Progressives advocated reforms to confront the problems caused by industrialization and urbanization in the early 1900s General belief that the government could protect the public interest and restore order to society ID: 626734
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Slide1
ProgressivismSlide2
Progressivism
Progressives
“advocated reforms to confront the problems caused by industrialization and urbanization” in the early 1900s. General belief that the government could protect the public interest and restore order to society.Slide3
P
roblems in US caused by industrialization and urbanization
Slide4
Problems?
Overcrowded
, unhealthy urban living conditions with high crime
Jacob Riis, Street Arabs in sleeping quarters [areaway, Mulberry Street],
1890
. (From the Collection of the Museum of he City of New York)Slide5
Rising divide between rich and poor --the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer
Too many monopolies and trusts; corporate greed
Business mergers and buyouts in 1890s
These consolidations usually led to the formation of trusts
Meanwhile most workers lived just outside reach of financial ruinSlide6
Child Labor—no laws, or no enforcement of laws that did exist; no education/mandatory school laws.
No
protection for workers: safety and wages
No safety at jobs
No job security
Poor wages
No minimum hours
No sick days
High unemploymentSlide7
Racism & Anti-immigrant
H
uge
increase
in immigration from 1895-1914 and change in nature of immigrants. Instead of Western and Northern Europeans, now
Southern
and
Eastern Europeans…no longer just Protestants, fair complexioned, usually skilled/educated -- now they are Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish…mostly, clearly different looking. Slide8
Racism
Racism & discrimination in the South against African Americans: lynching, disenfranchisement, Jim Crow Slide9
Rights of women
Working rights – young girls employed 13 hours a day in bad conditions
Women's suffrage (right to vote)
Personal rights –birth control movementSlide10
A
lcoholism
Temperance movement
– drive to restrict or prohibit
alcohol.
Intoxicated
men sometimes beat their wives and children – aimed to stop abuse at the sourceSlide11
Environmental Devastation (due to factory spread
)
Pollution
Caused health issues for those living near factories
No regulations
No
Consumer protection against faulty, unhealthy, unsafe, products. (e.g., meat
)Slide12
O
rganizations
, help immigrants in exchange for votes; corruption, bribes
Political corruption Slide13
How did Progressives address these issues? Slide14
Scientific studies of society (social scientists, e.g., sociology)
Analyze
society and solve human
problems
Used knowledge in reforms
Ex. Charles Beard used knowledge of American history to reform corrupt city governmentsSlide15
Muckraking (writing exposés about social problems)
Wrote articles that attacked wealthy corps that exploited child labor, corrupt police departments that protected prostitution rings, among other issues.
Some wrote novels.
Aim—to awaken people to the growing social, economic, and political evils and inequalities in the nation.Slide16
Appeal to people’s conscious
Grassroots
organizing, e.g., National Consumer League boycotting of goods made by child
labor
Supported work of settlement
houses—places
that provided educational and social services to the
poorSlide17
Use of government to bring about reform
“
clean up” government; use courts and legislation to attack “big business
”
Belief that larger role by gov’t would improve social environment and expand options of individuals Slide18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO70ZjZ0wrw&index=5&list=PLHGnqs0Gg9qv3PZ7NeryZE-
md8NqQeOQa
Iron Jawed Angels – force feeding scene
Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) in Iron Jawed Angels is force fed after refusing to eat. The women singing "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" are suffragettes who have been imprisoned for supporting the women's right to vote.