SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROGRESSIVE ERA 1900 - 1918

1. SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROGRESSIVE ERA1900 - 1918 EUGENIA LANGAN MATER ACADEMY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL HIALEAH GARDENS, FLORIDA WITH THANKS TO SUSAN POJER FOR THE UMBRELLA!

2. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: • WHAT LED TO THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT, AND WHAT DID IT ACHIEVE? • WHAT MOTIVATED PROGRESSIVE REFORMERS: A DESIRE TO HELP THE LOWER CLASSES, OR A DESIRE TO PREVENT RADICAL REFORM OR REVOLUTION? • WHAT WERE ITS MAIN GOALS, AND TO WHAT EXTENT WERE THEY ACHIEVED? • WHAT IS THE LEGACY OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT?

3. POPULISM AND PROGRESSIVISM: TWO TURN-OF-THE CENTURY REFORM MOVEMENTS WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM? POPULISM = “THE PEOPLE” (FARMERS AND LABORERS) VERSUS THE ELITE (BANKERS, RAILROAD OWNERS – THE RICH) PROGRESSIVISM= THE ELITE (EDUCATED BOURGEOISIE) “FOR” THE PEOPLE

4. CORE PROGRESSIVE BELIEFS: • PATERNALISTIC STATE: GOVERNMENT SHOULD PROTECT PEOPLE -- EVEN FROM THEIR OWN BAD JUDGMENT • PRAGMATISM – IF AN IDEA WORKS, IT'S TRUE • SOCIAL DARWINISM (N.B. SOME AT COLLEGE BOARD DON'T AGREE WITH THIS. POLITICAL CORRECTNESS CAN PREVAIL OVER FACT ON THE AP EXAM) • SOCIETY CAN BE REFORMED (PERFECTIONISM AGAIN) “SCIENTIFICALLY”– MORE AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM,

5. PROGRESSIVISM CivilRights Suffragettes Muckrakers T E M P E R A N C e Labor Unions Popul ists Goo Goos E U G E N i C I S T s

6. WHY DID PROGRESSIVISM ARISE? • 1. HUGE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND POOR • POVERTY AND SQUALOR OF INDUSTRIAL WORKERS IN CITIES

7. HESTER STREET, NEW YORK (LOWER EAST SIDE), 1888 – POOR JEWISH IMMIGRANTS

8. "DUMB-BELL TENEMENT PLAN (NYC)

9. "TENEMENT LIFE IN NEW YORK," HARPERS, 1881

10. INSIDE A NEW YORK TENEMENT

11. JEWISH IMMIGRANTS IN NEW YORK TENEMENT

12. REAR OF NEW YORK TENEMENT

13. TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST COMPANY FIRE, MARCH 25, 1911 ABOUT 700 IMMIGRANT WOMEN AGED 14 – 45 WORKED ON UPPER FLOORS OF ASCH BUILDING – DOORS WERE LOCKED TO KEEP THEM FROM SNEAKING OUT AND STEALING 146 DIED, MOSTLY ON TOP FLOOR

14. 2. SOCIALISTS, COMMUNISTS AND ANARCHISTS (ALMOST ALL IMMIGRANTS): FRIGHTENING TO THE BOURGEOISIE. • EXAMPLE: THE CHICAGO HAYMARKET "RIOT" OR "MASSACRE," DEPENDING ON POV – 1886 • MAY 1: NATIONAL STRIKE IN SUPPORT OF 8-HOUR WORK DAY (300,000 – 500,000 NATIONWIDE) • MAY 3: CHICAGO POLICE OPEN FIRE ON STRIKING WORKERS AT McCORMICK HARVESTING MACHINE PLANT, KILLING 2-6 STRIKERS • ANARCHIST LABOR LEADERS CALLED A MAY 4, PROTEST RALLY AT HAYMARKET SQUARE

15. THE FIRST BATCH OF FLIERS FOR THE RALLY CALLED ON WORKERS TO ARM THEMSELVES, BUT THE ORGANIZERS REMOVED THAT LANGUAGE FROM THE OTHER FLIERS

16. AS THE PEACEFUL RALLY ENDED, SOMEONE (UNKNOWN!) THREW A BOMB AT THE RALLY, KILLING ONE POLICEMAN • MANY, INCLUDING THE GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS, BELIEVED A PINKERTON PROVOCATEUR DID IT • POLICE OPENED FIRE, SOME IN CROWD FIRED BACK. 7 COPS KILLED, 60 WOUNDED (MOSTLY BY FRIENDLY FIRE). NOBODY BOTHERED TO COUNT HOW MANY IN THE CROWD WERE KILLED OR WOUNDED • MAINSTREAM NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES, EVEN HARPER'S, ALL REPORTED AS MASSIVE ANARCHIST, IMMIGRANT RIOT AND ATTACK ON POLICE

17. THIS IS THE MOST WIDELY CIRCULATED DEPICTION OF THE INCIDENT. IT SHOWS SOMEONE THROWING A BOMB ENCOURAGED BY A SPEAKER AT THE RALLY (FICTION!)

