READING FOCUS
KEY TERMS
TARGET READING SKILL
• What were the key goals of Progressives?
Progressive Era
muckraker
injunction
Identify Supporting Details Copy the chart
below. As you read, fill in factors relating to
the Progressive Era.
• How did the ideas of progressive writers
help to inspire new reform movements?
• What reform organizations and what
women reformers took up Progressive
causes?
• Why did Progressive reforms meet with
resistance?
MAIN IDEA
At the end of the 1800s, problems resulting from rapid
industrialization, immigration, and urban growth spurred
the creation of many reform movements during what is
known as the Progressive Era.
The Progressive Era
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Roots of Reform
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·· Goals/Beliefs
···
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·
Key Writers
···
Key leaders/
Groups
··
·
Setting the Scene
Workers at a Chicago stockyard
package boiled hams on dingy
tables. Sinclair and others pressed
for tough sanitary standards in
meatpacking plants.
In 1906, Upton Sinclair turned the nation's stom­
achs. That year, the writer and journalist published The Jungle) a novel based on
his investigations of the turn-of-the-century meatpacking industry. Besides
depicting the violent accidents, horrible illnesses, and painful deaths that came
to packinghouse workers themselves, Sinclair sickened the public with descrip­
tions of how meat-and what was called meat--was processed on the way to
their dinner tables.
The main character in The Jungle is a naive,
hard-working new immigrant from Lithuania
who gratefully takes a job at a meatpacking
house. Gradually, Sinclair's readers learn, as the
worker does, the ugly secrets of what goes on
inside the plant.
" It seemed they must have agencies all
over the country, to hunt out old and
crippled and diseased cattle to be
canned. There were cattle which had
been fed on 'whisky-malt,' the refuse
[garbage] of the breweries, and had be­
come what the men called 'steerly'­
which means covered with boils . ... It
was stuff such as this that made the
'embalmed beef' that had killed several
times as many United States soldiers
as all the bullets of the Spaniards [in
the Spanish-American War]."
-Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, 1906
614
Chapter 18 • The Progressive Reform Era
The Progressive Era
Revelations like these sent shock waves across a country that prided itself on
being a modern land of progress and prosperity. Sinclair and others like him
became leading figures in an era of reform movements that spread throughout
American society at the turn of the twentieth century.
The Roots of Twentieth-Century Reform Many of these new reform
movements were an outgrowth of earlier reform groups, such as the Populists.
But while populism thrived mainly among western and
southern farmers, many of the new reform movements
arose in the cities of the Northeast, Midwest, and \Vest
Coast. They had their roots in movements such as
_
to Today
nativism, prohibition, purity crusades, electoral reform,
charity reform, social gospel philosophy, and the settle­
Reform in Modern Times
ment houses.
Urban changes and industrialization led to a period
The new reformers were reacting to the effects of the
of social reforms in the 1960s and 1970s, as they
era's rapid industrialization, immigration, and urbaniza­
had at the start of the century. Following World
tion. Industrialization had brought prosperity but at a cost
War II, many Americans moved from cities to new
suburbs. City tax revenues
to some members of society. Industrial workers suf­
declined. Economic and
fered from low incomes and cycles of unemployment.
physical :decay, inner-city
Working and living conditions for the poor wete
poverty, and racial ten­
deplorable.
sions set in. Wartime
Still, foreign and rural immigrants kept seeking
growth of heavy industry
factory jobs in cities. Slums and congestion plagued
had produced workplace
many urban areas. To care for growing populations,
and environmental haz­
governments expanded public services, such as pure
ards, Which were exposed
by citizen activists.
water, schools, and healthcare. But political corrup­
Responding to these needs, in 1964 President
tion and graft often kept these services inadequate.
Lyndon
B. Johnson launched his Great Society pro­
Many Progressives maintained that private charity
gram. It established a permanent Food Stamp
could not do enough to improve the lives of the industrial
program; Medicare and Medicaid; and federal
poor. What should be done? A political debate produced
programs for education, immigration, literacy, jobs,
many plans for bringing about progress. Hence, historians
and urban renewal.
refer to the period from about 1890 to 1920 as the
Johnson's successor, Richard M. Nixon, sought
to trim social programs, yet he promoted other
Progressive Era.
