
• Keating Owen Act 1916 prohibited the
  transportation of goods produced with child labor
  across state lines. (DECLARED UNCONSTITIONAL
  because it interfered with interstate commerce.)
• State level reforms suceeded in banning child
  labor and setting maximum hours in almost every
  state.
• Efforts to Limit Working Hours
• Muller v. Oregon
• Bunting v. Oregon
• Workers Compensation

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Reform at the State Level

• Reform Elections
• Secret Ballot (Australian Ballot)
• Initiative - bill originated by the people rather
  than lawmakers.
• Referendum vote on an initiative.
• Recall enabled voters to remove public
  officials from elected positions by forcing them
  to face another election before the end of their
  term if enough voters ask for it.
• Direct Primary voters choose candidates for
  public office through special popular election.
• Direct Election of Senators
• 17th Amendment (1913) Popular election of U.S.
  Senators