Michael Chiu

AP US History
Period 2
1/30/10
Outline of Chapter 21: The Rise of Progressivism
The Progressive Impulse
-Progressives believes in the idea of progress – society was capable of improving and that
growth and advancement were the nation’s destiny – however, growth couldn’t be reckless
Varieties of Progressivism
-“antimonopoly” was the fear of concentrated power and the urge to limit and disperse
authority and wealth – appealed to workers, farmers, and middle-class Americans
-Social cohesion – individuals are part of a great web of social relationships
-Another impulse was the faith in knowledge – possibilities of applying the principles of
different sciences to society
The Muckrakers
-Muckrakers were crusading journalists who directed public attention toward social,
economic, and political injustices – committed to exposing scandal and corruption
Charles Francis Adams uncovered corruption among railroad barons
-One of the most notable of muckrakers was Ida Tarbell – studied Standard Oil trust
-Most influential muckraker was Lincoln Steffens – portrayed political machines
The Social Gospel
-Catholic liberal Father John A. Ryan took to hear the pope’s warning that “a small number
of very rich men have been able to lay upon the masses of the poor a yoke little better than
slavery itself” – Ryan worked to expand scope of Catholic social welfare organizations
-Walter Rauschenbusch was a Protestant theologian who published discourses on the
possibilities for human salvation through Christian reform
The Settlement House Movement
-Although Social Darwinists such as William Graham Sumner argued that people’s
fortunes reflected their inherent “fitness” for survival, many progressive theorists disagreed
-The crowded immigrant neighborhoods of American cities produced a lot of stress – one
response to these communities was the settlement house – one of the first was Hull House
opened through the efforts of Jane Addams – helped immigrants to assimilate into country
The Allure of Expertise
-Progressives placed a high value on knowledge and expertise – helped produce the idea of
scientific management and assembly line – led to creation of a new area of inquiry: social
science – the use of scientific techniques in the study of society and its institutions
The Professions
-The new middle class placed a high value on education and individual accomplishment
-Among the firs to respond to the demand for professional services was the medical
profession – doctors began forming local associations throughout the 1890s – recognized
the American Medical Association into a national professional society – AMA called for
strict, scientific standards for admission to the practice of medicine
Lawyers also established professional bar associations – same with businessmen – the
National Association of Manufacturers in 1895 and the United States Chamber of
Commerce in 1912 – even farmers formed groups – National Farm Bureau Federation
Women and the Professions
-A few women established themselves as physicians, lawyers, engineers, scientists, and
corporate managers – several medical schools admitted women
-In the late 19th century, 90 percent of professional women were teachers
-For black women, teaching was often the only professional opportunity they had
-Nursing was still considered a menial occupation but adopted professional standards
Women and Reform
-Prominence of women in reform movements is one of the most striking features of
progressivism – women could not vote, had footholds in few professions, and lived in a
culture in which most people believed that women were not suited for the public world
The “New Woman”
-the “new woman” was a product of social and economic changes that affected the private
world as much as the public one
-For women, the home was a less all-consuming place – technological advances made
housework less onerous
-Many women shunned marriage – single women were among the most prominent during
the time – Jane Addams and Lillian Wald in the settlement house movement, Frances
Willard in the temperance movement, Anna Howard Shaw in the suffrage movement, and
many others – sometimes lived with other women, sometimes secretly romantic – known as
“Boston marriages” – divorce rate also rose in the lat 19th century
The Clubwomen
-Women’s clubs were a large network of associations that proliferated rapidly in the 1880s
through 1890s that became the forerunner of many important reforms
-the General Federation of Women’s Clubs coordinated the activities of local organizations
-Most clubs excluded blacks, so African Americans formed clubs of their own
-The club movement allowed women to define a space for themselves in the public world
without openly challenging the existing, male-dominated order
-the clubwomen formed alliances with other women’s groups such as the Women’s Trade
Union League
Women Suffrage
-At the time, women’s suffrage seemed to critics a very radical demand
-Many believed that society required a distinctive female “sphere” in which women would
act and wives and mothers – powerful anti-suffrage movement emerged
-In the beginning of the twentieth century, suffrage movement began to overcome this
opposition and win some victories through leadership of Anna Howard Shaw and Carrie
Chapman Catt – membership in National American Woman Suffrage Association grew
-Suffrage also attracted support - many middle-class people believed that if all the minority
groups had the right to vote, then it was justified that women should be able to vote
-In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified – guaranteed political rights to women
-Alice Paul, head of he National Woman’s party argued that the Nineteenth Amendment
wasn’t enough by itself – women needed a constitutional amendment that would provide
clear, legal protection for their rights and would prohibit all discrimination based on sex
-Many women’s rights leaders had limited support for the Equal Rights Amendment
The Assault on the Parties
-Progressives believed that the current American government was poorly adapted to
perform ambitious tasks – parties were corrupt, undemocratic, and reactionary
Early Attacks
-By the lat 1890s, critics of the parties believed party rule could be broken by increasing
