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The Origins of the Progressive
Spirit in America
∗
OpenStax College
This work is produced by OpenStax-CNX and licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
†
Abstract
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
•
•
Describe the role that muckrakers played in catalyzing the Progressive Era
Explain the main features of Progressivism
Figure 1
∗ Version
1.3: Jan 7, 2015 1:14 pm -0600
† http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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The Progressive Era was a time of wide-ranging causes and varied movements, where activists and
reformers from diverse backgrounds and with very dierent agendas pursued their goals of a better America.
These reformers were reacting to the challenges that faced the country at the end of the nineteenth century:
rapid urban sprawl, immigration, corruption, industrial working conditions, the growth of large corporations,
women's rights, and surging anti-black violence and white supremacy in the South. Investigative journalists
of the day uncovered social inequality and encouraged Americans to take action.
The campaigns of the
Progressives were often grassroots in their origin. While dierent causes shared some underlying elements,
each movement largely focused on its own goals, be it the right of women to vote, the removal of alcohol
from communities, or the desire for a more democratic voting process.
1 THE MUCKRAKERS
A group of journalists and writers collectively known as
muckrakers provided an important spark that ig-
nited the Progressive movement. Unlike the yellow journalists who were interested only in sensationalized
articles designed to sell newspapers, muckrakers exposed problems in American society and urged the public
to identify solutions. Whether those problems were associated with corrupt machine politics, poor working
conditions in factories, or the questionable living conditions of the working class (among others), muckrakers
shined a light on the problem and provoked outraged responses from Americans. President Theodore Roosevelt knew many of these investigative journalists well and considered himself a Progressive. Yet, unhappy
with the way they forced agendas into national politics, he was the one who rst gave them the disparaging
nickname muckrakers, invoking an ill-spirited character obsessed with lth from The Pilgrim's Progress, a
1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan.
Beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century, these Progressive journalists sought to expose
critical social problems and exhort the public to take action. In his book, How the Other Half Lives (1890),
journalist and photographer Jacob Riis used
photojournalism to capture the dismal and dangerous living
conditions in working-class tenements in New York City (Figure 2). Ida Tarbell, perhaps the most well-known
female muckraker, wrote a series of articles on the dangers of John D. Rockefeller's powerful monopoly, Standard Oil. Her articles followed Henry Demarest Lloyd's book, Wealth Against Commonwealth, published in
1894, which examined the excesses of Standard Oil. Other writers, like Lincoln Steens, explored corruption
in city politics, or, like Ray Standard Baker, researched unsafe working conditions and low pay in the coal
mines.
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Figure 2:
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Jacob Riis's images of New York City slums in the late nineteenth century, such as this 1890
photograph of children sleeping in Mulberry Street, exposed Americans all over the country to the living
conditions of the urban poor.
The work of the muckrakers not only revealed serious problems in American society, but also agitated,
often successfully, for change.
Their articles, in magazines such as McClure's, as well as books garnered
attention for issues such as child labor, anti-trust, big business break-ups, and health and safety. Progressive
activists took up these causes and lobbied for legislation to address some of the ills troubling industrial
America.
Click and Explore:
To learn more about one of the most inuential muck-
rakers of the late nineteenth century, peruse the photographs, writings, and more at the Ida M.
Tarbell archives
1
that are housed at Tarbell's alma mater, Allegheny College, where she matricu-
lated in 1876 as the only woman in her class.
1 http://openstaxcollege.org/l/tarbell
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2 THE FEATURES OF PROGRESSIVISM
Muckrakers drew public attention to some of the most glaring inequities and scandals that grew out of
the social ills of the Gilded Age and the hands-o approach of the federal government since the end of
Reconstruction. These writers by and large addressed a white, middle-class and elite, native-born audience,
even though Progressive movements and organizations involved a diverse range of Americans. What united
these Progressives beyond their dierent backgrounds and causes was a set of uniting principles, however.
Most strove for a perfection of democracy, which required the expansion of surage to worthy citizens and
the restriction of political participation for those considered unt on account of health, education, or race.
Progressives also agreed that democracy had to be balanced with an emphasis on eciency, a reliance on
science and technology, and deference to the expertise of professionals. They repudiated party politics but
looked to government to regulate the modern market economy. And they saw themselves as the agents of
social justice and reform, as well as the stewards and guides of workers and the urban poor. Often, reformers'
convictions and faith in their own expertise led them to dismiss the voices of the very people they sought to
help.
The expressions of these Progressive principles developed at the grassroots level. It was not until Theodore
Roosevelt unexpectedly became president in 1901 that the federal government would engage in Progressive
reforms. Before then,
Progressivism was work done by the people, for the people.
What knit Progressives
together was the feeling that the country was moving at a dangerous pace in a dangerous direction and
required the eorts of everyday Americans to help put it back on track.
3 Section Summary
In its rst decade, the Progressive Era was a grassroots eort that ushered in reforms at state and local
levels.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, however, Progressive endeavors captured the attention
of the federal government. The challenges of the late nineteenth century were manifold: fast-growing cities
that were ill-equipped to house the working poor, hands-o politicians shackled into impotence by their
system of political favors, and rural Americans struggling to keep their farms aoat.
The muckraking
journalists of the era published books and articles highlighting the social inequities of the day and extolling
everyday Americans to help nd solutions. Educated, middle-class, Anglo-Saxon Protestants dominated the
movement, but Progressives were not a homogenous group: The movement counted African Americans, both
women and men, and urban as well as rural dwellers among its ranks. Progressive causes ranged from antiliquor campaigns to fair pay. Together, Progressives sought to advance the spread of democracy, improve
eciency in government and industry, and promote social justice.
4 Review Questions
Exercise 1
(Solution on p. 6.)
Ida Tarbell wrote publicly about
A. the need for better housing in rural America
B. the sinister business practices of Standard Oil
C. the need for a national temperance movement
D. the women's surage cause in the American West
Exercise 2
Which of the following was not a key area of focus for the Progressives?
A. land reform
B. democracy
C. business regulation
D. social justice
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(Solution on p. 6.)
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Exercise 3
How did muckrakers help initiate the Progressive Era?
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(Solution on p. 6.)
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Solutions to Exercises in this Module
Solution to Exercise (p. 4)
B
Solution to Exercise (p. 4)
A
Solution to Exercise (p. 5)
The muckrakers played a pivotal role in initiating the Progressive Era, because they spurred everyday
Americans to action.
Unlike earlier sensationalist journalists, the muckrakers told their stories with the
explicit goal of galvanizing their readers and encouraging them to take steps to address the issues. With
photographs and descriptions of real-life scenarios of which many Americans were unaware, the muckrakers
brought the tribulations of child factory workers, the urban poor, and others into the living rooms of the
middle class.
Glossary
Denition 1: muckrakers
investigative journalists and authors who wrote about social ills, from child labor to the corrupt
business practices of big businesses, and urged the public to take action
Denition 2: Progressivism
a broad movement between 1896 and 1916 led by white, middle-class professionals for legal, scientic, managerial, and institutional solutions to the ills of urbanization, industrialization, and
corruption
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