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Hull House (Foreign Policy) (Social Reform)
An example of a settlement house was the Hull House. Jane Addams created the house. Its purpose was to provide accessible education and lectures to the public as well as giving work to them. Immigrants and women found great use in these houses because they had few opportunities to educate themselves and many employers would not give them good jobs(Well paying and good working conditions). -
Poor Working Conditions
Cause: Workers are taken advantage of by the massive businesses who need to keep wages low and hours high to increase their profits. Safety procedures are nonexistent and accommodation of the workers is also relatively nonexistent. Goal: The goal was to create a safer environment to work in. Not only did the Progressivists want to make it safer, but they also wanted to decrease work day lengths and raise wages so that the work would be more worth it. -
Child Labor
Cause: Millions of children under the age of 14 were working long hours to earn wages to aid their families. Lack of education forced children into factories where they would be put to repetitive tasks with little wages and long hours with little rest. Goal: Progressivists believed that children were being wrongfully exploited to get easy work. They wanted to ease the work for children by setting limits to their work days and also increase education to reduce the number of children working. -
Immigration
Cause: Masses of immigrants flood the US looking for jobs and the ability to prosper. This leads to more discrimination and anti-immigrant sentiments. It also makes it difficult for locals to get jobs because the foreigners are willing to work for less and are easily replaceable by the floods of other immigrants. Goal: Progressivists wanted to educate the immigrants. They believed that freedom was earned and not a given right. This would mean that the immigrants needed to work to be respected. -
Disparity of Wealth
Cause: As the industrialist class rose, there were a select few who would grow to be the wealthiest in the nation. They achieved this wealth by exploiting all other workers. This made it nearly impossible for the poor to gain any wealth and let the rich gain massive amount of wealth. Goal: By decreasing the disparity of wealth, the Progressivists believed that it would increase the living standards of the lower classes which at the time were appalling. -
Muckrakers
Cause: Muckrakers lit the fire of many of these issues. The issues had existed for many years but the new wave of journalists such as Lincoln Steffens, Jacob Riis, and Upton Sinclair shed light upon those issues and brought them to the forefront of the reform movement. Goal: Progressivists wanted to spread these social issues to the public so that they would get fixed. They very strongly wanted the government to step in and take control of the situation to fix it. -
Women's Suffrage
Cause: Women before this time period were unable to vote which gave them very little power. In addition they were easily overpowered by the men in politics. Goal: To give women the right to vote so that they can contribute to the choices made by the government. It would give them a voice in the political would and would be a huge step in total equality. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act (Monopolies)
This act prohibited the monopolization of a market, specifically one that would restrain trade and commerce. This would "even the playing field" of business. -
Racial Discrimination of African American Populations
Cause: Despite being free according to the 13th Amendment, African Americans are still violently discriminated against. They are often neglected and killed frequently for little to no reason. Goal: Enforce the laws and uphold the true meaning of them. This would truly bring equality between the black and white communities. -
Monopolies
Cause: Large companies would take control of an entire market which would allow them to dominate and decide all prices. They could also prevent competition from arising. In addition they were able to keep wages low and prices high to maximize their profits. Goal: Pass laws that would prevent these monopolies from taking control of a given market. -
Political Machines
Cause: A leader would command the voting of a group of people to sway votes and elections. This led to corruption in the political system and caused lots of distrust of the government. Goal: Prevent the political systems from controlling the government and make th federal government more hands on in order to give the people more "freedom". Because the progressivists believed that the people would be more free if they had the government to guide them. -
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Foreign Policies
In contrast to the ideology of the founding fathers, the Progressivists wanted to spread democracy and felt that they had to take over any less advanced countries in order to bring them to the level of advancement of America. This resulted in higher toleration of immigrants and led to schools and settlement houses being created. -
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Issues Today
Today we have many similar issues as there were during the Progressive era. Racial discrimination is the most prominent due to the tensions that have been increasing. There has been tensions when it comes to how African Americans are treated in the legal system compared to whites. A very fresh example is the shooting in Florida where a white 19 year old is being described as a child when an black 12 year old is prosecuted as an adult. Immigration is also an issue with some people hating them. -
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African American Activism (Racial Discrimination)
Due to these issues, people like Booker T. Washington rose advocating for a somewhat peaceful method of gaining equality. He suggested that the Black community make itself necessary for the American economy. Others spoke for a more aggressive attempt and gaining equality and lessening tensions. -
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Progressive Era
Beneficial or Harmful: Beneficial Overall the movement may not be deserving of the name "progressive" due to its lack of significant change, but working conditions were altered for the better and unions gained power and respect. In addition, immigrants and women were able to gain a quality eduction from the settlement houses. Women began to make huge strides in gaining suffrage. In total the era was not one of huge leaps and bounds of reform, but good changes were made throughout the country. -
Plessy vs Ferguson Case (Racial Discrimination)
The Supreme Court decided that racial segregation was legal as long as the facilities were of equal quality. However having a duplicate of everything of equal quality was expensive and so most black facilities were left in shambles compared to those of the whites. This basically started the long lasting inequality that lasted until 1954 -
Coal Strike of 1902 (Working Conditions)
A strike that was intended to achieve higher wages, shorter work days and recognition of their Union. The strike successfully shortened the work days and raised wages but recognition was not granted. This strike was the first time the federal government intervened in a strike as an arbiter. This event showed that Unions could advocate for the rights of workers and beat the companies. -
Pure Food and Drug Act (Working Conditions)
The act prohibited the false advertisement of food or drugs. This required the workplaces to be cleaner and healthier in turn improving work conditions. -
NAACP (Racial Discrimination)
This organization attempted to confront the civil rights issues of the time. Most of its efforts were not effective at this time however due to the consistent backlash from the upper and middle class whites. -
YWCA/YMCA (Social Reform)
The Young Women's/Men's Christian Academy was a school like institution that taught a variety of skills and promoted the spread of Christianity. This was part of the push for more uniform education of youth. -
Clayton Anti-Trust Act (Monopolies)
This act clarified price discrimination, price fixing, and other unfair business practices as illegal. This further reduced the possibility of monopolies which led to healthy competition in the economy. -
Great Migration (Racial Discrimination)
A migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West. It sparked violence in many highly populated Northern cities.