Running Head: THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

How Progressive was the Progressive Era Loraine J Jackson Everest University

THE PROGRESSIVE ERA Abstract

The Progressive Era spanned from the period between the years 1890s to 1920s which acted in response to the changes brought about by industrialization. Progressives fought for change; they investigated various problems, suggested resolutions to these problems, organized their followers, and attempted to rally public opinion (Abbot, 2011, p. 585). Instead of relying only on customary partisan politics, there were new political techniques adopted by reformers, including lobbying and demonstrating as nonpartisan pressure groups (Abbot, 2011, p. 585). Progressives believed that industrialization and urbanization had produced significant social disorders, from city slums to corporate abuses (Women in the Progressive Era, 2007). An upsurge of immigrants was arriving; many from southeastern Europe, and as a result, an immeasurable amount of city dwellers were crowded into tenement slums. With this comes a high rate of disease and infant mortality (Women in the Progressive Era, 2007). Progressives believed that new ideas and methods were necessary to rectify these problems. As stated in Abbot, The progressives rejected the thought of individualism in favor of broader concepts of social responsibility, and they sought to achieve social order through organization and efficiency (Abbot, 2011).

THE PROGRESSIVE ERA How progressive was the Progressive Era The progressives had diverse motives and objectives, working to transform civilization

by improving living conditions, the prospect of better education, family life, and the relationship between social and industrial fronts. While women dominated the movement to reform society, but they were supported, contingent on the objective, by Social Gospel ministers, social scientists, urban immigrants, labor unions, and even some conservatives eager to regulate personal behavior (Abbot, 2011, p. 586). The driving force for social reform was settlement houses which were community centers in urban immigrant neighborhoods. The majority of these were staffed mainly by middle-class young women, seeking to alleviate poverty (Abbot, 2011, p. 586). Before long, workers soon realized the issue for immigrants was extensive poverty that necessitated more than changes in individual behavior (Abbot, 2011, p. 586). Hence, settlement workers crusaded for stringent building codes to improve slums, better urban sanitation systems to improve public health, public parks to revitalize the urban environment, and laws to protect women and children (Abbot, 2011, p. 586). This area of the progressive movement, in my opinion was successful to a point. Women reformers in the club movement and in the settlement house movement wanted to pass reform legislation, but many politicians were unwilling to listen to a disenfranchised group. Therefore, as time passed, the women began to realize that in order to achieve reform they needed to win the right to vote. The National Child Labor Committee, organized in 1904, led the campaign to curtail child labor. In the year 1900, most states had no minimum working age; by 1914, every state except one had such a law (Abbot, 2011, p. 586). Effective regulation would require nationwide action, and for numerous states, laws were inadequate or badly enforced. Social reformers also lobbied for laws regulating the wages, hours, and working conditions of women and succeeded

THE PROGRESSIVE ERA in having states from New York to Oregon pass maximum-hours legislation. Between the years 1909 and 1917, 39 states enacted new or stronger laws on womens maximum hours, with eight Midwestern and western states set minimum wages for women, but few other states followed (Abbot, 2011, p. 586). In the 20th century, leadership of the suffrage movement was passed to two organizations. The first, the National American Woman Suffrage Association and undertook campaigns to enfranchise women in individual states, and simultaneously lobbied President Wilson and Congress to pass a woman suffrage Constitutional Amendment. In the 1910s, with members numbering in the millions (Women in the Progressive Era, 2007). The second group, the National Womans Party, a more militant organization, adopted more drastic actions, which

included picketing the White House, to convince Wilson and Congress to pass a woman suffrage amendment (Women in the Progressive Era, 2007). There were limitations to the movement, but what they accomplished in 1920, as a result of the combined efforts of the NAWSA and the NWP, the 19th Amendment, emancipating women, was ratified at last. This event was considered to be a most significant achievement of women in the Progressive Era. It was the largest addition of democratic voting rights in our nations history, and it was attained through democratic processes (Women in the Progressive Era, 2007).

THE PROGRESSIVE ERA References Abbot, C. G. (2011). The American Journey A History of the United States (6th ed.). New York, NY: Prentice Hall. Women in the Progressive Era. (2007). Retrieved April 25, 2013, from The National Women's History Museum: http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/home.html The Progressive Era. (2013). Retrieved April 25, 2013, from Scoolastic: http://www.scholastic.com/browse/subarticle.jsp?id=1672