The Progessive Era

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National Progessives

Growing cities and changes in the workplace caused the Progressive movement in the state and city levels

- Progressives' goals were to :

1. Reform Coruupt government

2. End monopolistic big business practice

3. Improve industrial working class conditions (Factories- No windows,rats,chairs,low pay)

4. Address migrant and immigrant problems

(Steel,oil, and coal)

Muckraking( Publiizing Scandalous and controversial topics) Journalists would reach the largest audiences to help the Progessives

Middle Class citizends would begin supporting their mayors and governors

Progressivism gained support at the national level with election of Theodore Roosevelt

(Governor had support of People)

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National issues would hold little concern

Tillman even argued disenfranchsisng was a progessive reform of government( Tillman believe that AA are still afraid of whites and convinved people to make peoeple think is true)

The Major progessive issues in SC were:

-Child Labor

- Fair treatment

Temperance(anti-alcohol)

Womens-Sufferage(right to vote)

Education

-Just like the Populists, Progressives did not want to align national movement or party, but worked under the Democratic party

- Norther city problems caused Northern Progressives to propose reform

-Mill village problems in the South caused SC Progressives to support reform

- The State supported child labor reform with articles describing problems of the workers

- Politically powerful mill owners opposed reform, but Progressive were able to pass child labor laws(set minimum age to work at 10 and later to 12)

-Another major concern for Progressives was health and literacy for mill workers

- Diseases was spreading and many mill workers were illiterate(attendance laws)

- At the turn of the century, only one third of SC children attended school( Increasing funding- white gets majority of the money for white schools)

- Many would only attend for 4 months or less a year(Adult school programs by state

- Education reform would be pushed to include:

- Most of these reforms would ultimately be left up to individual communities

- Reforms did not always have the support of the mill workers who needed the income children would bring home from working

- Mill workers would resent others telling them when children could work, have to go to school, or get inoculated (vaccinated) against diseases

REFORM MOVEMENT

- In order to improve family life & decrease crime, national Progressive believed prohibition( Alcohol is illegal) of the sale of alcohol & temperance would help

- Even though SC was conservative, temperance was slow to pass b/c of Tillman’s control

- Conservative farmers supported prohibition and voters approved a referendum( state legislature way to make us pass the law,we decided to pass it or not)

- The legislature passed the prohibition bill

- Tillman would substitute the State Dispensary system in its place in order for the state to have control over alcohol distribution( he uses the prohibition act)

- In the early 1900’s 20 out of 43 counties passed prohibition laws making them “dry”( could not give out no drinks)

- Prohibition laws were passed statewide in 1915

- A U.S. Constitution amendment was added in 1918 to prohibit alcohol sale & distribution

- Women would take an active role in promoting reform (nationally & statewide)

- Despite efforts they would not gain support for the right to vote

-

Established women’s clubs would:

Promote prohibition

Fostered civic responsibilities

Pushed for education reform

Initially, the idea of the national women’s suffrage movement was to change voting laws

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- Women would benefit most when the movement change from state level to national

- During World War I (WWI) women were assertive in their tactics by marching, picketing, and being arrested

Women were not successful until political leaders got involved

President Woodrow Wilson and others acknowledged the women’s efforts by supporting an amendment

The 19th amendment would be passed by Congress & sent to the states for ratification

SC did not ratify the amendment until 1967, but women were allowed to vote b/c of other states

Gov’t reforms were the cornerstone of the Progressive idea

Reforms would be based on democracy & the limitation of the powerful corrupt political bosses

Secret ballot

Direct election of Senators

Income tax for gov’t programs

Primary elections (voters v bosses)

SC would be the first in the nation to hold a primary, but other state reforms would try to limit voting power of the mill workers

In some places, the registrar (official in charge of registering voters) refused to qualify mill workers

Columbia gov’t changed to a city commission form, members elected by city population rather than separate neighborhoods

Mill workers would become more of a minority and lose voting power since the city would let people in the suburbs to vote

Several state governors would support a fair tax system to provide needed services to people

The 16th amendment established the federal income tax

- SC governor Robert Cooper supported raising state sales tax to increase spending on public education

He also supported a law to increase the amount of time students would spend in school to seven months a year

Governor Richard Manning helped to establish the fair tax system in South Carolina to: (Enforced income tax for all South Carolinians) (Established schools) (Improve hospital administraion) (Paved SC )

Despite these efforts, graduation rates in SC (especially AA) were extremely low due to limited numbers in high school

During the Progressive Era, many South Carolinians welcomed the idea that good gov’t improve people’s lives in SC

WWI would see the end to the progressive movement but not an end to the problems the movement tried to address

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