Chapter 21:

The Rise of Progressivism

The AP instructional strategies discussed below for Chapter 21 of American

History: A Survey focus especially, but not exclusively, on the following themes developed by the AP U.S. History Development Committee: American Diversity, American Identity, Culture, Demographic Changes, Politics and Citizenship, Reform, and Slavery and Its Legacies in North America. This chapter, as well as the primary documents selected below, follows the content guidelines suggested for the seventeenth topic in the AP Topic Outline Populism and Progressivism.

Top-Ten Analytical Journal.

Defining the chapter terms in their journals will help students better understand:

  • The origins and varieties of the progressive impulse.
  • The social justice reforms of the period, and the role of the church in carrying out the Social Gospel.
  • The progressive emphasis on scientific expertise, organizational reform, and professionalism.
  • The role of women and women's organizations in promoting reform.
  • The significance of the women's suffrage movement.
  • The desire of the progressives to limit the role of political party organizations, and the measures they advocated to accomplish this goal.
  • The temperance movement and its relationship to other progressive reforms.
  • The origins of the NAACP and the importance of W. E. B. DuBois.
  • The movement to restrict immigration and how restricting immigration was regarded as a reform.
  • The alternate approaches to the problems of the trusts: socialism, regulation, or trust busting.

Each of the terms below contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the Progressive Era. As your students define these terms, encourage them to demonstrate why each person, event, concept, or issue is important to a thorough understanding of this chapter.

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Progressivism

Antimonopoly

Social cohesion

Muckrakers

Ida Tarbell

Lincoln Steffens

Social Gospel

Salvation Army

Settlement House Movement

Jane Addams

Professionalism

The “new woman”

“Boston marriages”

Suffrage

Nineteenth Amendment

Equal Rights Amendment

Secret ballot

Social Democracy

City manager plan

Initiative

Referendum

Direct primary

Recall

Robert La Follette

Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire, 1911

Booker T. Washington

W.E.B. Du Bois

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Anti-lynching movement

Temperance Crusade

Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

Eighteenth Amendment

Eugenics movement

Nativism

Socialism

Eugene Debs

Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies)

Louis Brandeis

Decentralization and Regulation

“Good trusts” and “bad trusts”

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Getting students started on their journals. Remind students that they must analyze and synthesize their understanding of these terms in two ways:

  • by creating “Top-Ten” lists of their own within their journals at the end of each chapter; and
  • by justifying in their journal why their terms are essential to an understanding of the Progressive Era.

Journal entry example. Following is an example of how students might describe “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)” and its importance to an overall understanding of “The Rise of Progressivism.”

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) The NAACP was created in 1909 by African-American and white activists who led the drive for equal rights. Their primary tool quickly became the federal courts; by sponsoring lawsuits challenging federal laws, the NAACP challenged state and federal laws dealing with segregation and disfranchisement.

Free-Response Questions.

  1. Agree or disagree with the following statement: Many historians believe that progressivism was largely an effort by a relatively small and privileged group of wealthy business leaders who sought reforms that benefited their own political, economic, and social interests.

Some things to look for in the student response.

