The Progressives | Period 7: 1890-1945 | AP US History | Khan Academy
Summary
TLDRThe Progressive Era, spanning from the 1890s to the 1920s, was a period of significant reform in the United States. Driven by industrialization and urbanization, reformers addressed social issues like poverty and unsafe conditions through various means. Journalists exposed corruption, politicians regulated big businesses, and activists fought for workers' rights and women's suffrage. Despite their diverse goals, Progressives shared a belief in societal improvement and government intervention. However, their efforts were marred by contradictions, such as advocating for literacy tests and eugenics, reflecting the era's complex nature.
Takeaways
- 🏭 The Civil War led to significant societal changes with industrialization, urbanization, and immigration reshaping American life.
- 🌆 City living and factory work introduced new social issues like poverty and unsafe conditions, prompting the need for reform.
- 🔍 The Progressive Era, starting in the 1890s, was characterized by reformers addressing social problems through various means.
- 📰 Muckrakers played a crucial role by exposing corruption and unsanitary conditions, influencing legislation like the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
- 🛠 Progressives fought for worker protections, including an eight-hour workday, safer working conditions, and collective bargaining rights.
- 👨👩👧👦 Efforts were made to advance women's and children's rights, such as limiting child labor and securing women's suffrage through the 19th Amendment.
- 🏛️ Politicians like Teddy Roosevelt aimed to curb big business excesses by challenging trusts and monopolies.
- 🗳️ The Progressives sought to reduce political corruption, resulting in the 17th Amendment for the direct election of senators.
- 🚫 Moral reform was pursued, culminating in the 18th Amendment's prohibition of alcohol sale and consumption.
- 🔄 Despite their goals for societal improvement, Progressives were not uniform in their views, with divisions on issues like voting rights and immigration.
- 🌐 The Progressive Era's legacy is mixed, with some successes in addressing social issues but also limitations and contradictions in their approach to inclusivity and equality.
Q & A
What were the major changes in American life after the Civil War?
-After the Civil War, American life underwent significant changes due to industrialization, urbanization, and immigration, which altered the demographic composition, living conditions, and occupational landscape of the United States.
What social problems emerged with city living and factory work during the Progressive Era?
-The rise of city living and factory work led to social problems such as poverty, unsafe working and living conditions, and the emergence of monopolies and price-fixing practices that limited competition.
Who were the Progressives and what did they advocate for?
-The Progressives were reformers who advocated for remedies to the social problems that arose during the period of rapid industrialization and urbanization. They worked on a variety of issues, including sanitation, worker protections, women's rights, and limiting the power of big businesses.
What was the role of muckrakers in the Progressive Era?
-Muckrakers were journalists, writers, and photographers who exposed corruption and unsanitary factory practices, contributing to public awareness and driving legislative changes like the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
What were some of the key reforms pursued by Progressives to protect workers?
-Progressives fought for an eight-hour workday, safer working conditions, and the right for workers to bargain collectively through unions, aiming to improve the lives of laborers in the face of industrialization.
How did Progressives work to advance the rights of women and children?
-Progressives aimed to advance the rights of women and children by limiting child labor, promoting access to birth control, and securing women's suffrage through the 19th Amendment.
What actions did Progressives take to curb the power of big businesses?
-Progressives, including politicians like President Teddy Roosevelt, targeted trusts and monopolies to reduce their stifling effect on competition and to prevent price-fixing.
How did the Progressives address political corruption?
-To combat political corruption, Progressives focused on reforms such as the passage of the 17th Amendment, which allowed for the direct election of senators, reducing the influence of party bosses.
What were the moral reforms advocated by some Progressives?
-Some Progressives pushed for moral reforms to create a more orderly and humane society, with a significant achievement being the passage of the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol.
What were the common beliefs among Progressives regarding the role of government?
-Progressives shared a belief in the potential for societal improvement and the necessity of government intervention to address social problems, marking a departure from the laissez-faire approach of the Gilded Age.
What were some of the internal contradictions within the Progressive Movement?
-Despite their efforts to improve society, Progressives were divided on issues like voting rights, with some advocating for restrictions on who could vote and supporting policies that favored white, educated, native-born citizens over others.
How did the Progressives' views on immigration and race shape their reforms?
-Many Progressives supported the complete assimilation of immigrants into American culture and advocated for restrictions on 'undesirable' immigrants, reflecting the racial attitudes and eugenics beliefs of the time.