_Forward
reforms. In 1970, Nixon created the Environmental
The Progressives: Their Goals and Beliefs Progres­
Protection Agency (EPA) to oversee the cleanup of
sivism was not a single unified movement. People who called
pollution in the air, water, and soil. That same year
themselves Progressives did not all share the same views. For
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) was created to monitor workplace safety.
the most part, their goals fell into four categories: social,
moral, economic, and political. Some of these goals over­
II) What beliefs did Johnson and Nixon share
lapped; some in fact conflicted.
•
with the Progressives regarding the func­
Progressives included Republicans, Democrats, and
tions of government? Explain.
members of other political parties. Yet in general, most
reformers were people of average wealth who held in
common at least four basic beliefs:
I. Government should be more accountable to its citizens.
2. Government should curb the power and influence of wealthy interests.
3. Government should be given expanded powers so that it could become
more active in improving the lives of its citizens.
4. Governments should become more efficient and less corrupt so that they
could competently handle an expanded role.
Chapter 18 • Section 1
be 615
Igniting Reform: Writers and Their New Ideas
From the 1880s into the new century, lively debates emerged about how to
reform society. The ideas of journalists and other writers had enormous influ­
ence on public opinion.
READING CHECK
In your own words, summarize
the main beliefs of
Progressives.
Two Early Reformers In 1879, reformer Henry George wrote Progress and
Poverty, an effort to explain why poverty continued to plague such an advanced
civilization. George, a journalist and self-taught economist, concluded that
poverty arose because some people bought and held on to land until its price
went up. This practice, known as speculation, prevented others from using the
land productively.
To solve this problem, George proposed that the government charge
landowners a single tax on the value of the land itself. In the past, landowners
had been taxed on improvements to the land, such as houses and cultivation. A
single tax would make speculation in land less attractive by increasing the cost
of holding land without using it. George's ideas had a powerful effect. "Single
tax" clubs sprang up everywhere.
In 1888, newspaper editor Edward Bellamy published Looking Backward.
In this novel, a Boston man undergoes hypnosis in 1887 and wakes up in the
year 2000. Upon waking, the man finds the United States transformed. In place
of harsh working conditions, poverty, and political corruption, he finds a
utopian country where the government has taken over the largest companies.
The government has also reorganized the companies "'1th the goal of meeting
human needs rather than making profits. Bellamy wrote:
" In a word, the people of the United States concluded to assume the
INTERPRETING POLITICAL
conduct of their own business, just as ... years before they had
CARTOONS Theodore Roosevelt
himself was willing to wield the
assumed the conduct of their own government. "
muckrake to attack social prob­
-Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, 1888
lems. Here, he tries to clean up
the meatpacking industry.
Bellamy'S novel was a phenomenal bestseller. In response, more than ISO
Determining Relevance (a) What
"Nationalist"
clubs formed to promote his ideas. Bellamy'S views also influ­
does the rake represent, and how
would the President use it to solve
enced the Populist Party platform in 1892.
the problem? (b) What is the signif­
Many reformers at the turn of the century worked to bring about change in
icance of the U. S. Capitol in the
a systematic manner. Relying heavily on scientific data and expert testimony, they
background?
first investigated issues of concern, such as conditions in
slums and sweatshops. They then publicized the results
of their investigations, so that the public would pressure
legislators to pass and enforce new laws. Women's clubs
and charitable groups provided leadership in pressuring
officials to implement reforms.
A DISGUSTING JOB BUT IT MUST BE DONE.
616
Chapter 18 • The Progressive Reform Era
The Muckrakers Journalists such as Upton Sinclair
played a key role in alerting the public to wrongdoing
in politics and business. Theodore Roosevelt called such
writers muckrakers. A muckrake is a rake or pitchfork
used to clean manure and hay out of stables. Roosevelt
took the term muckraker from John Bunyan's 1678
book Pilgrim's Progress, in which one of the characters
was too busy raking filth on Earth to lift his eyes to
heaven.