  • Possible thesis statement: Historians have long disagreed on the nature of the progressive movement. Some argue that progressivism was a movement of the people, while others contend that the movement was fueled by the energies of America’s wealthy families and corporate leaders.
  • Agree. Progressivism was not a movement of the people, but rather, depending upon which historical interpretation is acknowledged, an effort of the powerful elite who sought to retain their control over society; a small and privileged group of business and professional men who worked to limit the power of new corporations and labor unions; or the corporate leaders who fought to harness governmental supervision in order to protect themselves from competition.
  • Disagree. Progressivism was a movement of the people and, as such, more than the sum of a small and privileged group of men and women who sought to change society in a way that benefited their own special interests. Instead, it was a movement comprised of a diverse group of reformers  the progressives  who were imbued with optimism about the future of American society. They believed that society was both in need and capable of improvement consistent with the economic, political, and social progress of America. To achieve such growth, the traditional Social Darwinian and laissez faire doctrines were not enough. Instead, society was in need of direct, purposeful, well organized, and just human intervention to guide the nation’s continued progress.
  • Elite Movement. Historians such as George Mowry, Richard Hofstader, Gabriel Kolko, and Martin Sklars all argue that a small segment of privileged society was behind the progressive impulse. They differ only on the composition of the people behind such conservative reform. Mowry and Hofstadter suggest that the progressives were the old, formerly influential, upper-middle-class families who suffered from the psychological discontent of being displaced by new organizations and sought to restore their fading prestige. Kolko and Skars argue that corporate leaders recognized the need to control any governmental regulation in a way that protected their industries and protected them from competition.
  • Movement of the People. J. Joseph Huthmacher argue that progressives were members of the working class who sought labor reforms. John Buenker claims that reform efforts of the political machines and bosses actually contributed to 20th century liberalism. David P. Thelen’s study of Wisconsin uncovered a highly diverse group of citizens working to make both business and government responsible to the popular will. Michael McGerr argues that a diverse group of progressive reformers not only wanted widespread changes in government and politics, but also sought to change the ways Americans lived, thought, and interacted with each other. Other historians have focused on the role women and their various associations played in progressive reform. For them, progressivism was fueled by women reformers who sought to protect their interests within the domestic sphere from the disrupting influences of the industrialized and urbanized world.
  • Possible conclusion: While historians continue to disagree about the nature of the progressive movement, it is clear that progressivism was a diverse movement that consisted of support from both the people themselves as well as from wealthy families and corporate leaders. Their reform goals may have been different, but they were all working with the same idea that progress was possible. What separated this heterogeneous movement were the differing perceptions of what was “progress” in early-20th century America.

2.Dr. Brinkley asserts that “Progressives absorbed many more defeats than they won victories, but they left America profoundly changed nevertheless.” (p. 565).Analyze these victories and defeats, as well as the was in which America was “profoundly changed.”

Some things to look for in the student response.

  • Possible thesis statement: The reform movements of the Progressive Era resulted in many political, social, and economic victories and defeats. One cannot study this era without examining both. Such an examination will indicate that both the victories and defeats contributed to profound changes in American society.
  • Victories. The muckrakers achieved some of the earliest victories by exposing the dangerous power of many corporate organizations, the corruption of urban political machines, the power and threat of labor unions, and the growth of racial and gender inequities. These journalists also inspired other Americans to take action on such issues  action that resulted to the quest for social justice. The settlement house workers brought relief to crowded immigrant neighborhoods through more than 400 facilities in the inner city, while the movement itself contributed to the growth of a new profession in which women would play a great role  social work. Proponents of scientific management encouraged the use of scientific techniques to study society and its institutions  social sciences  and helped create an organizational structure for managing a modern society as well as a new group of professionals dedicated to such management. Some middle-class women began to dominate some professional activities as well as enter some of the traditional all-male professions; became involved in political, social, and economic activities outside of their homes; enrolled in major reform efforts involving labor unions, temperance, and especially suffrage. Suffragettes had one of the greatest victories in progressive America after winning a long battle for the right to vote. African-American reformers adopted various ways to challenge political, social, and economic obstacles. Some, led by Booker T. Washington, embraced accommodation while others, like W.E.B. DuBois, advocated for full equality and the elimination of racial prejudice and injustice. Middle-class progressives attacked a wide range of special interests: city bosses and their corrupt political parties; saloon owners and brothel keepers; businessmen and interests allied with the political machines. They enacted various municipal reforms (the commission plan, city-manager plan, and the election of reform mayors), as well as various state reforms (the initiative, referendum, direct primary, recall, and workmen compensation laws, factory and labor laws especially in California, Wisconsin, and New York).
  • Defeats. Many of the progressive reforms did little for people of color. The women’s movement kept many women of color out of their organizations; the South used the primary election to limit black voting; states’ rights advocates defeated federal anti-lynching laws; and the eugenics movement spread the belief of hereditary human inequity. Some feminists argued that the 19th Amendment did not provide clear legal protection for their rights, nor did it prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. Advocates for immigration restriction failed to win support. No solution emerged for the appropriate role of government in regulating and planning the economy.
  • Possible conclusion. On the whole, progressive reformers were responsible for wide-ranging victories that changed some political and social traditions. However, little change occurred in the lives of African Americans and other people of color and immigrants. Further, little was done to really limit the power of corporations or to determine the best role for government in regulating business growth. Nonetheless, both the successful and unsuccessful reform efforts of the Progressive Era forever shaped the American character. Thereafter, reform would play a permanent role in the struggle for greater political, social, and economic equality.

