The Progressive Era 1890 1920 Urbanization After the

The Progressive Era 1890 -1920

Urbanization • After the civil war, the urban population of the United States grew from 10 million in 1870 to 30 million in 1900 • Most of the immigrants settling into this country ended up in cities • Rural Americans began moving into the cities because urban life offered more and betterpaying jobs, bright lights, running water, and modern plumbing • Skyscrapers tall, steel framed buildings – Louis Sullivan Chicago architect • Mass transit systems began to develop to move people around the city – Horsecars, cable cars, subways

Separation by Class • High Society – Built grand homes in the style of European manors – Increasing demand for servants to maintain house and lifestyle • Middle-class Gentility – Included doctors, lawyers, engineers, merchants, teachers, etc – Moved out of the central city to “streetcar suburbs” to buy bigger homes and have a servant • Working Class – Lived in tenements (poorly constructed apartments) – If they could, they would rent space to a boarder to supplement their income

Urban Problems • Crime & Pollution – Pollution became a major problem in the cities due to the large number of factories – Minor criminals (pickpockets, swindlers, thieves) thrived in the crowded cities – Between 1880 -1900, murder rate jumped from 25 per million people to more than 100 per mill. People – Alcohol contributed to crime • Machine Politics – A political machine was an informal political group designed to gain and keep power – Party bosses ran the machines eagerly and provided necessities to people who would vote for the machine • Ex: Boss William Tweed and Tammany Hall – Graft obtaining money through illegal methods

Gilded Age • Gilded something is covered in gold on the outside but is made of cheap material on the inside • “Gilded Age” Term coined by Mark Twain that describes this era as a time with the appearance of glamour and glitz, but is really a time of corruption and a widening gap between the rich and the poor • Individualism no matter how humble your origins, you could rise in society by your talents and commitment • Social Darwinism survival of the fittest within society

Changing Culture • Realism Artists and writers tried to portray the world realistically • Saloon Offered drinks, free toilets, water for horses, and newspapers • Amusement Parks/Sports Coney Island was a popular amusement park in NYC – Baseball became a popular pastime • Vaudeville stage entertainment consisting of various acts (as performing animals, comedians, or singers) • Ragtime music characterized by a syncopated melodic line and regularly accented accompaniment

Politics in Washington • Interstate Commerce Commission Resulted from Wabash v. Illinois (states could not regulate railroad rates for traffic between states – First federal law to regulate interstate commerce • Mc. Kinley Tariff Cut tobacco taxes and tariff rates on raw sugar, but greatly increased rates on other goods • Sherman Antitrust Act Prohibited any “combination… or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states

Helping the Urban Poor • Social Gospel worked to better conditions in cities according to the biblical ideals of charity and justice – Washington Gladden popularized the movement in Applied Christianity (1887) – Inspired churches to build gyms and provide social programs and child care • Salvation Army – Provided assistance and religious counseling to the urban poor • YMCA – Young Men’s Christian Association – Tried to help industrial workers and the urban poor by organizing Bible studies, citizen training, and group activities – Offered libraries, gymnasiums, auditoriums, and low-cost hotel rooms

Helping the Urban Poor • Settlement House Movement – Community center that offered aid from medical care and English classes to kindergartens and recreational programs – Jane Addams opened Hull House in Chicago in 1889 – Lillian Ward established Henry Street Settlement House in New York City • Public Education – Number of children in public school increased from 6. 5 million in 1870 to 17. 3 million in 1900 – Immigrant children were taught English, American history and culture Americanization – Schools instilled discipline and a strong work ethic – Children in rural areas often would not receive a strong education and freedmen children did not have equal opportunities • Booker T. Washington established Tuskegee Institute in 1881

Imposing Segregation • Poll Tax Required all citizens eligible to vote to pay a tax of up to $2 • Literacy test to be able to vote, you had to be able to read • “Grandfather Clause” allowed any man to vote if he had an ancestor who could vote in 1867 – Allowed poor, illiterate whites to vote