the power of the people or by placing more power into hands of nonpartisan officials
Municipal Reform
-Many progressives such as Lincoln Steffens believed the impact of party rule was most
damaging in the cities – municipal government (local) became their first target
-the muckrakers struck a chord among the powerful group of urban middle-class
progressives – for several decades, “respectable” citizens of the nation’s large cities had
avoided participation in municipal government
-However, by the end of the century, a new generation of activists took growing interest
-Faced powerful city bosses and large group of special interests
New Forms of Governance
-One of the first major successes came in Galveston, Texas – reformers won approval of a
new city charter – mayor and council were replaced by an elected nonpartisan commission
-The city-manager plan was another approach to municipal reform – elected officials hired
an outside expert to take charge of the government – assumed to be uncorrupt
-Tom Johnson was a celebrated reform mayor of Cleveland who waged a war against the
powerful streetcar interests in his city
Statehouse Progressivism
-Two of the most important changes to circumvent the boss-controlled legislatures were the
initiative and the referendum – the initiative allowed reformers to circumvent state
legislatures by submitting new legislation directly to the voters in general elections – the
referendum provided a method in which actions of the legislature could be returne4d to the
electorate for approval
-Similarly, the direct primary and the recall were efforts to limit the power of party –
primary election was an attempt to take the selection of candidates away from the bosses
and give it to the people – recall gave voters the right to remove a public official from
office at a special election
-The most celebrated state-level reformer was governor Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin
– helped turn state into what was known as a “laboratory of progressivism” – under his
leadership, Wisconsin progressives own approval of direct primaries, initiatives, and
referendums
Parties and Interest Groups
-Although the reformers did not eliminate parties from American political life, they did
contribute to a decline in party influence – evidence was the decline in voter turnout
-“interest groups” replaced parties
Sources of Progressive Reform
Labor, the Machine, and Reform
-Some party machines emerged from the progressive era almost as powerful as they had
entered it
-In 1911, there was a fire at the factory of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York
-146 workers died – many were women – many were locked inside building
-The Triangle Fire drew attention to the plight of women workers – also illuminated the
important role of educated women in spurring reform
Western Progressives
-the primary target for western progressives was the federal government
-Because political parties in most of the West were relatively weak, western states could
move quickly and decisively to embrace reforms that parties didn’t like: the initiative, the
referendum, the recall, direct primaries
African Americans and Reform
-W. E. B. Du Bois was the chief spokesman of a powerful challenge to the philosophy of
Booker T. Washington
-Du Bois was educated at Fisk University and at Harvard – in The Souls of Black, he
criticized the philosophy of the Atlanta Compromise
-Du Bois believed that talented blacks should accept nothing less than a full education –
believed that they should fight for immediate restoration of their civil rights – not wait
-In 1905, Du Bois and a group of his supporters met at Niagara Falls – in the Canadian side
because American hotels wouldn’t accept them – launched what became known as the
Niagara Movement – four years later, joined with white progressives sympathetic to their
cause to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – new
organization led the drive for equal rights
-The NAACP was not a radical organization – relied on efforts of the most intelligent
members of the black race – the “talented youth” – group stressed the opportunity for
exceptional blacks to gain positions of full equality – ultimately would benefit blacks
Crusade for Social Order and Reform
-Reformers also crusaded on behalf of moral issues in addition to the political process
The Temperance Crusade
-Beginning in the 1870s, temperance experienced a major resurgence
-Temperance advocates formed the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) – led
after 1870 by Frances Willard – organization publicized evils of alcohol
-Despite opposition from immigrants and the working-class, the Eighteenth Amendment
became law in 1920 – prohibition of alcohol
Immigration Restriction
-In the first decades of the century, pressure grew to close the nation’s gates from
immigrants – people argued that immigrants were polluting the nation’s racial stock
-One of the theories created to support this was eugenics – the science of altering the
reproductive processes of plants and animals to produce new hybrids or breeds
-Eugenicists spread the belief that human inequalities were hereditary and that immigration
was contributing to multiplication of the unfit
-Many nativists such as Madison Grant warned of the dangers of racial “mineralization”
Challenging the Capitalist Order
The Dream of Socialism
-In 1912, Eugene V. Debs, leader of the Socialist party received nearly 1 million ballots
-Some socialists believed in militant direct action for reform – most conspicuous was the
Workers of the World (IWW), known as the “Wobblies” – led by William Hayward –
Wobblies advocated a single union – rejected political action in favor of strikes
-More moderate socialists who advocated for peaceful changed dominated party – declined
Decentralization and Regulation
-Louis Brandeis and supporters opposed bigness – considered it inefficient – limited ability
of individuals to control their own destines – government must regulate competition in such
as way as to ensure that large combinations did not emerge
-Others believed that government should distinguish between “good trusts” and “bad trusts”