The Progressive Era
Between about 1890 and 1920, reformers known as Progressives tried to fix the problems of industrial America through government action, journalism, and activism.
Who the Progressives were
Progressives were a diverse group, mostly middle-class, urban reformers who believed that government, science, and expert management could solve social problems. They tackled corruption, monopolies, unsafe workplaces, child labour, and poor public health. They included Republicans, Democrats, and independents.
Muckrakers
Investigative journalists called muckrakers exposed problems. Ida Tarbell documented Standard Oil's tactics; Lincoln Steffens exposed city corruption; Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle (1906) revealed filthy conditions in Chicago meatpacking plants, leading quickly to the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.
Political reforms
Progressives introduced the direct primary (voters choose party candidates), the initiative (citizens propose laws), the referendum (citizens vote on laws), and the recall (removing officials). The Seventeenth Amendment (1913) required direct election of US senators by voters rather than state legislatures.
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt, president from 1901 to 1909, promised a 'Square Deal'. He used the Sherman Antitrust Act to break up monopolies, such as the Northern Securities railway company, earning the label 'trustbuster'. He also protected around 230 million acres of public land through national forests, parks, and monuments, and mediated a 1902 coal strike.
Taft and Wilson
William Howard Taft brought even more antitrust cases, including breaking up Standard Oil in 1911. Woodrow Wilson's 'New Freedom' produced the Federal Reserve System (1913), the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914), and the Federal Trade Commission (1914). The Sixteenth Amendment (1913) allowed a federal income tax.
Workers and child labour
Disasters such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York (1911), where 146 garment workers, mostly young immigrant women, died because exits were locked, spurred workplace safety laws. Reformers pushed for limits on working hours and child labour, though a lasting federal child labour ban came only in 1938.
Women's suffrage
The women's suffrage movement, led by figures such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt, and the more militant Alice Paul, won the vote in many Western states first. The Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, guaranteed women the right to vote nationally, though many women of colour still faced barriers.
The limits of Progressivism
Progressivism largely ignored or worsened racial injustice: Wilson segregated federal offices. Some Progressives supported eugenics and immigration restriction. Prohibition, enacted by the Eighteenth Amendment (1919), reflected Progressive moral reform but proved hard to enforce.
Key takeaways
Progressives used government and expertise to address industrial problems. Muckrakers such as Tarbell and Sinclair exposed abuses; The Jungle led to food safety laws in 1906. Reforms included primaries, initiative, referendum, recall, and direct election of senators. Roosevelt's Square Deal included trustbusting and conservation; Wilson created the Federal Reserve and FTC. The Triangle fire spurred safety laws. The Nineteenth Amendment (1920) gave women the vote. Progressivism had racial and moral blind spots.
Flashcard
Reformers using government and expertise
Check your understanding
Which book led directly to the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906?