Transcript - Thomas C. Cario Middle School

8-5.8 Focus Question:
What was the goal of the Progressive Movement in
South Carolina and the rest of the nation?
The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed a
reform movement never before seen in the United
States. Called the Progressive Movement, it
followers wanted to address the evils and injustices
of the Gilded Age.
America in the 20th Century: The Progressive Era 30 minute video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2MPY__3xHw
Government had had an attitude of laissez faire, of
keeping hands off and not restricting business.
Corruption, abuse of power were left unchecked at this
time.
It resulted in an unrestrained growth of industry
that led to monopolies. Monopolies such as
Standard Oil and Carnegie Steel strangled their
competition.
Meanwhile there was a growing gap between the
rich and the poor. The wealth of the country
rested in the hands of a very small percentage.
John Jacob Aster and his wife would be on the Titanic when it sank in 1912. He was one of the
richest men in the country.
Most of the Progressives were middle class
educated people in society. They were people in
both the Republican and the Democratic Parties.
These reformers wanted to end corruption in
business and government, address economic
problems such as poverty, and improve society.
Progressivism reached a large audience through the work of
‘muckraking’ journalists. Muckraking was the practice in
journalism of exposing the wrong-doings of public people and
organizations.
During the Muckraking Movement, newspaper reporters tried
to expose the evils of society and push for social change.
Famous photojournalist Jacob Riis published many photos like this
That would help to bring change to America.
Lewis Hine’s photographs would help
bring about change- especially for the
child labor issue as Americans were
horrified by his graphic pictures of
young children working.
The meat would be shoveled into carts, and the
man who did the shoveling would not trouble to
lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were
things that went into the sausage in comparison
with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. There
was no place for the men to wash their hands
before they ate their dinner, and so they made a
practice of washing them in the water that was
to be ladled into the sausage. There were the
butt-ends of smoked meat, and the scraps of
corned beef, and all the odds and ends of the
waste of the plants, that would be dumped into
old barrels in the cellar and left there. Under the
system of rigid economy which the packers
enforced, there were some jobs that it only paid
to do once in a long time, and among these was
the cleaning out of the waste barrels. Every
spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt
and rust and old nails and stale water—and
cartload after cartload of it would be taken up
and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat,
and sent out to the public’s breakfast.
Reforms were slow to come to South
Carolina. In South Carolina, some national issues
held little concern. South Carolinians were not
interested in solving the problems of new immigrants,
since few came to the state.
Ben Tillman’s Spin on Progressivism
Some southerners, such as
Ben Tillman, argued that
disenfranchising the
African American was a
progressive reform of
government since such an
act removed from the
body politic a group
deemed inferior to whites
and not able to make
intelligent political
decisions.
Government Reform
Government Reform would be one of the first
reforms the people demanded. Progressives
demanded that the government should work for
the people.
Reform initiatives were based on
the expansion of democracy and
the limitation of the power of
the corrupt political bosses and
included support for the secret
ballot, primary elections that
allowed voters rather than party
bosses to select the candidates
for office, direct election of
Senators, and an income tax to
ensure revenue to provide
government services.
Although South Carolina held the first in the nation
primary, other government ‘reforms’ in South
Carolina were designed to actually limit the voting
power of the mill workers. Having all but eliminated
the African American vote, middle class South
Carolinians used a variety of devices to limit the
political power of mill workers. In some places the
registrar refused to qualify mill workers.
One of the Progressive Presidents was Teddy Roosevelt.
Roosevelt had his “Square Deal” Progressive program. He
sought to control corporations, protect consumers and
would help protect our nations natural resources by
establishing the first national parks.
William Taft and Woodrow Wilson would also be
Progressive Presidents. Taft would get the 16th,
17th and 18th Amendments passed, would work
to protect workers and children. Wilson would
go after the banks and help farmers.
