REASONS
FORPROGRESSIVE
REFORMS
In the late 1800s,the United Statesbecamea rich and powerful
nation. with indusnializationand urbanizationcame problerns.The
ProgressiveMovement was a reactionto suchproblemsas:
. Powerful monopoliesrestricting
competition
. An economicdepression
in the lg90s
. Labor unrestand violence
. Unhealthy and unsafeliving
and working conditions
r An increasedgap betweenliving
standardsof the rich and the poor
r Large numbersof "new immigrants"
crowded into cities
. Urban poverty, crime, congestion,
and poor sanitation
. Political comrption at all Ievels govemment
of
. Abuse of the nation's naturalresources
Who Werethe Progressives?
The Progressiveswere Arrericans who setout to tacklethe problems of their era. They did not form one singlegroup. The progressive
Movement was made up of many different movements, and the
Frogressiveswere many different kinds of Americans.Their commitment and their successvaried from personto personand from causeto
cause.They did have somethings in common, however.
CHARACTERISTICS
The progressiveswere influencedby the
Populists, but differed from them. While the populists lived in the
counbryor in small towns, the hogressives were largely city dwellen.
Most of the Populistswere farmers, who focusedon farrn problems.
The Progressivestendedto be educatedprofessionals--doctors,lawyers, social workers, clergy, and teachers-with a wide rangeof concems.
BELIEFS AND GOALS
Like all reformers,the progressives
were optimists.They believedthat abusesof power by governmentand
businesscould be ended. They believed that new developmentsin
technologyand sciencecould be usedto improve the basicinstitutions
of American society-business, government, education, and family
Iife. kogressives believedin capitalism,and were concemedaboutthe
gowth of socialismas a moreradical reactionto the effectsof industrialization. Progressiveswantedto bypassparty politics, which they saw
as cotrupt, but had faith that a suong govemment could and should
correct abusesand protect rights.
Not all Americanswere Progressivesor agreedwith Progressive
goals. Many businessand political leaden opposedbusinessregulation
and acceptedthe Social Darwinists' view that the vast differencesin
wealth and power in American society were the result of scientific
forces that could not be changed.Many workers and farmersdid not
benefit from hogressive reform, nor did most black Americans.
FACTORSAIDING THE MOVEMENT ManyProgressives
actedthrcughnationalvoluntary
whichgrewrapidly
organizations,
beginning in the 1890s.The fact that the movement was centeredin
cities at a time when more of the populationwas living in cities helped
communicationamong hogressives. So did the expandingtelephone
and telegraphsystems.The availability of inexpensivemass-circulation magazinesand newspapersalso helped spreadhogressive ideas.
The Muckrakers
The muckrakers were mainly journalists and writers,
but also
artistsand photographers,who helpedbring reform
issuesto the attention of the public. Muckrakersinvestigatedand
exposedcomrptionand
injustice. Their articres were widely read in mass-circulation
magazines' They also wrote novels dramatizing situationsthat
oemanded
reform.
That muckrakerswere effective can be seen
by the passagein
1906of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the
Meat Inspection Act_
pioneering consumer protection legislation.
The govemment pasbed
theselaws after it becam3clear thaithe dangerous
conditions exposed
by Sinclair's novel Tie lungle were based
Jn fact.
As time passed, the muckrakers' influence
decrined, partly
becausereaderstired of their sensation"rir*.
rt. Eadition hascontinued to the presentday, however.
Ttre Muckrakers
Author
Work
Suhiect
Ida Tarbell
A History of the
Standord Oil
Company(1903)
Tarbell's articles led to an
investigation of cormpt business
practices and an antitrust suit against
Rockefellet'smonopoly.
Lincoln Steffans
The Shame of thc
Cities (1904)
Steffans becameknown for articles
focusing on businessbribery and
political cormption in cities such as
St. Iouis and Minneapolis.
JacobRiis
How the Other Holf
Liues(1890)
Riis'book worked for sanitation and
housing reform in city slums.
Frank Norris
The Octoprts(1901)
The Pit (1903)
Norris'booh told of the problems
farmers had with railroad and grain
storage monopolies.
John Spargo
The Bitter Cry of the
Children (1906)
Spargo protested the abuseof chilclren
in the factories and hastenedstate
child labor laws.
Ray Stannard Baker Following the Color
Line (1908)
Upton Sinclair
The Junglc (1906)
Bakels articles erposedthe socid
injustice of racial segregationand
violent lynchings in the south.
Sinclait's book described unsanitary
and unsafe working conditions in the
Chicago meet packing plants. The
public demanded government action.
The results were state regulations and
federal laws such as the Meat
rnnpection and the Pure Food and
IlrrgActs (seepage 138).
NAME
PER#
DATE
REASONSFOR PROGRESSIVEITEFORMS
l. Identify/our (4) problcrnsthal canrewith inclustrialization
and urbanization
(A)
(B)
(c)_
(D)
2. Who influerrccd1hcProgressives'/
3. What was the basicdill'ercr{ce
and the Progresstve
bcr\\'ccnthc Popr:lii1nlc,vcment
movement?
4. What groupof l.rcopletendcdto bc l)rogressircs'?
5. Whatdid Progrcssivcs
thinhcor-rlcl
bc useclto inrpxrvesociety?
bc?
6. What did thc Progrcssi'vcs
thin,rthc role of soicn;nent shor-rlcl
7. Whv DO YOU THIN{ thatrri.urvbusincssanclpoliticalleadersdislikcdthe
Progressive
movemcnl'/
ideaswithin urban
helpedto sprcacl
Progrcssivc
8. What four mcansof conunrrnicalion
areas? (A)
( B)_ _
9. DEFINE' Niuclirakcrs
10.What two larvswcle Dilsscdas a clirectresultol'thc Muckrali.ers
investisative
j o u r n a l i s m(?A ) _ _ _
(B)__
I 1. Who did thesetwo lau,sorotcct'l
OVER
| 2. I DEN TI F Y TH E F o L L o fi4 l,{G]pptL_plltli;fut4 tpt!deytfullielt oifi!)
(A) IdaTarbell
(B) Lincoln Stefl.;ns
(C) JacobI{iis
(D) UptonSinclair