While Roosevelt approved of the legitimate exposure
of wrongdoing, he condemned those who "earn their
VIEWING HISTORY New York
City garment workers march on a
picket line, holding protest signs in
several languages including Eng­
lish, Yiddish, and Russian (left);
the National Women's Trade Union
League (below) was founded in
1903 after the American Federa­
tion of Labor (AFL) continued to
ban women from its ranks.
Recognizing Bias What barriers to
fair treatment might both of these
groups, male and female, have
encountered on the job? Explain.
livelihood by telling ... scandalous falsehoods about honest men."
Yet when Roosevelt read Upton Sinclair's The Jung?e, he wrote the
young novelist that "the specific evils you point out shall, if their
existence be proved, and if I have power, be eradicated."
Despite some authors' exaggerations, the muckrakers included
many respected writers who identified serious abuses. Journalist Lincoln
Steffens, in his book The Shame of the Cities (1904), exposed political corrup­
tion in St. Louis and other cities. In The History of the Standard Oil Company
(1904), Ida Tarbell, an investigative journalist, editor, teacher, and lecturer,
revealed the abuses committed by the Standard Oil Trust.
ve Reform Organizations
Americans read the muckrakers' novels and newspaper accounts with enthusi­
asm. Whether angered or sickened by what they read, many Americans were
inspired to take action by joining reform groups.
Labor Movement The union movement grew in the 18905, but only
slowly. Employers discouraged union membership, preferring to deal with indi­
vidual workers. If unions succeeded in forming, business leaders could often
count on courts to issue injunctions, court orders that prohibit a certain activ­
ity. Courts often issued injunctions preventing workers from going on strike.
Unions, however, continued to fight for better working conditions through
collective rather than individual bargaining.
READING CHECK
What factors prompted
Americans to join reform
organizations?
Socialists The Progressive Era saw a rise in the popularity of socialism, an
economic and political philosophy favoring public or government control of
property and income. Many American Socialists of this era wanted to end the
capitalist system, distribute wealth more equally, and have government owner­
ship of American industries. Writers Edward Bellamy and Upton Sinclair,
among others, promoted Socialist ideas. Bellamy's Looking Backward) in
particular, appealed to a wide spectrum of Americans, from military men to
progressive women. Socialism also attracted some union members who hoped
for fundamental change in the way the economy was organized.
Most Socialists hoped to accomplish their goals through the ballot box, not
through revolution. In 1901 they formed the Socialist Party of America. By
Chapter 18 • Section 1
617
R, )
1912 the party had won more than 1,000 city
government offices.
Unlike the Socialists and some more radical
reformers, most Progressives did not support
sweeping economic and political changes. They
did not want to lose the high standard of living
and personal liberties that democracy and a free
enterprise system had given them. Instead, Pro­
gressives wanted to free the existing government
of corruption and refocus its energies toward
guarding the welfare of workers and the poor.
Rising to new levels of civic
activism, women played a pivotal role in the
reform movements of the Progressive Era. Influen­
tial women's organizations formed around nearly
every major reform issue.
One leading women's group was the National
Consumers' League (NCL), organized in 1899 to
unite local consumers' leagues. Through these
groups, women investigated the conditions under which goods were made and
sold. Leagues insisted that factories obey state factory inspection laws and pay a
minimum wage.
Votes for women were central to achieving these goals. As social worker Jane
Addams explained, modern city life had become so complex that women needed
to become politically involved to ensure the survival of their families.
Women's Groups
VIEWING HISTORY The
International Ladies' Garment
Workers Union was formed in
1900. Activists such as those
shown above fought hard to organ­
ize the garment industry. Recogniz­
ing Cause and Effect Why do you
think women activists targeted the
garment industry. in particular, for
reforms?
" Women who live in the country sweep their own dooryards and may
either feed the refuse [scraps] of the table to a flock of chickens or al­
low it innocently to decay in the open air and sunshine. In a crowded
city quarter, however, if the street is not cleaned by the city authorities
no amount of private sweeping will keep the tenement free from grime;
if the garbage is not properly collected and destroyed a tenement house
mother may see her children sicken and die of diseases. "
-Jane Addams, Ladies' Home Journal article, 1910
READING CHECK
What types of groups became
involved in Progressive
reforms?