3.Analyze the various challenges that progressive reformers posed for the structure of capitalism.

Some things to look for in the student response.

  • Possible thesis statement: Progressive Era challenges to capitalism took several forms: rising interest in socialism; increasing demands by labor for improved working conditions; efforts to break up the largest corporate holdings and to enforce a balance between the need for bigness and the need for competition.
  • Socialism. Between 1900 and 1914, the Socialist Party and movement gained greater support than any other times in our nation’s history. Supporters came largely from urban immigrant communities, southern and midwest Protestant farmers, and many pacifists and labor reformers. This verbal minority, however, never seriously rivaled the two major political parties, nor was it able to agree on the tactics necessary to change the capitalist economy. Socialist reformers ranged from the radical union members in the Wobblies, to those who supported peaceful change by party-controlled political struggle. Largely because the movement was never large or united, it was unable to mount a serious challenge to the capitalist system.
  • Labor demands. Similar to the socialist movement, labor unions were not unified. The American Federation of Labor was not involved in most reform efforts  a reflection of Samuel Gompers’ belief that workers should not depend upon the government to improve their lives. The Union Labor Party helped reform California laws by lobbying for passage of a child labor law, workmen’s compensation law, and working hour limits for women. On the other end of the political spectrum, the Wobblies (IWW) supported striking as a way to force management to meet their demands for improved working conditions. When they launched a strike among Washington and Idaho timber workers in 1917, federal authorities imprisoned the Wobbly leaders and state governments began to pass laws that effectively outlawed the IWW.
  • Break up corporate holdings. The vast majority of Progressive Era reformers were not socialists who wanted to change the system, but people who believed that reform could occur within the capitalist system. While they recognized that some consolidation of big business was inevitable, they felt the federal government should intervene to break up the largest combinations and create a balance between bigness and competition. Led by the gifted lawyer Louis Brandeis, these reformers believed that big government threatened governmental efficiency, limited the ability of individuals to control their own destinies, and encouraged abuses of governmental power. Thus, he believed, the federal government should regulate competition to ensure that large combinations did not occur. Other reformers were less concerned about bigness and more focused on identifying and encouraging the growth of so-called “good trusts” and disciplining the “bad trusts.” This issue of how to handle large corporate holdings, however, was not resolved during the Progressive Era.
  • Possible conclusion: While at last three major challenges to capitalism arose during the Progressive Era, none made any substantial inroads. At best, a few minor reforms were achieved; at worst, large corporations continued to flourish while reformers debated appropriate ways to decentralize and regulate their growth.

Historians, Historical Detection, and DBQs.

The following DBQ and its supportive primary documents will help students gain a better understanding of the seven-decade long effort to gain women’s suffrage and the success of this reform movement during the Progressive Era. Remind your students that when scoring the AP exams, the readers will expect to see a coherent essay that includes two required components: key pieces of evidence from all or most of the documents and a well-organized narrative drawing on knowledge from textbook readings and classroom discussion.

DBQ: Using the documents below and your knowledge of the period, explain how the activities of women between 1848 and 1920 challenged traditional social, economic, and political attitudes about women’s place in society. How do you think women were eventually able to overcome such traditional attitudes and obtain the vote?

Documents:

1.Excerpt from Declaration of Sentiments, 1848. (PSI document. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Matilda Joslyn Gage, eds. History of Woman Suffrage (1889). National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, Library of Congress, Call Number: HQ1403 .W6 1848.)

“…Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation, in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States. In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object. We shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the state and national legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf.…

Resolved, that it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise. . . .

Resolved, therefore, that, being invested by the Creator with the same capabilities and the same consciousness of responsibility for their exercise, it is demonstrably the right and duty of woman, equally with man, to promote every righteous cause by every righteous means; and especially in regard to the great subjects of morals and religion, it is self-evidently her right to participate with her brother in teaching them, both in private and in public, by writing and by speaking, by any instrumentalities proper to be used, and in any assemblies proper to be held; and this being a self-evident truth growing out of the divinely implanted principles of human nature, any custom or authority adverse to it, whether modern or wearing the hoary sanction of antiquity, is to be regarded as a self-evident falsehood, and at war with mankind.”