Transcript The Progressive Era 1890-1920

The Progressive Era 1890-1920
Progressive= Progress= To improve or
fix
Review: Gilded Age
The Gilded Age following the Civil War led to unprecedented industrial growth.
However, Laissez Faire led to corruption, poor working conditions, wide gap between
rich and poor. Even the government continued the cycle by using the Sherman AntiTrust act against unions trying to improve labor conditions.
Overview: Progressive Era 1890-1920
As society and politics became more corrupt a movement began growing to fix the
problems. This movement was named the Progressive movement and aimed to fix
the problems caused by industrialization:
-Business corruption and greed
-Political machines and corruption
-Working conditions, hours and wages
-immigration
-Education
-Woman Suffrage
-relations with Native Americans
Review of Gilded Age Problems:
Business Corruption and greed
Business men like Rockefeller and Carnegie were making millions of dollars
while their workers struggled with “wage slavery” keeping them in poverty.
Businesses bribed government officials and eliminated competition to
create monopolies, trusts and pools. Laissez Faire also kept the government
out of business practices.
Robber
Barons
-orCaptains of
Industry?
Review of Gilded Age Problems:
Political Machines
Many politicians were part of giant machines who would use intimidation,
bribes and immigrants to secure power. Many political machines funded
themselves through graft, or using connections and job to make profits.
Review of Gilded Age Problems:
Industrialization
As business expanded, they cared little for the impact on the environment.
Robbing the mines of natural resources, burning endless amounts of coal
and people living in overcrowded unsanitary conditions created cities of
filth and disease.
Review of Gilded Age Problems:
Immigration
Businesses relied on a large supply of cheap labor. The number one source
of cheap labor were newly arriving immigrants. As immigrants continued to
take American jobs resentment grew. Some Americans joined the Nativist
party to limit immigration.
Review of Gilded Age Problems:
Working Conditions
People worked in overcrowded, unsafe factories. From poor air quality to
locked emergency exits, the factory conditions were only set up for mass
production and huge profits. Even workers who were injured or killed
received no compensation.
Review of Gilded Age Problems:
Jobs and unions
Workers struggled with low wages, long
hours and unsafe working conditions.
Many workers joined unions in the late
1800s, leading strikes, boycotts and
attempts at collective bargaining.
However, many businesses refused to
listen. Eventually the Sherman Anti-Trust
act was even used AGAINST the worker
unions
Review of Gilded Age Problems:
Education
Most working families lived in poverty, cramped into dirty and dark tenement
houses. To make ends meet both women and children needed to work. Despite
a free public education, many children were unable to go to school because their
families needed the income from their work.
Review of Gilded Age Problems:
Women’s Suffrage
After the Civil War, African American males were given the right to vote, but
women were still unrepresented in most American elections. As women joined
the workforce and changed the dynamics of society and family life, they also
wanted to influence political decisions. After all, if women had to live by the
laws, shouldn’t they have a say in who makes the laws?
Review of Gilded Age Problems:
Alcohol
Some political groups, especially those associated with religious groups,
pushed for the ban of alcohol. Known as the Temperance movements,
these groups lobbied for laws to make selling and buying alcohol illegal.
ReviewWhat
ofideaGilded
Age Problems:
is expressed in this cartoon?
Native
Who is being
pushed out Americans
on the left side of the drawing?
As the nation industrialized, the need for more food, cash crops and resources
grew. As a result, the American nation pushed further West, into lands still held by
Native American tribes.
Who were the progressives?
Mostly educated city dwellers that believed new technologies should be used to
improve society. Believed in capitalism but believed a strong government was needed
to stop corruption and abuses, while safe guarding people’s rights.
Progressivism vs. Socialism
The progressives believed in capitalism and that a hard worker would get ahead, but
needed the government to ensure fairness and some job protections. A socialist
believes the government should own everything and divide it equally among the
people. Some still look at social assistance programs like unemployment and welfare as
socialist because they take tax money to redistribute assistance to others.
Mixed Government response
The government practiced mostly Laissez Faire economics, staying uninvolved with
running the economy. Even the passing of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act did little to
restrict business practices. As public pressure mounted the Supreme Court dealt with
two separate court cases for workers’ rights:
Lochner v New York
Muller v Oregon
Law limited bakers’ hours was
Law limiting women’s hours was legal
unconstitutional because it limited the because it protected women’s health.
right to contract
Kept women out of better paying jobs
Nast’s nasty cartoons
One major push for reform came from Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist. Nast
highlighted the corruption and problems of the late 1800s. Nast’s cartoons exposed
many issues including political machines in New York City and labor issues.
Progressive Reform: Businesses
During the gilded Age, Laissez Faire allowed businesses to cut out competition
creating Monopolies and Trusts. Not only did these businesses become rich and
powerful, they also ignored basic sanitation and workers health issues, putting
profits before all else.
Muckrackers
Muckrakers helped bring reform issues to the attention of the public.
Muckrakers used literature and art to depict the problems plaguing American
business and society. Many focused on the abuses and poor business practices
of American industry:
Muckraker
Book/ article
subject
Frank Norris
The Octopus
Railroad monopolies in California
Ida Tarbell
History of the Standard
Oil Company
Ruthless practices of Standard Oil
Jacob Riis
How the other half lives
Conditions of New York’s tenements
Upton Sinclair
The Jungle
Dangerous and unsanitary meat
packing industry
The JungleUpton Sinclair
Look at your DBQ documents (#2)
Upton Sinclair spent weeks studying the meatpacking
industry. He found that the industry was abusing the
workers, but readers focused instead on the
unsanitary conditions of the meat industry:
-spoiled meat
-rats and vermin ground into meat
-poisoned rodents ground into meat
How the Other Half Lives- Jacob Riis
Jacob Riis used photograph to show how the poor workers lived in “The Greatest
American city”, New York City.