Progressivism and the Age of Reform

1. Progressivism and the Age of Reform This political cartoon shows President Theodore Roosevelt as a hunter who’s captured two bears: the “good trusts” bear he’s put on a leash labeled “restraint,” and the “bad trusts” bear he’s apparently killed.

2. 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? Essential Questions

3. The Gilded Age • 1870s and 1880s • U.S. as world’s 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Progressivism: An Overview “Making progress” A variety of organizations and interests Not a cohesive movement Three broad categories: social, economic, and political reform

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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