Post-Civil War America underwent significant changes:
Industrialization: Growth of industries
Urbanization: Movement to cities
Immigration: Altered demographics
Resulted in new social issues:
Poverty
Unsafe working and living conditions
Monopolies and price fixing due to big business
The Progressive Movement
Emergence of reformers in the 1890s, known as Progressives.
The Progressive Era lasted through the 1920s.
Diverse reform agendas:
Muckrakers: Journalists exposing corruption and unsanitary practices.
Politicians: Advocating consumer protection and regulating big businesses.
Conservationists: Protecting national parks and wilderness.
Female Reformers: Improving conditions for women, children, and immigrants.
Key Goals and Achievements of Progressives
Sanitation and Consumer Protections
Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle": Exposed food production conditions.
Resulted in:
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
Workers’ Rights
Advocacy for:
Eight-hour workday
Safer working conditions
Collective bargaining rights through unions
Rights of Women and Children
Efforts to:
Limit child labor
Promote access to birth control
Grant women the right to vote (19th Amendment)
Regulation of Big Business
Teddy Roosevelt: Targeted trusts and monopolies to promote competition.
Political Reforms
Addressed political corruption, particularly in cities.
17th Amendment: Allowed for the popular election of senators.
Moral Reform
18th Amendment: Prohibited sale/consumption of alcohol.
Shared Beliefs among Progressives
Belief in Progress: Hope for societal improvement and betterment of human beings.
Government Role: Advocated for active government intervention to address social problems via:
Laws
Constitutional amendments
Shift from laissez-faire attitude of the Gilded Age.
Divisions and Contradictions within Progressivism
Voting Rights
Expansion of democracy via women's suffrage.
Simultaneously restricted voting rights for those deemed unworthy (e.g., by imposing literacy tests).
Immigration Views
Mixed attitudes:
Some supported immigrant rights (e.g., Jane Addams).
Majority favored assimilation and supported restrictions against certain immigrant groups.
Racial Issues
Acceptance of flawed racial theories; support for segregation.
Lack of focus on the conditions of African Americans, with exceptions like Ida B. Wells.
Advocacy of eugenics by some progressives.
Conclusion
Progressives aimed to improve society by addressing industrialization and urban social problems through government action.
Limited goals primarily served those deemed worthy of American society.
Achievements included addressing corruption, sanitation, and exploitation, but future developments in the 1920s and 30s would challenge the effectiveness of these reforms.