Outlines
🏭 The Progressive Era: Reform and Diverse Goals
The Progressive Era, spanning from the 1890s to the 1920s, was a period of significant reform in the United States. It was a response to the social problems brought about by industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. The era saw the rise of the Progressives, a diverse group of reformers who advocated for various social improvements. These included muckrakers exposing corruption, politicians regulating big businesses, conservationists protecting natural resources, and female reformers improving conditions for the vulnerable. Despite their diversity, Progressives shared a belief in societal progress and the government's role in achieving it. Key reforms included sanitation and consumer protection, worker's rights, women's and children's rights, curbing big business, political corruption, and moral reforms. However, the movement was not without its internal contradictions, such as the selective expansion of voting rights and varying stances on immigration.
🔍 The Contradictions Within the Progressive Movement
While the Progressive Era was marked by a desire to improve American society, it was also characterized by internal divisions and contradictions. Progressives expanded democracy by advocating for women's suffrage but simultaneously sought to restrict voting rights for certain groups, such as through literacy tests and residency requirements. Their views on immigration were mixed; some supported immigrant rights and cultural respect, while most favored assimilation and supported restrictions on 'undesirable' immigrants. The movement was influenced by the racial science of the time, which led to discriminatory practices like segregation and eugenics. Despite some successes in addressing corruption and exploitation, the effectiveness of Progressive reforms was limited by their selective nature and the underlying racial biases of the era. The era's end was marked by the Great Depression, indicating the need for further societal changes.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Progressive Era
💡Industrialization
💡Urbanization
💡Muckrakers
💡Sanitation
💡Worker Protections
💡Women's Rights
💡Big Business
💡Political Corruption
💡Moral Reform
💡Eugenics
Highlights
After the Civil War, America experienced significant changes due to industrialization, urbanization, and immigration.
New social problems such as poverty and unsafe conditions arose from city living and factory work.
The Progressive Era, starting in the 1890s, was a time of reform aimed at addressing these social issues.
Progressives were a diverse group including muckrakers, politicians, conservationists, and female reformers.
Muckrakers like Upton Sinclair exposed corruption and unsanitary conditions, leading to legislation like the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
Progressives fought for worker protections, including an eight-hour workday and safer working conditions.
Reforms aimed at advancing women's and children's rights included limiting child labor and promoting birth control.
The 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, a significant achievement of the Progressives.
President Teddy Roosevelt and others targeted trusts and monopolies to promote fair competition.
The 17th Amendment allowed for the popular election of senators, reducing political corruption.
Moral reform efforts led to the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol.
Progressives believed in the possibility of societal improvement and the role of government in achieving it.
There were internal divisions within the Progressive Movement, particularly regarding voting rights and immigration.
Some Progressives supported literacy tests and residency requirements, restricting the vote to certain groups.
The Progressive Era had both uniting and dividing factors, impacting the goals and effects of the reform movement.
Progressives succeeded in curbing some of the worst problems but were limited in their vision for societal improvements.
The effectiveness of Progressive reforms is a topic that requires examination of the subsequent decades.
Transcripts
- [Instructor] After the Civil War
there were enormous changes in American life.
With industrialization, urbanization,
and immigration changing the composition of who lived
in the United States, where they lived,
and what they did for a living.
But city living and factory work came with new
social problems like poverty and unsafe working
and living conditions.
The rise of big business had also led to practices
that limited competition, like monopolies and price fixing.
Starting in the 1890s a number of reformers
began to advocate for remedies to these social problems.
They were known as the Progressives.
This era of reform, which lasted through the 1920s,
has come to be known as the Progressive Era.
But the difficult thing about the Progressive Era
was that these reformers worked on all sorts
of different things.
There were muckrakers, which were journalists,
writers, and photographers who tried to expose
corruption or unsanitary factory practices.
There were politicians who tried to reign in
big businesses and protect consumers.
There were conservationists who tried to preserve
national parks and wilderness from exploitation.
And there many influential female reformers
who tried to help women, children, and immigrants
achieve better working and living conditions.
So clearly Progressives didn't all share the same goals
or advocate for the same solutions to problems.
How can we even compare the goals and effects
of the Progressive reformers when they were so diverse?
Let's start by taking a look at some of the goals
and achievements of the Progressives.
Now, I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail
about individual reformers or pieces of legislation here.