Imposing Segregation • Jim Crow Laws laws passed that enforced segregation and discrimination in the south • Supreme Court overturned the Civil Rights Act of 1875 • Plessey v. Ferguson Homer Plessey challenged a Louisiana law that forced him to ride in a separate railroad car from whites – In 1896, the Supreme Court upheld the Louisiana law and established the doctrine of “separate but equal” which meant that states could segregate as long as they established equal facilities for both races

African American Response • Ida B. Wells with lynchings (illegal hangings) increasing in the late 1800 s, Wells launched a crusade against violence – 1895, published a book denouncing mob violence and demanding a “fair trial by law for those accused of crime and punishment by law after honest conviction” • Mary Church Terrell Friend of a lynching victim who campaigned against it – Founded the National Association of Colored Women and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) – Led a boycott against department stores in Washington, DC that refused to serve blacks

African American Response • Booker T. Washington Proposed that African Americans concentrate on achieving economic goals rather than political ones – 1895 – Washington gave a speech, the Atlanta Compromise, that urged African Americans to postpone the fight for civil rights and instead focus on preparing themselves educationally and vocationally for equality • W. E. B. Du Bois Opposed the ideas of Washington – Saw no advantage of in giving up civil rights – Concerned with protecting and exercising voting rights

Muckrakers • Group of crusading journalists who investigated social conditions and political corruption • President Roosevelt nicknamed these journalists “muckrakers” in reference to a character from a book who single-mindedly scraped up the filth on the ground, ignoring everything else • Uncovered corruption in government and big business • Focused on unfair social and work conditions

Reforming Government • Progressives proposed many ideas to reform local government – Commission Plan divided city government into several departments, each one under an expert commissioner’s control – Council-manager System city council would hire a city manager to run the city instead of the mayor • Lo Follette’s Laboratory of Democracy – Direct primary all party member could vote for a candidate to run in the general election – Initiative permitted a group of citizens to introduce legislation – Referendum allowed citizens to vote on proposed directly without going to the legislature – Recall voters had an option to demand a special election to remove an elected official from office before his or her time had expired

Reforming Government • Direct Election of Senators – Originally, the federal constitution directed each state legislature to elect two senators – Political machines and business interests often influenced these elections – 1912 Congress passed a direct-election amendment – 1913 17 th Amendment became official and the people directly elected senators

Child Labor • Mines and factories presented very dangerous work environments to children • John Spargo’s 1906 Book, The Bitter Cry of Children, told how 9 & 10 year olds would pick slag out of coal, paying them 60 cents for a 10 -hour day • Children often became crippled from the work • Reports like this convinced states to pass laws that set a minimum age of employment and maximum hours

Health & Safety Codes • Workers were often injured or killed in unsafe work conditions and families would not receive compensation • Led to worker’s compensation laws established insurance funds that employers financed • Laws were created to limit the amount of hours of work in a day

Upton Sinclair • Upton Sinclair, a famous muckraker, wrote the book, The Jungle, which revealed the unsafe and unsanitary conditions of the meat-packing industry • Lead to the Pure Food Act (1906) and the Meat Inspection Act (1906) and established the Bureau of Chemistry, which would become the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) • Claimed that he became famous “not because the public cared anything about the workers, but simply because the public did not want to eat tubercular beef” and that he “aimed at the public's heart, and by accident [he] hit it in the stomach”

Prohibition Movement • Many progressives believed that alcohol caused many of society’s problems • Employer’s believed that drinking hurt workers’ efficiency • Temperance movement advocated that people stop, or at least moderate, their alcohol consumption • Women’s Christian Temperance Union pressured the government to institute complete prohibition of alcohol

Progressives v. Big Business • Pushed for government to regulate big companies and prevent them from abusing their power • Some progressives advocated socialism the idea that the government should own and operate industry for the community – Socialist leader Eugene V. Debs won 400, 000 votes in 1904 and nearly a million in 1912 as presidential candidate