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Jane Addams
Jane Adams promoted many reforms for America. Jane fought for women's rights and she set up settlement houses which helped the poor with housing, food, and sheltering. In 1889 she opened the first settlement house the Hull House. Overall she ties back to Social Welfare in the Progressive Era. -
Eugene Debs
One of the founders of the International Labor Union, Eugene fought for fair treatment for workers and decent wages. Eugene and ARU ( American Raillway Union) members protested various times reaching out for change. Him and the other members were even arrested on July 23, 1984 for their protests. He was later released from jail, however this shows how passionate he was about Labor Reform. -
Ida Tarbell
Ida is related to the Progressive era because she was a muckraker. She was a journalist and wrote many articles and magazine series about America's politics at the time. She promoted moral improvement in some way by exposing the politics' moral fauls to the public. -
Robert La Follette
Robert reform campaigned on issues such as tax reform, political democracy and regulation of coorporations. His first election was in 1900 and during his governorship he was able to pass legislation to matters such as tax the railroads
,establish a transportation commission to regulate the railroads, reform the state civil service and create direct primaries for party candidates. Overall he sought Political, Economic and Labor Reform. -
Business Reform - Theodore Roosevelt
Teddy Roosevelt played an important role in the Business Reform area. In Roosevelt created the Square Deal which kept Business Monopolies from emerging, and enforcing the Anti-Trust act. His act changed how businesses interacted overall. -
Social Justice Reform
Reformers targeted social justice by working on the problems such as poverty, and forms of social imbalance. Teddy Roosevelt acted on Anthracite Coal Strike. Roosevelt, increased the powers of the executive branch and giving a voice to the American people, making sure there was a balance between the two. -
Labor Reform (Child Labor)
National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) was founded in 1904. In the late 1800's early 1900's child labor was growing rapidly. Business owners wanted cheap labor. Children would work long hours in factories, mines, glass factories and many more. In the late 1890's, Edgar Murphy, began to advocate for child labor. They wanted to make sure children were being treated fairly in the work environment and depending on the age not working at all. Other reforms were made about wages, and working conditions -
Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair was a muckraker. He wrote the novel, Jungle which exposed the conditions of the meat packing industry.This caused much fuss for reform because many people were caught off guard and thought the unsanitary conditions were unacceptable. This ties back to Social Welfare. -
H.G. Wells
H.G was an Englsih writer. In 1906 Wells wrote the novel The Future in America. The book sprung the question of where America would be in the future at the the time economic wise. Since he promoted only bad things happening to the country such as the fall of capitalism, the citizens were demanding change to prevent any of the things he predicted in his book. This ties back to the Economic Reform in the Progressive Era. -
Corrupt Practices Reform
As it was mentioned before, in 1907, Charles Hughes passed the Lessland Act which gave him the power to fire corrupted politicians. This act sought to end corruption all together in the country. -
Charles Evans Hughes
In 1907, Hughes was elected governor of New York. When holding that position, he promoted moral improvement. He wanted to end curruption therefore Hughes passed the Lessland Act which gave him the power to fire corrupted politicians. -
Teddy Roosevelt
On January 11, 1908 Roosevelt declared the Grand Canyon a naitonal monument. Conservation was one of his main goals. He sought to save land from companies that were cutting down trees and deforesting the American land. Roosevelt organized 148 million acres of land set aside for naitonal forest, 1.5 million acres of water power sites, 80 million of land for geological study. This is part of economic reform because it protected the Lumber Industry -
Hiram Johnson
Hiram Johnson was elected governor of Califormia in 1911. While in office he fought for women's rights; trying to end women's suffrage, with that, promoting social welfare. -
16th Amendment
After the Civil War, the financial requirements of the Union led to the first American Income Tax. In 1861 Congress placed a flat 3 percent tax on income over U$800. This rate caused a lot of rage from American Citizens. After a few changes to the rate, on Feburary 3, 1913 Congress agreed on a 1 to 7 percent on income in excess of $3,000 for every citizen. This is part of Economic Reform since Congress made sure it was a fair rate instead of an overwhelming one. -
17th Amendment
On April 8, 1913, it was ratified that the United States' Senate would be composed of two Senators from each state. The senators would be elected by the people of each state and would hold that position for six years. The Progressive Era was focussed on the Economic Reform and by giving each state the same amount of representatives in Senate was certainly a part of that. -
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan ran for presidency 4 times but did not win. Fortunetely, that did not keep him from supporting various reform programs. One of the causes he was enrolled in was the economic reform and social welfare. He supported the Federal Trade Commission which sought to promote consumer protection and to eliminate competitive business practices. This protects the consumers of products and makes sure trust-busting is eliminated which ties back to the reform goals listed above. -
Woodrow Wilson
Wilson created the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act. The act sought to outlaw the sale of products produced by children. Although it was eventually outlawed in 1930, it was one of the first considerable movements against child labor in America -
Public Service Reform
In 1917, the American Association for charity was established, promoting Public Service reforms. This associating wanted to bring communities that cared for social welfare together to supporte all types of charities. Its overall goal was to care for the citizens of the nation's well-being and make sure everything was running as smoothly as possible. -
18th Amendment
The 18th Amendment was passed in 1919 and it prohibited any kind of alcoholic beverage to be consumed by any American citizen. This was part of the Moral Improvement during Reconstruction. Since alcoholic beverages affect one's judgement, the government thought prohibiting it would ameliorate the citizens' behavior. This did not last long by 1933 the amendment was fully overturned but it sure was a good attempt. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. This was part of the Social Welfare reforms. Women's suffarage was always a big issue, therefore it being ended was a great improvement for the social welfare.