What I'm interested in doing is taking a birds eye view
of the kinds of reforms that Progressives pursued
during this time period.
First, there were those who advocated for sanitation
and consumer protections like Upton Sinclair,
whose novel The Jungle exposed the unsanitary conditions
in factories that made food products.
The outrage that book generated led to the passage
of laws like the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
Then there were the Progressives who fought
for protections for workers.
They pushed for an eight hour workday
and for safer conditions for workers,
along with the right for workers
to bargain collectively through unions.
Along with those reforms were others aimed
at advancing the rights of women and children,
including limiting child labor, promoting access
to birth control, and granting women the right to vote
through the 19th Amendment.
Many of the Progressive reformers were interested
in reining in the excesses of big business.
Politicians, like President Teddy Roosevelt,
went after trusts and monopolies
for stifling competition and fixing prices.
Another avenue of reform was aimed at limiting
political corruption, particularly city political machines
that were dominated by party bosses.
One victory in this arena was the passage
of the 17th Amendment, which provided for
the popular election of senators.
Lastly, there was a push for moral reform
to make society more orderly and humane.
The major achievement of these reformers
was the passage of the 18th Amendment,
which prohibited the sale or consumption of alcohol.
Okay, so now that we've done a brief survey
of what the Progressives were up to,
let's think about what aspects these reformers
had in common with each other,
and where they differed with or contradicted each other.
So this might sound a little obvious,
but one thing that united the Progressives
was that they believed in progress.
That is, they thought it was possible to improve society
and to make people better human beings.
This is worth mentioning just because not everyone
felt that this was possible.
Many of the opponents of the Progressives
saw human nature as fixed and a society with
vast inequalities of wealth and opportunity
is just an inevitable consequence of industrialization.
A second shared belief was that it was the role
of government to step in and fix these social problems.
This was a big departure from the laissez-faire
or hands off approach of the Gilded Age.
In that era, attempting to improve sanitation
or morality would have been considered
work for private charities
or voluntary associations to take on.
But the Progressives thought that the problems
they were trying to solve were too big for that approach.
And they sought out the help of local, state,
and federal government to implement their measures.
They campaigned for laws and constitutional amendments
to bring about change.
So they really began a debate over whether
or to what extent the government should take an active role
in the welfare of its citizens that would continue
into the Great Depression.
But the Progressive Movement was also riddled
with divisions and internal contradictions.
One of these was around voting rights.
The Progressives expanded democracy by winning
the right to vote for women,
but they also advocated for restricting the vote
to who they considered good voters.
White, educated, native-born people.
They worked to impose literacy tests
and residency requirements in the North,
and made no effort to challenge Jim Crow Laws
preventing African Americans from voting in the South.
Progressives were also divided on the issue of immigration.
Although a few Progressives championed the rights
of immigrants and respect for immigrant's culture
like Hull-House founder, Jane Addams,
most Progressives thought the only way
forward for immigrants was complete assimilation
into American culture.
They also supported restrictions on the entry
of immigrants they considered undesirable,
like those from Southern and Eastern Europe,
Asia, and Mexico.
These beliefs around who was fit to vote
or to be an American citizen derived from
the flawed racial science of the day,
which categorized white Anglo-Saxons as the most
evolved race, and everyone else falling somewhere
along a continuum of less evolved peoples.
With the exception of African American activists,
like Ida B. Wells, Progressive reformers supported
segregation and pretty much turned a blind eye
towards the working and living conditions
of African Americans.
Some Progressives even advocated eugenics,
a plan to improve the American gene pool
by encouraging native white women to have more babies,
and discouraging undesirables from reproducing,
sometimes through forced sterilizations.
So taking these uniting and dividing factors
into consideration what conclusions can we come to
about the goals and effects
of the Progressive reform movement?
I think it's safe to say that the Progressives
wanted to improve society and find a remedy
for the social problems caused by
industrialization and urbanization.
And that they wanted to do so through
government intervention.
But their goals were also limited.
They only wanted these improvements for those
they deemed worthy to participate in American society.
As for how effective their reforms were at solving
the problems of industrialization and urbanization,
they did succeed in curbing some of the worst problems
of corruption, sanitation, and exploitation.
But we would also need to look ahead
to the '20s and '30s to see how much
things really changed.
Spoiler alert, this booming era of industry
was about to end with a crash.
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