NAME ________________________________________ DATE _____________ CLASS ______
Oil and a New Century
Lesson 3: The Progressive Era
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
How do governments change? How do new ideas change the way
people live?
Terms to Know
reformer a person who urges or works for improvement and change
commission a form of city government in which citizens elect officials to head departments
such as public safety and human services; the mayor has little power
primary election an election in which party members choose the party’s candidates for the
general election
literacy the ability to read and write
attain to accomplish or achieve something
conservation the careful use of natural resources to prevent them from being lost or wasted
When did it happen?
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1900
1900: Hurricane
destroys much of
Galveston
1905
1907
1905: The Terrell
Election Law
passed
1918 1919 1920
1907: The Texas
Anti-Saloon
League founded
1918: Annie Webb Blanton is the first
woman elected to a statewide office in
Texas. Texas women achieve the right
to vote in primary elections
1920: The Nineteenth
Amendment gives American
women the right to vote
1919: The Eighteenth
Amendment makes prohibition
the law throughout the United
States
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Oil and a New Century
Lesson 3: The Progressive Era, continued
Identifying
Cause and Effect
1. How did Galveston
citizens change their
government in response
to the hurricane of 1900?
Defining
2. What is the commission
form of government?
Progressive Reform
Guiding Question What impact did the Progressives have on Texas
in the early 1900s?
By the early 1900s, Texans were facing new problems. Many of the
reformers who worked to solve these problems were part of the
Progressive Movement.
On September 8, 1900, Galveston was struck by a powerful
hurricane. Between 6,000 and 8,000 people died during the storm.
A third of the city lay in ruins, and thousands were homeless. At the
time, it was the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
To rebuild the city, Galvestonians formed a new type of city
government. They replaced their mayor and city council with a
commission form of government. Voters elected five commissioners.
Each was in charge of a city department, such as police, fire, or
water services. Together they made the laws for the city. Galveston’s
commission was successful and became a model for other cities.
Houston, Denison, El Paso, Greenville, and Dallas adopted the
commission form of government a few years later.
Progressives believed that voting was necessary for a strong
democracy. The Terrell Election Law, passed in 1905, required
major political parties to hold primary elections. These elections
let voters, not political insiders, choose candidates. The Terrell
Election Law is still a basic part of election law in Texas today.
3. What is a primary
election?
Marking the Text
4. Circle the two results
of education reform
in Texas.
The Progressives also thought that the state’s school system
had to be reformed. The legislature passed:
• a law in 1914 that enabled rural voters to form school districts
• a law that required children between the ages of 8 and 14 to
attend school at least 60 days a year
In 1918 Annie Webb Blanton was elected superintendent of
education. She was the first woman to hold statewide office, and
she made several more reforms. By 1920 about 75 percent of
children were being educated. In 1920 Texas had the longest
school year and the highest literacy rate in the South.
Most teachers in urban schools were high school graduates,
and about half had college degrees. Almost half of rural teachers,
however, had not graduated from any school. For this reason,
reform of education in rural areas took much longer to attain.
During the Progressive Era, Texans also promoted conservation.
Some people worried that the state’s forests would soon be
destroyed by the lumber industry’s boom. W. Goodrich Jones led
the forest conservation movement that improved Texas forests.
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Defining
NAME ________________________________________ DATE _____________ CLASS ______
Oil and a New Century
Lesson 3: The Progressive Era, continued
Jones convinced lumber companies to replant to ensure future
profits. He also called for the conservation of soil, grasses, and
wildlife. He encouraged towns and cities to create parks.
Jones organizes Texas Forestry Association
Texas Forest Service created
Identifying
Cause and Effect
5. What event caused
Texas to become more
business friendly in the
early 1900s. Why?
Lumber companies begin replanting
Regulation of Texas businesses weakened in the Progressive
period. The Railroad Commission had been formed in the 1890s,
partly because Populists wished to curb the power of the railroads.
In the early 1900s, the Commission regulated oil pipelines and the
distance between oil wells. But the positive impact of the oil boom
on the economy made Texans want to let businesses run with little
state government control. Texas became more business friendly.
Reading
Progress Check
6. How did election rules
in Texas change during
this period?
Women Win the Vote
Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.
Guiding Question How did Texas women win the right to vote?
In the early 1900s many Texas women wanted the right to vote.
• Rebecca Henry Hayes of Galveston organized the Texas Equal
Rights Association.
• Annette, Elizabeth, and Katharine Finnigan founded a suffrage
group in Houston.
• Minnie Fisher Cunningham of Galveston, president of the Texas
Woman Suffrage Association, was a major force in the fight.
Opposition was strong. Some argued that women did not need to
vote because men protected their rights. Others said that women
would neglect their homes and children for politics. Suffragists said
that women voters could be more effective caregivers. They could
vote for better schools and public health and more playgrounds.
Marking the Text
7. Circle arguments for
women’s suffrage.
Reading
Progress Check
8. Why did some people
oppose suffrage for
women?
From 1915 to 1918, suffragists wrote letters, signed petitions, and
lobbied state legislators. Governor James Ferguson opposed them.
In 1917 Ferguson was forced from office (for unrelated reasons),
and the new governor, William P. Hobby, sympathized with the
suffragists. In 1918 they made a deal. If Hobby signed a bill letting
women vote in primary elections, they would vote for him. Hobby
agreed, and the suffragists’ votes helped him win the primary.
Reading Essentials and Study Guide 267
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Oil and a New Century
Lesson 3: The Progressive Era, continued
Identifying
Point of View
9. Why were some
conservatives against
prohibition?
Reading
Progress Check
10. Why did some
reformers work to ban
the sale of alcoholic
beverages?
Hobby also won the general election. He tried to amend the
Texas Constitution to give women full voting rights, but that
amendment was defeated. In 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution finally granted women full voting rights.
Prohibition in Texas
Guiding Question How did prohibition come to Texas?
In Texas during the Progressive Era, some reformers argued that
alcohol caused many social problems. They said men who spent
their money on alcohol forced their families to rely on charity.
The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) led the
national temperance movement. The Texas Anti-Saloon League,
formed in 1907, was another voice in the battle to ban alcohol.
Some church groups strongly supported these efforts, too.
The brewing industry was against prohibition, or a law banning
the sale of alcohol. Many conservatives, who disapproved of
government interference, were also against it. In 1918, however,
Texas approved a prohibition law. The next year, the Eighteenth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution established prohibition in the
United States.
Check for Understanding
1. Persuasive Explain the reasons why cut trees should be replaced, from the viewpoint of
W. Goodrich Jones.
2. Expository What two amendments were added to the U.S. Constitution in 1919 and 1920,
and what did each specify?
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Writing