Because government services were so essential to their families' health,
women believed they needed the right to vote in order to influence government
actions. Women activists did not all agree on methods for reforming society.
Many focused on the liquor interests, others on conditions in the workplace. Yet
others concerned themselves with issues of commercialized vice. Whatever their
focus, all knew that they were powerless 'without political rights.
Two Women Reformers
Because so many urban women and children worked in factories, women's
organizations took a special interest in workplace reforms. Among the numerous
women who rose to national prominence in labor movements were Florence
Kelley and Mary Harris "Mother" Jones.
Florence Kelley A leader in the work for labor reform, Florence Kelley joined
Jane Addams's Hull House in Chicago in 1891. When federal officials asked
Addams to investigate local labor conditions, she recommended Kelley for the
job. Largely through Kelley's efforts, in 1893 Illinois passed a law
prohibiting child labor, limiting working hours for women, and regulating
618
Chapter 18 • The Progressive Reform Era
sweatshop conditions. The governor put Kelley in
of enforcing the law.
She became so frustrated by the district attorney's refusal to prosecute cases that
she earned a law degree in order to take legal action
Kelley later served as general secretary of the National Consumers' League.
Under her leadership, the NCL spearheaded national movements to outlaw
child labor and protect workers, especially women. When criticized, Kelley
would ask why "seals, bears, reindeer, fish, wild game in the national parks, buf­
falo" and numerous other creatures were worthy of government protection,
"but not the children of our race and their mothers."
Mother Jones Irish immigrant Mary Harris Jones came to the reform move­
ment late in her life, inspired by personal convictions and tragedies. Her hus­
band, an iron worker, and her four children died in a yellow fever epidemic in
Tennessee in 1867. She rebuilt her life, establishing a successful dressmaking
business. Then, in 1871, she lost everything in the Great Chicago Fire.
From her laborer husband, Jones had learned of the difficult working condi­
tions in factories. Now she also discovered what it meant to be poor and alone.
She appealed to the Knights of Labor for assistance, and became interested in its
efforts to improve workplace conditions. In the labor movement, "Mother
Jones," as she came to be called, found her life's work. Across the country, she
organized unions for workers, both men and wOIJIen. A tireless worker, Jones
became best known for organizing unions in the mines of West Virginia and Col­
orado. These mines had some of the worst working conditions. Company resist­
ance to unions often turned violent. Well into her eighties, Jones gave fiery
speeches at rallies, uttering her famous caU, "Join the union, boys!"
Jones became a national speaker on behalf of both unions and child labor
laws. In 1905, she helped found the International Workers of the World (IW'W).
Florence Kelley (top) and Mary
Harris "Mother" Jones (below)
were two of the nation's most
active women reformers.
Progressive Reforms Meet With Resistance
Progressives sought increased government involvement in people's lives-in
housing, health care, and even in the content of the movies. This aspect of pro­
gressivism provoked resistance, often among the very people Progressives
hoped to help. For example, Progressives saw child labor laws as critical to social
progress. Yet, poor families who could not survive without the wages of their
working children opposed the laws. Such disputes added to the perception that
Progressives were insensitive to the poor.
.i~
Section
1
Assessment
READING
COMPREHENSION
CRITICAL THINKING AND WRITING 1. What were some of the historical
roots of the Progressive Era?
5. Recognizing Ideologies What
2. How did Henry George and Edward
Bellamy influence the rise of
progressivism?
3. How did injunctions affect the
growth of labor unions?
beliefs did most Progressives
share?
6. Writing to Persuade Write a letter
to the editor of a 1905 newspaper
arguing why the paper should pub­
lish articles by muckrakers.
(Go ,~nline
l,-_-----rPHSchool.com
For: An activity on the Progressive
Era
Visit: PHSchool.com
Web Code: mrd-6181
4. Identify some Progressive women's groups and their causes. Chapter 18 .. Section 1
.( 619