Lincoln Steffens
Lincoln Steffens was a muckraker for McClure's, a magazine known for uncovering social problems. In 1903, he published The Shame of the Cities, a collection of articles about political corruption. His reports exposed how the government of Philadelphia let
Jacob Riis
Jacob Riis was a muckraker for the New York Evening Sun. He wa a photographer. He took pictures of the poor urban living conditions and between 1890-1903 published several works including How the Other Half Lives that shocked people and led to reforms.
muckraker
Muckracker was the term that Theodore Roosevelt used to describe socially conscious journalist and other writers who dramatized the need for reform. Roosevelt agreed with their agenda, but felt that they dwelled too much on the ugly side of things. (A muc
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was a leading figure in the settlement house movement. In 1889, she opened Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago that grew to include 13 buildings and inspired college-educated, middle-class women to become social workers.
Florence Kelley
Florence Kelley believed that women were hurt by the unfair prices of goods that were needed to run a home. She helped to found the National Consumers League (NCL) in 1899. Florence Kelley also helped form the Women's Trade Union League, another group tha
NCL
The NCL is the National Consumers League and gave special labels to goods that were produced under fair, safe, and healthy working conditions and urged women to buy them and avoid products that did not have these labels. The NCL backed laws calling for th
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger was a nurse who thought that family life and women's health would improve if mothers had fewer children. Sanger opened the country's first birth-control clinic. In 1921, sanger founded the American Birth Control League to make birth contro
Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells was a black teacher who helped form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). The group aimed to help families strive for success and to assist those who were less fortunate. They raised money from educated black women, and set up day
Carrie Chapman Catt
Carrie Chapman Catt reenergized the national suffrage effort in the 1890's. SHe had studied law and worked as one of the country's first female school superintendents. She traveled the country urging women to join the NAWSA. She created a plan that had wo
NAWSA
The NAWSA was the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
Alice Paul
Alice Paul was a social activist who organized women to recruit others across the nation. In 1917, Alice Paul formed the National Woman's Party (NWP), which used public protest marches. The NWP became the first group to march with picket signs outside the
Booker T. Washington
Booker T Washington believed that African Americans had to achieve economic independence before civil rights. In his opinion, Black people must tolerate discrimination while they proved themselves equal to white people and that if they did this, civil rig
W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B Du Bois believed that black Americans had to demand their social and civil rights or else become permanent victims of racism. In his opinion, African Americans must fight every day for the rights given to them in the Constitution.
Niagara Movement
In the summer of 1905, Du Bois and Trotter met in with other leading African American thinkers in Niagara Falls. They had to meet in Canada because no hotel on the New York side of the border would give them rooms. THe Niagara Movement denounced the idea
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) aimed to help African Americans by physically free from disfranchisement, and socially from from insult. NAACP leaders included white and black Progressives who had worked in other are
Urban League
The Urban League focused on poorer workers. It helped families buy clothes and books and send children to school. IUt helped factory workers and maids find jobs.
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League was found in 1913. Its goal was and still is - to defend Jews and others against physical and verbal attacks, false statements, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike.
mutualistas
Mutualistas were groups that made loans and provided legal assistance to Mexican Americans. . Mutualistas had insurance programs to help members if they were too sick to work.
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt became President of the US in 1901, after McKinley was assassinated. Roosevelt was young and energetic. He took on industry and busted illegal monopolies and reduced abusive business practices.
John Muir
John Muir was a naturalist from California whose efforts led Congress to create Yosemite National Park in 1890
Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot led the Division of Forestry in the US Department of Agriculture. He believed in "rational use" when it came to forests, he believed that areas of forests should be protected so that the trees could mature, and then in time it should be lo
Woodrow Wilson
Wilson was on the Democratic ticket when Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican party.
Progressivism
A movement that emerged in the 1890's where they believed that new ideas and honest, efficient government could bring about social justice. Progressive ideas brought lasting reforms that still affect our society today.
Social Gospel
Begun by Walter Rauschenbusch, who wa a Baptist minister, Social Gospel combined ideas from German socialism and American Progressivism. Social Gospel was the belief that by following Bible teachings about charity and justice, people could make society th
settlement house
A settlement house was a community center that provided social services to the urban poor.
direct primary
A direct primary is an election in which citizens vote to select nominees for upcoming elections. Wisconsin governor Robert M. La Follette was the first to establish a direct primary and by 1916, all but four states had direct primaries.
initiative
A reform in which people have the power to put a proposed new law directly on the ballot in the next election by collecting citizens' signatures on a petition.
referendum
A reform that allowed citizens to approve or reject laws passed by a legislature.
recall
A reform that gave voters the power to remove public servants from office before their terms ended
temperance movement
The temperance movement was led by the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Temperance is the practice of never drinking alcohol. Members of the WCTU felt that alcohol often led men to spend their earning on liquor, neglect their families and abuse their w
suffrage
Suffrage is the right to vote. This is was one of the boldest goals of Progressive women. They argued that this was the only way to make sure that the government would protect children, foster education, and support family life
Americanization
Americanization was an effort to teach immigrants English, teach them how to dress like white middle-class Americans and pushed them to replace the foods and customs of their homeland with Protestant practices and values.
New Nationalism
New Nationalism was Roosevelt's program to restore the government's trustbusting power.
Progressive Party
Roosevelt vowed to tackle the trusts issues in a third term of Presidency. Taft and Roosevelt were battling and split the Republican Party as the election neared. Progressives split from the Republican Party and formed the Progressive Party and nominated
New Freedom
New Freedom was Wilson's program that would place strict government controls on corporations.
Nineteenth Amendment
When the United States entered WWI, Catt and Kelley led the NAWSA to support the war effort. Their actions and those of the NWP convinced legislators to support a woman's suffrage amendment. In June 1919, Congress approved the Nineteenth Amendment which s
Square Deal
Roosevelt proposed a program called The Square Deal. The goals of the Square Deal were to keep the wealthy and powerful from taking advantage of small business owners and the poor. His idea of fair government did not mean that everyone would get rich or t
Hepburn Act
The Hepburn Act gave the ICC strong enforcement powers. It gave the government the authority to set and limit shipping costs. It also set maximum prices for ferries, bridge tolls and oil pipelines.
Meat Inspection Act
The Meat Inspection Act provided federal agents to inspect any meat sold across state lines and required federal inspection of meat-processing plants.
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act placed the same controls on other foods and on medicines as the the Meat Inspection Act. It also banned the interstate shipment of impute food and the mislabeling of food and drugs. Today, the FDA enforces this law.
National Reclamation Act
The National Reclamation Act was passed in 1902 and it gave the federal government the power to decide where and how water should be distributed. The government built and managed dams that would create reservoirs, generate power and direct water flow, all
Sixteenth Amendment
- The Sixteenth Amendment gave Congress the power to create a graduated income tax, meaning that wealthy people pay a higher percentage of their income than poor people.
Federal Reserve Act
The Federal Reserve Act placed national banks under the control of a Federal Reserve Board, which set up regional banks to hild the reserve funds from commercial banks.
Federal Trade Commission
Members of the FTC were named by the President to monitor business practices that might lead to monopoly. The FTC was also charged with watching out for false advertising or dishonest labeling.
Clayton Antitrust Ac
The Clayton Antitrust Act strengthened earlier antitrust laws by spelling out those activities in which businesses must not engage.