18. 8 CHICAGO ANARCHISTS (ALL GERMAN IMMIGRANTS), NONE ACCUSED OF THROWING THE BOMB, SOME NOT EVEN AT RALLY, WERE CONVICTED OF MURDER AND SENTENCED TO HANG. • 5 WERE HUNG, 2 PARDONED, 1 COMMITTED SUICIDE • SHOWS LEVEL OF BOURGEOUSIE'S HATRED/ FEAR OF RADICALS

19. HAYMARKET MARTYR'S MONUMENT, DESIGNATED NATIONAL MONUMENT YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF U.S. APOLOGIZING AFTER THE PEOPLE WRONGED ARE LONG DEAD!

20. INCREASINGLY EDUCATED BOURGEOISIE – WITH LEISURE TIME AND CONFIDENCE IN “SCIENCE” • PUBLIC GRADE SCHOOLS IN CITIES AND SOME RURAL AREAS • MORRILL LAND GRANT ACT + PHILANTHROPY FROM ULTRA-WEALTHY  MORE COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES • INCLUDING COLLEGES FOR WOMEN AND CO-ED COLLEGES • CURRICULUM CHANGES - SCIENCES INCLUDED • PROFESSIONALIZATION: MEDICINE, LAW, AND NEW CAREERS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

21. LATE 19TH CENTURY PREDECESSORS OF PROGRESSIVISM (IN ADDITION TO FARMERS' ALLIANCES, POPULISTS, WCTU, KNIGHTS OF LABOR, ETC.)

22. JACOB RIIS, EARLY MUCKRAKER – FIRST PHOTOJOURNALIST . . . IN HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES (1890), HE WROTE ABOUT AND PUBLISHED HIS PHOTOS OF NY TENEMENT LIFE.

23. SETTLEMENT HOUSE WORKERS LIKE JANE ADDAMS (HULL HOUSE, 1889): BASED ON “SOCIAL GOSPEL” (HEIRS OF THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING) AND NOBLESSE OBLIGE

24. THORSTEIN VEBLEN, EARLY SOCIOLOGIST: THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS: CAPITALISM  "PARASITIC LEISURE CLASS" WHO ENGAGE IN "CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION." A "MUST-READ" BOOK!

25. CHARLES SANDERS PIERCE AND WILLIAM JAMES, PRAGMATIC PHILOSOPHERS (AMONG MANY OTHER THINGS) • PRAGMATISM HOLDS THAT A PROPOSITION IS TRUE ONLY IF ITS PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES ARE SATISFACTORY • TO 20TH CENTURY PROGRESSIVE PHILOSOPHER AND EDUCATIONAL REFORMER JOHN DEWEY, PRAGMATISM JUSTIFIED EXPERIMENTING WITH SOCIAL REFORMS TO ACHIEVE A BETTER SOCIETY

26. PIERCE (L). MATHEMATICIAN, CHEMIST, PHILOSOPHER. JAMES (C): MEDICAL DOCTOR, PSYCHOLOGIST, PHILOSOPHER (AND BROTHER OF HENRY) DEWEY (R): PHILOSOPHER, PYSCHOLOGIST, EDUCATION REFORMER

27. SAMPLE PROGRESSIVE REFORMERS (DOES NOT INCLUDE THINGS YOU CAN LEARN FROM TEXTBOOK, STUDY GUIDE OR SUPPLEMENTAL READING!)

28. SOCIAL PURITY MOVEMENT – “SOCIAL” = SEXUAL: • INCLUDED FEMINISTS AND RELIGIOUS TYPES • OPPOSED PROSTITUTION  MANN ACT, 1913 (NO INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF WOMEN FOR IMMORAL PURPOSES) • “SEX HYGIENE” EDUCATION – NO MASTURBATION! • SUPPORTERS OF COMSTOCK ACT (CENSORSHIP)

29. EUGENICS • SOCIAL DARWINISM  BELIEF THAT “FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS, “INSANITY,” CRIMINALITY, ETC. WERE ALL HEREDITARY (NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS AT THE TIME FOR ANY OF THIS!) • 1907: INDIANA ENACTED MANDATORY STERILIZATION LAW FOR “FEEBLE-MINDED”, “IMBECILES” AND EPILEPTIC PEOPLE -- 29 OTHER STATES DID THE SAME • THESE LAWS WERE ENFORCED UNTIL EARLY 1960S – ABOUT 60,000 AMERICANS WERE STERILIZED • STATE LAWS ALSO BANNED “DYSGENICS” FROM MARRYING • “FEEBLE-MINDED” INCLUDED PROMISCUOUS, ETC.

