american history
the
progressives
*farmers were not the
only americans who wanted reform in the late 1800s. many people
in cities, both workers and the middle class, wanted a more honest,
efficient government that would take an interest in people’s
welfare.
*for many of them, this was partly motivated by a christian desire to
help others—an ideal known as the social gospel. for others it
help others—an ideal known as the social gospel. for others it
was based on an economic desire to create a more orderly and prosperous
society. these people came to be known as progressives, and
eventually many populists joined them.
*many people were tired of political bosses effectively running local
and often state and national politics, even though they often did help
enough people to ensure they could stay in power.
*many people wanted the government to bust the trusts (who also tended
to bribe politicians), as a matter of honesty, to allow more
competition to improve prices and service, and to allow small
businesses to grow (or even exist).
*progressives were also interested in the conditions of the urban poor,
which were appalling at the turn of the century, as middle-class and
upper-class people began to discover through the work of the muckrakers.
*muckrakers were writers (especially journalists) who exposed the dark
and dirty side of society. lincoln steffens wrote the shame of
the cities about political corruption. jacob riis, who was
both a
writer and a photographer, published how
the other half lives showing
pictures of the terrible conditions of the poor. ida tarbell
wrote the history of standard oil
to describe how rockefeller crushed
his opponents. frank norris’s the octopus described how the
southern pacific railroad controlled the lives of california farmers
who depended on it for transport.
*perhaps the most horrifying work was a novel by upton sinclair called
the jungle. it described
the horrors of the meat-packing
industry. read page 220.
*as the horrors of the workplace became more well-documented more
efforts were made to improve conditions. in 1902, florence kelley
helped form the national child labor committee to lobby for an end to
child labour laws. in 1916, most forms of child labour were
outlawed by the us government. the supreme court overturned that
law in 1918, though, and child labour continued to be legal until 1938.
*descriptions of the unpleasant meat-packing industry factories made
some people want to improve conditions in general, as did the largest
industrial disaster in the history of new york city—not counting the
september 11th attacks--and one of the worst in american history.
*the triangle shirtwaist factory employed many women and girls
(alongside some men and boys) in a modern, fireproof building. on
25 march, 1911 cloth caught on fire. many of the doors inside
were locked, and the stairwells began to fill with smoke. the
only fire escape on the outside of the building twisted and broke under
the weight of the people trying to run down it. the elevator
stopped working, partly because people kept trying to jump down the
shaft on top of it to try to escape. in desperation women began
jumping out of the upper windows, which killed 62 of them (sometimes
due to crashing through plate glass windows, sometimes because they
were already on fire when they jumped). other women suffocated or
burned alive. when the building was opened afterwards, skeletons
were found hunched over sewing machines. the owners fled to the
roof and survived. they were sued, but acquitted in criminal
court although a civil court required them to pay the victims $75 per
person killed (while they got money worth over $400 per person from
their insurance company). one of the owners was fined again two
years later for again locking the doors of his factory.
*in some states, the progressives managed to get the workday legally
limited to 10 hours, although the supreme court declared such laws
unconstitutional in 1905.
*progressives also tried to reform government, making it more efficient
and more responsible and responsive to the people. one of the
first major experiments was in galveston after the hurricane of 1900
(in which 8,000 people were killed). galveston replaced its mayor
with a five person commission. they ran the city so efficiently
that many cities created elected city commissions. in many places
they were able to break the power of the bosses.
*progressive city governments often created public utilities to make
sure private companies could not create monopolies and overcharge
customers. public utilities often provided cleaner water and more
reliable power than private companies, too.
*on the state and national level, progressives supported direct
primaries, in which the people (not the political party leaders) chose
the people who would run for office on behalf of each party. by
1916 all but four states had direct primaries.
*progressives also supported ideas such as the ballot initiative, which
allowed voters to suggest and vote on laws themselves without waiting
for elected officials to pass laws. the referendum allowed voters
to approve or reject laws passed by the legislatures. the recall
allowed voters to have an anti-election, voting to remove an official
from office.
*progressives managed to amend the constitution several times.
two of the ‘progressive amendments’ were the xvi amendment, creating an
income tax (which was popular among the poor and middle class because
originally only the very richest americans were eligible) and the xvii
amendment, which let the people of each state vote for their senators
themselves (before that the state legislatures had chosen senators).
*many states elected progressive governors. three of the most
significant were robert la follette of wisconsin, theodore roosevelt of
new york, and woodrow wilson of new jersey, all of whom ended up having
a great impact not just on their states, but on the nation.