Download Foundations of Government

1877 - 1917
Unit 2—Chapters 3 – 4
Industrialization and Progressivism
CSS 11.1, 11.2, 11.3. 11.5, 11.6
Part Five
Drive for Reform
EQ: What areas did Progressives think were
in need of the greatest reform?
Progressive Movement, 1890 - 1920
• the Gilded Age made some very wealthy but
left many very poor
• middle class reformers wanted to help the
poor and restrain the worst excesses of big
business
• presidents, governors and voters made
major changes to the law
• famous Progressives:
Gov. “Fighting Bob” LaFollette (WI)
Gov. Hiram Johnson (CA)
Pres. Theodore Roosevelt
Pres. Woodrow Wilson
The Problems Progressives Wanted to Tackle
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big business was unregulated
monopolies & trusts were too big
political machines had destroyed democracy
cities were filled with crime, filth, disease, &
corruption
• the poor, women, & blacks lacked basic
rights
• workers were exploited
• wealth was unequally distributed
Reminder
• Social Gospel movement
• Settlement Houses and Jane Addams
Political Reforms
• 17th Amendment, 1913
• voters pick US senators
instead of the state congress
• Australian Ballot
• a secret ballot
Social Reforms
• Workers’ Rights
• many states passed laws to require job safety,
worker’s compensation, and limit work hours
• 30,000 died on the job, 500,000 were injured in the
1900s
• Keating-Owen Act, 1916
• made child labor illegal but was thrown out by the
Supreme Court
• child labor was finally banned in 1938
• Florence Kelly got Illinois to ban it
• many states required children to go to school
• John Dewey – facts vs. critical thinking, variety of
subjects
• we still debate whether school should focus on work
skills or creative skills like art, writing, and social studies
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 1911
• a fire on the 8th floor prevented
workers on the 9th floor from
getting out of the building
• the owners fled and left the doors
locked
• 146 garment workers died either
in the fire or from jumping to
safety
• The owners were acquitted and were
fined $20 two years later for locking
the doors during business hours
• public outrage led to new laws
that protected workers’ rights
Reforming Government
• Galveston Hurricane – 8000 died
• Reorganized city gov’t from a mayor
and alderman to a 5 person
commission and city manager
• Very successful – other cities adopted
• Curbed power of political machines
• Direct Primary – citizens pick Senate
candidates, not party bosses
Political Reforms
• initiative
• voters can create state laws
• if you get enough signatures you can put anything on
the state ballot
• referendum
• voters can vote to allow or refuse state laws
• some laws can’t take affect until both the state congress
and the voters approve it
• recall
• voter can vote out elected officials
• in 2003, Gov. Gray Davis became the 2nd governor to
ever be recalled from office
Muckrakers
• American journalists who exposed
corruption in business and politics
• laid the foundation for the Progressive
Movement
• Ida Tarbell – History of Standard Oil
• Upton Sinclair – The Jungle
• Jacob Riis – How the Other Half Lives
• Lincoln Steffens – Shame of the Cities
• David Phillips – Treason of the Senate
The Jungle
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• Upton Sinclair revealed the truth
about the condition of the Chicago
meat packing plants
• Meat Inspection Act, 1906
• authorized federal inspection of meat
by the USDA
• Pure Food and Drug Act, 1906
• required food products to be labeled
correctly
• led to the creation of the Food and
Drug Administration
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