Prohibition
Many progressives throughout the nation believed that
prohibition of the sale of alcohol or the promotion of
temperance in the use of alcohol would curb crime and
improve family life. The temperance movement aimed at
making the production, sale, and consumption of alcoholic
beverages illegal. in 1918, the United States amended the
United States Constitution to outlaw the sale and distribution
of alcohol. The 18th Amendment was ratified.
http://www.history.com/topics/prohibition
Despite being a socially conservative state,
South Carolina was slow to pass temperance
legislation because of Governor Tillman’s control
of the state government.
In 1915, the state passed a prohibition law and in 1918 the United
States amended the United States Constitution to outlaw the sale
and distribution of alcohol. However, many South Carolinians
continued to engage in making, distributing or drinking illegal
alcohol, as did other people throughout the United States.
The legislature passed a prohibition bill, but
Tillman substituted the State Dispensary system
so that the state would control the distribution
of alcohol.
The South Carolina
Dispensary system
was a state-run
monopoly on liquor
sales in South
Carolina which
operated from 1893
to 1907 statewide
and until 1916 in
some counties.
Liquor bottled by the
state dispensary was
the only liquor to be
sold legally in South
Carolina.
Women’s Suffrage, the Right to Vote
for Women
The women’s rights movement started at the Seneca Falls
Convention in 1848 in New York. Susan B. Anthony and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National American
Women Suffrage Association. Decades later, the 19th
Amendment would finally get passed and ratified in 1920.
Although the South Carolina legislature did not
ratify the 19th amendment until 1967, South
Carolina women were able to vote because of
ratification by other states.
Tax Reform
Many supported a fair tax system including
the income tax that could provide needed
services to the people. Nationally, the 16th
Amendment would be ratified and
established the federal income tax.
Robert Cooper
SC Progressive
Governor supported
raising state taxes to
increase spending on
public education and
supported a law that
increased the amount
of time students were
to spend in school to
7 months.
Richard Manning
Another progressive
South Carolina governor
helped to establish a fair
tax system that enforced
income taxes for all
South Carolinians,
established schools,
improved the
administration of
hospitals and paved
South Carolina’s roads
Child Labor
Newspapers in South Carolina
such as Columbia’s The State,
like muckraking journalists
elsewhere, supported child
labor reform with articles that
described the problems of the
workers. Despite the
opposition of politically
powerful mill owners,
progressives were able to pass
some child labor laws that
first set the minimum age to
work at ten and then raised it
to twelve. School reforms to
help increase education plus
increased funding were also
put into place.
Despite the opposition of
politically powerful mill
owners, progressives were
able to pass some child
labor laws that first set the
minimum age to work at
ten and then raised it to
twelve. South Carolina
progressives were also
concerned with issues of
health and literacy as
diseases spread through
mill villages and mill
workers remained largely
illiterate.
Only one third of South Carolina children went to
school at the turn of the century. Of those who
attended a third only went to school for 4 months
or less out of the year. Education reforms included a
compulsory attendance law, increased funding and
the establishment of an adult school program by
the state.
These reforms did not always have the support of mill
workers who needed the income their children brought to
the family and who resented anyone telling them when
their children could work or that they had to go to school or
that they should be inoculated against disease.
Health Reforms
During the Progressive era, public health officers
launched successful campaigns against hookworm,
malaria, and reduced the incidence of
tuberculosis, typhoid, and diphtheria. Pure milk
campaigns also slashed rates of infant and child
mortality. Sanitation was improved in many cities
and hospitals built.
Places still threatened by malaria today
Sorry mosquito, everyone hates you
Worker Rights
Many states passed laws limiting a worker’s day to 8 hours.
Many states also passed laws establishing minimum wages for
women who were paid less than men, banned child labor or
established minimum working ages, established workman’s
compensation. Safety guidelines for the workplace would be
established in many states especially after the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire that killed over a 100 women.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ulaG9x4GpE Triangle Shirtwaist Fire video
World War I brought an end to the
Progressive Movement but not an end to the
problems the movement had tried to address.