31. HENRY GODDARD, THE KALLIKAK FAMILY: A STUDY IN THE HEREDITITY OF FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS (1912) – SUPPOSEDLY PROVED MOST OF FAMILY INHERITED FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS FROM BARMAID-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER (WHO LIVED DURING REVOLUTIONARY WAR!)

32. SOME “FEEBLE-MINDED” KALLIKAKS

33. SUPREME COURT CASE: BUCK V. BELL (1927) • OPINION BY JUSTICE OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR. • HOLMES WAS A PROGRESSIVE: LEGAL REALIST • FAMOUS QUOTATION: “THE LIFE OF THE LAW HAS NOT BEEN LOGIC, IT HAS BEEN EXPERIENCE” • WHAT PHILOSOPHY IS THAT? • PRAGMATISM

34. CHIEF JUSTICE, WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT – ONLY EX-PRESIDENT TO BECOME SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

35. FACTS: SUPERINTENDENT OF VIRGINIA MENTAL INSTITUTION FILED PETITION FOR MANDATORY STERILIZATION OF 18 YEAR-OLD CARRIE BUCK (PROBABLY RETARDED, PREGNANT DUE TO RAPE, BUT ALLEGATION WAS THAT SHE WAS PROSTITUTE) ISSUE: WAS VIRGINIA’S MANDATORY STERILIZATION LAW CONSTITUTIONAL?

36. HOLDING: YES. PUBLIC INTEREST IN PURE GENE POOL OUTWEIGHS RIGHTS OF “FEEBLE-MINDED”: “It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. “THREE GENERATIONS OF IMBECILES ARE ENOUGH.” 5. Significance: shows influence of social darwinism. `

37. MARGARET SANGER – BIRTH CONTROL– ALSO BASED ON SOCIAL HYGEINE AND EUGENICS • "In my experience as a trained nurse while attending persons afflicted with various and often revolting diseases, no matter what their ailments, I have never found any one so repulsive as the chronic masturbator."

38. ADVOCATED BIRTH CONTROL AND STERILIZATION AS A WAY TO PREVENT "DYSGENICS" FROM BREEDING: "Apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring." BUT MOST OF THE CLIENTS OF SANGER'S BIRTH CONTROL CLINICS WERE NOT POOR! BIRTH CONTROL WAS A BOON FOR BOURGEOIS WOMEN!

39. NOT PROGRESSIVE – SUPREME COURT DECISION IN LOCHNER V. NEW YORK (1907) • CHIEF JUSTICE – MELVILLE FULLER (STILL IN 1907) – NOT IMPORTANT • FACTS: NEW YORK ENACTED A 10-HOUR WORK DAY LAW FOR BAKERS • ISSUE: DID THE LAW VIOLATE THE 14TH AMENDMENT DUE PROCESS RIGHTS OF EMPLOYERS?

40. HOLDING: YES. THERE IS SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS. IMPLIED WITHIN THE DUE PROCESS LAW IS A SUBSTANTIVE RIGHT TO "LIBERTY OF CONTRACT" • IT WOULD DEPRIVE BAKERS AND THEIR EMPLOYERS OF THIS RIGHT IF THEY PROHIBITING FROM AGREEING BAKERS SHOULD WORK > 10 HOURS A DAY. • 5. SIGNIFICANCE: MAJOR. ALLOWS COURT TO CREATE NEW CONTSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS. THOUGH LATER IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA THE COURT GENERALLY UPHELD STATE LABOR LAWS, THE COURT USED SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS TO STRIKE DOWN THE NEW DEAL IN THE 1930S, AND TO MAKE ABORTION A CONSTUTIONAL RIGHT IN THE 1970S.

41. The “Culture Wars”:The Pendulum of Right v. Left ChristianEvangelicalMovement 2nd Great Awakening Social Gospel 1920s Revivalism 1950sRevivalism CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION CIVILWAR Antebellum Reforms[1810s-1850s] New Deal[1930s-1940s] Progressivism[1890s-1920] Great Society&1960s SocialMovements Populism[1870s-1890s]