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Jane Addams
Addams was a woman who put much effort into reform. She founded the Hull House which provided services to Chicago residence such as offering day care, having classes and libraries. Jane helped the creation of the Federal Children's Bureau National Conference of Charities... She also got involved with the woman's suffrage movement and the Progressive Party. Jane Addams created a standard for women during the Progressive Era by helping so many people move forward and by making a difference. -
Jacob Riis
A muckraker who exposed the terrible living and working conditions of the poor in his book How the Other Half Lives. He argued for reform of the tenant houses by improving living and safety conditions. -
Eugene Debs
Debs was a socialist and a leader during the progressive era for the working class. He frequently went on strikes with fellow workers believing that trusts and corporations were enemies of working men and it was a different form of tyranny. He later formed the American Railway Union that contained both skilled and unskilled workers. When he got in trouble with a strike he ended up in prison where he read one of Karl Marx's books and ended up leaning more towards socialism than capitalism. -
Public Service Reform
Organizations started coming about during the Progressive Era including the YMCA and the Salvation Army. The YMCA opened up libraries, classes, and established pools and handball courts. The Salvation Army helped feed poor people by having soup kitchens, caring for children in nurseries, and even created something known as the “slum brigades” to educate immigrants about hard work and temperance. Organizations like these helped make sure that people were cared for and helped those in need. -
Robert La Follette
Also known as "Fighting Bob", Follette sought out to drive business out of politics and targeted railroad industries inorder to regulate rates. He spoke out against taxes beingb fair and equal amoung corportation property and the management of public resources. By doing this he was elected into Senate and although he was not as sucessful in the Senate, he still worked towards progress. -
Elkin's Act
This act was put in place reform corrupt practices. Before this act, railroad companies would give lower prices for certain people but not the same price for everyone. Once the Elkin's Act was put in place railroad companies couldn't lower prices for certain people and they couldn't change their rates witout notification. -
The Square Deal
T. Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States and he pushed for many progressive reforms by creating “The Square Deal.” This deal was supported by the Roosevelt administration and included acts such as Elkin’s Act, the Meat Inspection Act, the Pure food and Drug Act, and worked towards conserving land. While Teddy was president he managed to set aside 148 million acres for national forest, 50 wildlife sanctuaries, several national parks... Roosevelt moved the nation forward. -
HG Wells
Wells is known as being a writer and wrote a book called "A Modern Utopia." His book was basically a proposal for social reform. Wells talks about how people would be (women and gender roles) and about the economy. Wells writes the idea that women are just as free as men and that they can earn more money than men under certain circumstances. He also talks about how in the utopia the money there works for the economy set up. Another main statemen that in a utopia everyone would be happy. -
Upton Sinclair
Sinclair is the author of the famous book "The Jungle" which exposes the unsanitary and filthy conditions of not only the meat packing industry but the meat itself. After people read this book it led to the Meat Inspection and Pure Food and Drug Acts. -
Meat Inspection Act
The Meat Inspection Act was created to reform business and their working conditions (ex. how clean stuff was, what was near food...)Before this companies would sell expired meat and make it look fresher plus rodents would be near the meat. Upton Sinclair, a mudraker, wrote about horrors and conditions of meat industries. This raised publc awareness and led to Congress passing this act and the Pure Food and Drug where there would be true expiration dates and no contaminated food being sold. -
Charles Evans Hughes
Hughes was a Republican politican and was governor of New York. In doing so he established a few progressive acts. One of them was securing labor laws which people were trying to keep due to previous bad conditions. He also worked towards insurance reform and created Public Service Commision. These steps allowed him to keep moving New York forward during this time period. -
William Jennings Bryan
Willam J. Bryan was a man who during the Progressive Era, helped lead causes such as prohibition and anti-trusts. He also worked to promote many progressive reforms and polices from the 16-19th Amendments, Federal Trade Commision, Support of Education, to getting rid of monopoiles. Bryan ran for president but did not get elected. If he had been elected he probabl would have done moretowards making sure reforms were created. -
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Founded in 1909, the NAACP was an organization who sought out to gain full equality for all races. Their goals for this included ensuring that everyone had political, educational, and social eqaul rights. Although there was little support from the Progressives and presidents, they would soon gain more support. -
16th Amendment
The 16th amendment (July 2, 1909) allows Congress to tax on people's incomes and corporate profits. This is linked to progessivism because this amendment was ratified (1913) after President Wilson worked towards and succeeded in lowing tariff rates. -
Hiram Johnson
Johnson was the governor of California and worked towards government structual reform. As governor he adopted the "Oregon Plan" which immediatly elects U.S. senators, and can have elected school officials and judges. He also borrowed the idea of being able to recall people elected. Johnson limited power of the Southern Pacific Railroad but let them choose their rates to charge customers and supported having good working conditions for women and children by having an investigator work on it. -
17th Amendment
This amendment allowed for two senators from each state to be in the Senate and they would be elected by the people of that state while each senator has one vote. This gave people more of a say while electing their senators. In 1913 when it was ratified, the amendment made it so the election of senators was law of the land. -
Woodrow Wilson
Wilson was the 28th president and brought about many financial reforms. One of the acts Congess passed under him was the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 which prohibited corportations from setting up monopolies. Wilson also started the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 which divided the nation into 12 districts with one central bank in each. This was one of his main achievements as this system is still the basis of the nation's banking system. -
Ownen Act
The Owen Act prohibited the transport of goods manufactured using child labor across state lines. This was established for labor reform because before the Progressive Era children would be working at young ages and over time would get hurt or worse so reform was needed. When this act was passed, two years later it was thought as unconstitutional since it interfered with state's rights. In order to solve this the Supreme Court decieded to let the states decide their own laws against child labor. -
18th Amendment
The 18th amendment bansthe transportation, selling, and drinking of alcohol in the United States. It was created under the idea that alcohol was weakening American morals so the nation should be working towards moral imrovement. This would lead to the Women's Christian Temperance Union who urged places to stop selling alcohol and also participated in opening kindergartens for immigrants, visited people in prisons and worked for suffrage. -
19th Amendment
The nineteenth amendment gives citizens of the United States the right to vote regardless of gender. A woman named Carrie C. Catt, along with many other women, worked towards womens suffrage. They had tactics which helped them gain many victories, the numbe of failures made some want to go in a different direction creating different organizations including the National Women's Party who pressured the governement into passing a suffrage amendment. Their efforts resulted to their votingg rights.
