The Progressive Era What is Progressivism The Progressive Era was the time period in which America seeks to cure some problems from the Gilded Age It encompasses a huge variety of reform efforts which conflict with others however it was not a liberal time period The government was trying to improve social and political conditions while also controlling behaviors of the working class that they found to be distasteful like drinking There was a major increase in consumer culture and America saw the beginning of mass consumption and the explosion of department stores store chains mail order catalogs and brand name products Many Americans began participating in leisure activities by going to theaters dance halls amusement parks and shows Henry Ford invented the Model T cars By using a moving assembly line this car became much more affordable and accessible to the working class than ever before This era was also the first time that America saw the connection between the consumption of goods and ideas of American freedom and identity ie purchasing a car made you American Reformers a group of skilled workers who during the Gilded Age felt that their freedom was being hampered by working in factories Their platform was economic empowerment They would have much preferred to own their own businesses but if they were forced to work for someone else they want better conditions higher wages and the ability to influence the company s decisions similar to the populist platform Muckrakers journalists and writers who seek to expose corruption in business and politics and expose the poverty of the urban poor and the terrible factory conditions In 1906 Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle which exposed the very unsanitary conditions of the meat packing district in Chicago Teddy Roosevelt the president at the time sent investigators to Chicago to find out if what Sinclair wrote was true When he learned that it was true Roosevelt passed the Pure Food and Drug Act Socialism an economic system in which the workers or the public own the means of production the workers would regulate the factories that they work in Eugene Debs ran for president as a socialist in the 1912 election and won 6 of the popular vote Some Americans questioned whether unregulated capitalism and democracy could exist or if it left too much room for exploitation and extreme wealth and poverty Theodore Roosevelt The Progressive President New Nationalism 16th Amendment 1911 created graduated income tax 17th Amendment 1913 created direct popular elections for senators Sherman Antitrust Act the act had already been passed but Roosevelt sought to enforce it more Hepburn Act allowed for regulations of railroad rates Meat Inspection Act Pure Food and Drug Act FDA William Howard Taft Although Taft disliked government and big business he expanded government regulation of business Clayton Antitrust Act makes the Sherman Antitrust Act stronger Keating Owen Act ended all child labor in the US Federal Reserve System the central banking system of the US Women Gender roles began changing slightly for urban working women but they were still excluded from most jobs and were paid much lower wages than men Because they were earning their own money women began to participate in leisure and consumer culture but their new economic freedom and changes concerned progressives During this time period there was a newfound fascination with sex and sexuality Sexual expression began to grow in some places Greenwich Village NY became a place where homosexuality and gender experimentation became more open and accepted Some people embraced the newfound sexual freedom while others saw it as a threat to middle class values Some feminists were strong advocates for birth control but others sought to curb sexual expression and prevent masturbation they even believed that eating whole grains would stop you from masturbating Other women sought to liberate women and were part of a large network of middle and upper class white women who were actively involved in the progressive era These women rejected traditional family values campaigned for government reforms an increase in public health and sanitation and for states to provide help for widows and their children This brought other women s rights into the public sphere including the push for women s suffrage In 1910 they changed their strategy from a state by state approach to a federal approach By 1915 they had launched a national campaign for suffrage Hull House Jane Addams a settlement house in 1889 in Chicago that provided services to the working poor particularly women and children The Hull House had a health clinic provided employment services and provided services for victims of domestic abuse Margaret Sanger a feminist and birth control advocate who believed that women should be able to control their own bodies and fertility She opened a clinic where she distributed contraception to poor immigrant women However Sanger wasn t giving them birth control for liberation but to control what she believed to be an unfit population Alice Paul led picketing in front of the white house and went on hunger strikes in the name of women s suffrage She once chained herself to the fence of the White House Paul argued that women should have the right to vote because they have something unique to bring to society and that suffrage would only make America better However her campaign only focused on white women and children and did nothing to help African Americans African Americans Many African Americans were leaving the South after the Jim Crow laws were passed However there were limited jobs in the north and west Black politics eventually turned inward to look into their own communities The idea of respectability was promoted meaning that if African Americans behaved and embraced the values of middle class whites they would be accepted by white society Booker T Washington in 1872 Washington who had taught himself how to read walked 500 miles to Hampton University and asked for admission In exchange for his tuition he worked as a janitor at the school In 1891 when Alabama legislature approves a grant to open a black only school he is suggested to run it Washington travels all over the country promoting his school Tuskegee Institute He promised white that nothing about the school would threaten white supremacy or create economic competition for whites Because of his views on race relations Washington was well liked among the white