THE PROGRESSIVE Era
Progressive reform was huge at the state level (especially in Wisconsin). However, many state level reforms proved to be unsuccessful. Many of the targets of the Progressives were national in scope, and demanded national power. Congress was unable to provide a cohesive leadership for Progressive reform, so reformers turned to then one office capable of the necessary leadership - the Presidency.
This page will serve as your homework and notes for the three “Progressive Presidents” – Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson – as well as some of the other Progressive ideas. Follow the study guide carefully. Wherever you see a guy talking, you will get information in class from your favorite American History teacher. Wherever you see a book , you can use can Chapter 22 in Creating America to add the class notes, questions or activities. Wherever you see a little movie projector, or a mouseyou can use the online video clips to add to the class notes, questions, or activities.
Chapter 22 Section 1 – Roosevelt and Progressivism
Read the subsections titled The Rise of Progressivism, Reforming Government and Expanding Democracy, Promoting Social Welfare, and Creating Economic Reform.
What was a “muckraker”? Can you think of examples of “muckrakers” today?
According to your text, what were the three basic goals of the progressive reformers?(640, second paragraph – look carefully!)
1)
2)
3)
Check that you understand the purpose of each of the following progressive reformers / reforms – ESPECIALLY THE RECALL ONE!!!!
Pendleton Civil Service Act / Direct primary / InitiativeReferendum / Recall / Settlement house movement
Jane Addams and Hull House / Sherman Antitrust Act
Any questions so far?
THEODORE ROOSEVELT – 26th President
Read the subsections titled Roosevelt and the Square Deal, Roosevelt Leads Progressive Reform, and Conservation. Use these sections to fill in the note topics below.
Personal Background and Rise to the Presidency -
The Square Deal -
Busting Trusts –
The Railroads –
The Unions & Strikes –
Public Health (The Jungle, Food and Drugs) –
The Environment –
Civil Rights –
Chapter 22 Section 2 – Taft and Wilson as Progressives
WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT– 27thPresident
Read the subsections titled Taft and Progressivism and Two Progressive Amendments to respond to the questions and statements below.
How did Taft continue Roosevelt’s progressive policies?
Identify and describe the two “progressive” amendments that were passed during Taft’s Presidency.
Why did Taft lose support of many Progressives?
The Election of 1912
Briefly describe the Race, Result, and impact of the Election of 1912 -
Yes, I am related. Any more questions?
WOODROW WILSON – 28th President
Read the subsections titled The Wilson Presidency to respond to the questions and statements below.
What did the Clayton Antitrust Act do about monopolies and trusts?
What did the Clayton Antitrust Act do for labor unions?
What was the Federal Trade Commission?
What did the Federal Reserve Act do for the nation?
What did Wilson do in regards to Civil Rights?
What did the 18th Amendment do?
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Think about our year long essential questions – which ones apply to the Progressive Era?
Got any more questions? Come on, think of some higher level ones!
African Americans in the Progressive Era
Despite their zeal for reform, few progressives made race relations a priority, and in the South, leading progressives often endorsed racist policies. In 1900 more than two-thirds of 10 million African Americans lived in the South; most were sharecroppers and tenant farmers. Rural or urban, Southern blacks faced poverty, discrimination, and limited employment opportunities. At the end of the 19th century, Southern legislatures passed Jim Crow laws that separated blacks and whites in public places. Because blacks were deprived of the right to vote by the grandfather clause, poll taxes, or other means, their political participation was limited. Lynching increased, and a steady stream of black migrants moved north. From 1890 to 1910, some 200,000 African Americans left the South, and even more moved out during World War I.
As African Americans tried to combat racism and avoid racial conflict, they clashed over strategies of accommodation and resistance. Booker T. Washington, head of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, urged blacks to be industrious and frugal, to learn manual skills, to become farmers and artisans, to work their way up economically, and to win the respect of whites. When blacks proved their economic value, Washington argued, racism would decline. An agile politician, with appeal to both whites and blacks, Washington urged African Americans to adjust to the status quo. In 1895, in a speech that critics labeled the Atlanta Compromise, Washington contended that blacks and whites could coexist in harmony with separate social lives but united in efforts toward economic progress.
Northern intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois challenged Washington’s policy. In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), Du Bois deplored Washington’s call for patience and for cultivation of manual skills. Instead he urged equal educational opportunities and the end of discrimination. In 1909 Du Bois joined a group of progressives, black and white, to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP strove to end the disfranchisement of black people, to abolish segregation, and to promote black civil and political rights.
From “African Americans in the Progressive Era”. Encarta Online. <
Use Chapter 21-3 “Segregation and Discrimination”, the links online and the information above to put words in the mouths of Booker T. Washington, W.E.B.DuBois, and Ida Wells Barnett.
Women in the Progressive Era
Read Chapter 22-3 “Women Win New Rights” to put words in the mouths of the following women leaders of the Progressive Era.