The Age of Progressivism
(1900-1920)
US History & Government
The Progressive Movement
• What does the term “progress” mean?
• How do you think a “progressives views the
world?
The Progressive Movement
• What are some of the problems in the late
19th Century that the Progressives would want
to address?
Progressive Philosophy
Progressives believed that:
People as basically good
Government must help people
Capitalism was the right system
Muckrakers
"A man who could look no
way but downward with
the muck-rake in his hands,
who was offered the
celestial crown for his
muckrake,
but
would
neither look up nor regard
the crown he was offered,
but continued to rake the
filth of the floor."
Theodore Roosevelt
The Jungle
Muckrakers
Upton Sinclair
The Jungle
Meat-packing industry
Theodore Dreiser
The Financier
Exploitation of workers
Lincoln Steffens
The Shame of the Cities
John Spargo
Political corruption
Ida Tarbell
The Bitter Cry of Children
The History of Standard Oil
Exploitation of child labor
Monopolies
Frank Norris
The Octopus
Railroad Monopolies
Jacob Riis
How the Other Half Lives
Urban poverty
Ida B. Wells
Wrote in McClure’s
Lynching
Progressivism & Wisconsin
The Wisconsin Idea
• Workers’ Compensation
• Railroad regulation
• Minimum wage
• Open primary system
• Direct election of U.S. Senators
• Women's suffrage
• Graduated income tax
• Initiative, Referendum & Recall
Governor Robert La Follette
Progressive Presidents
Teddy Roosevelt
McKinley
1900
1901
McKinley
McKinley
Re-elected assassinated
Roosevelt
1904
Roosevelt
elected
1909
Roosevelt
leaves office
Roosevelt in Office
1902 United Mine Workers Strike
Roosevelt favors “arbitration” → “Square Deal”
1904 Roosevelt runs for President
Promises “Square Deal” for the people
1.End trusts
2.Public health & Improve working conditions
3.Environmental Conservation
Progressive Presidents
Teddy Roosevelt
What does he do?
End Trusts
• Trustbusting
– Northern Securities v. U.S.
– “Good” vs. “Bad” Trusts
Public Health
• Meat Inspection Act
• Pure Food and Drug Act
Conservation
• Appoints Gifford Pinchot
• Origins of the National Park System
President Taft
The Progressive Presidents
William Howard Taft
• Many trust-busting cases
– Standard Oil vs. US
• Problems:
– Conservation: Dismissal of
Pinchot
• favored ranchers & miners

Conflict with Roosevelt!
The Presidential Election of 1912
The Progressive Presidents
Woodrow Wilson
“New Freedom”
1.
Underwood Tariff
lowered tariff rates
2.
3.
4.
5.
Graduated income tax
Federal Reserve System
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
Keatings-Owen Child Labor Act
Tried to outlaw child labor but
overturned by Supreme Court
6.
Female Suffrage
19th Amendment
National American Woman Suffrage
Association (NAWSA)
Prohibition or Temperance
Carrie Nation
The Federal Reserve
Ben Bernanke
Alice Paul
National Woman’s Party
The Progressive Amendments
16th Amendment
– Graduated Income Tax
17th Amendment
– Direct election of Senators
18th Amendment
– Prohibition
19th Amendment
– Female suffrage
The Progressive Agenda
Political
Social
Economic
Australian Ballot
Birth control
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
City Managers
Environmental Conservation
Consumer Protection
Direct election of senators
Meat Inspection Act
Eight-Hour Workday
The Direct Primary
National Parks
Factory inspections
Female suffrage
Peace Movement
The Graduated Income Tax
Initiative
Pure Food & Drug Act
Keatings-Owen Act
Recall
Temperance & Prohibition
Regulate Banking System
Referendum
Regulation of Big Business
Regulation of Utilities
Trust-busting
Workman’s Compensation