Agenda for 1/26 and 1/27

1. Read and self-assess Period 5 DBQs

2. Period 7 Concept Outline and the Gilder Lehrman Period 7 Overview Video (Progressive Movement at 4:30)

I.               In the Progressive Era of the early 20th century, Progressives responded to political corruption, economic instability, and social concerns by calling for greater government action and other political and social measures.

A.              Some Progressive Era journalists attacked what they saw as political corruption, social injustice, and economic inequality, while reformers, often from the middle and upper classes and including many women, worked to effect social changes in cities and among immigrant populations.

Examples:  Muckrakers, settlement house movement, Jane Addams’ Hull House, Florence Kelley and the National Consumers League (1899), Ida Tarbell’s History of Standard Oil (1904), Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906), Robert La Follette’s “Wisconsin Way”, National Child Labor Committee, Lewis Hine’s photographic investigation of child labor (1908-1917), progressive state laws such as the initiative, referendum, recall, minimum wage, child labor restriction, Lincoln Steffens’ Shame of the Cities (1904)

B.              On the national level, Progressives sought federal legislation that they believed would effectively regulate the economy, expand democracy, and generate moral reform. Progressive amendments to the Constitution dealt with issues such as prohibition and woman suffrage.

Examples:  Meat Inspection Act (1906), Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), Elkins Act (1903), Hepburn Act (1903), Northern Securities v. US (1903)

Clayton Antitrust Act (1914), 16^th Amendment (1913), 17^th Amendment (1913), Federal Trade Commission (1914), 18^th Amendment (1920), 19^th Amendment (1920)

C.             Preservationists and conservationists both supported the establishment of national parks while advocating different government responses to the overuse of natural resources.

Examples:  Yellowstone National Park (1872), Yosemite National Park (1890), Forest Reserve Act (1891), John Muir and the Sierra Club (1892), Newlands Reclamation Act (1902), US Forest Service (1905)

D.             The Progressives were divided over many issues. Some Progressives supported Southern segregation, while others ignored its presence. Some Progressives advocated expanding popular participation in government, while others called for greater reliance on professional and technical experts to make government more efficient. Progressives also disagreed about immigration restriction.

3. The Progressive Movement - Slideshow

From the textbook:

Between the end of Reconstruction and the start of World War I, political reformers focused on four main goals: cleaning up politics, limiting the power of big business, reducing poverty, and promoting social justice. Historians call this period of agitation and innovation the Progressive Era. In the 1880s and 1890s, labor unions and farm groups took the lead in critiquing the industrial order and demanding change. But over time, more and more middle-class and elite Americans took up the call, earning the name progressives. On the whole, they proposed more limited measures than farmer-labor advocates did, but since they had more political clout, they often had greater success in winning new laws. Thus both radicals and progressives played important roles in advancing reform.

No single group defined the Progressive Era. On the contrary, reformers took opposite views on such questions as immigration, racial justice, women’s rights, and imperialism. Leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, initially hostile to the sweeping critiques of capitalism offered by radicals, gradually adopted bolder ideas. Dramatic political changes influenced the direction of reform. Close party competition in the 1880s gave way to Republican control between 1894 and 1910, followed by a period of Democratic leadership during Wilson’s presidency (1913–1919). Progressives gave the era its name, not because they acted as a unified force, but because they engaged in diverse, energetic movements to improve America.

HW - Reading "Did the Progressive's Fail"

• Read both "Yes and No" articles
• Write short essay response to articles
• Intro with "although "thesis that indicates which of the side you agree with most, as well as a counter argument (what about the other side did you agree with)
• One counter arg. paragraph
• One paragraph explaining your main argument

•  Length: 1-2 pages (dub spaced, typed, 12 pt. font)