U.S. History · High school and introductory college history

Progressive Era Study Guide

The Progressive Era, roughly 1890 to 1920, was a period when reformers tried to fix the social, economic and political problems that came with industrialization and fast-growing cities. They exposed corruption, regulated big business, protected consumers and expanded democracy. Most test questions ask you to match a reform or a reformer to the problem it was meant to solve.

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Key terms

Progressivism: A broad reform movement that used government action to address problems of industrial society, such as corruption, unsafe products, monopolies and poverty.
Muckrakers: Journalists who exposed corruption and social problems to encourage reform.
The Jungle: 1906 novel by Upton Sinclair that exposed conditions in the meatpacking industry and helped lead to new food laws.
Pure Food and Drug Act: 1906 law restricting mislabeled or unsafe food and medicine.
Meat Inspection Act: 1906 law requiring federal inspection of meatpacking plants.
Square Deal: Theodore Roosevelt’s program emphasizing consumer protection, conservation and control of corporations.
Trustbusting: Using antitrust law to break up monopolies. Theodore Roosevelt’s administration was known for it.
Conservation: Protecting natural resources and public lands, expanded under Theodore Roosevelt through national forests, parks and monuments.
Initiative, referendum and recall: Tools of direct democracy: voters can propose laws (initiative), vote on laws (referendum) and remove officials (recall).
Seventeenth Amendment: Established direct election of United States senators. It was ratified in 1913.
Federal Reserve Act: 1913 law creating the central banking system of the United States.
Nineteenth Amendment: Constitutional amendment protecting women’s right to vote. It was ratified in 1920.
Settlement house: Community center in a poor urban neighborhood that offered services such as education and child care. Hull House in Chicago, led by Jane Addams, was the best known.
Federal Trade Commission: Agency created in 1914 to investigate and stop unfair business practices.

Problems and the responses to them

•Corruption in politics: the direct primary, initiative, referendum and recall, and the Seventeenth Amendment.
•Unsafe food and medicine: the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.
•Monopolies: trustbusting, and later the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Trade Commission.
•An unstable banking system: the Federal Reserve Act.
•Poverty in cities: settlement houses and labor laws.
•Women shut out of politics: the suffrage movement and the Nineteenth Amendment.
•Disappearing wilderness: conservation.

When you are asked about a reform, name the problem first. The reform follows from it.

Who was who

•Theodore Roosevelt: the Square Deal, trustbusting and conservation.
•William Howard Taft: continued antitrust cases.
•Woodrow Wilson: the Federal Reserve Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Trade Commission.
•Muckrakers: Upton Sinclair (The Jungle), Ida Tarbell (Standard Oil) and Jacob Riis (life in city slums).
•Jane Addams: Hull House.

Expanding democracy

Progressives wanted government to answer to ordinary voters. Several constitutional amendments came from the era: the Sixteenth (income tax, 1913), the Seventeenth (direct election of senators, 1913), the Eighteenth (Prohibition, ratified 1919) and the Nineteenth (women’s suffrage, 1920).

What progressives left out

Many reforms did little for African Americans, and segregation laws spread during these years. Some reformers supported policies, such as Prohibition and immigration limits, that other Americans strongly opposed. A balanced answer on a test mentions both the achievements and these limits.

Common mistakes

Mistake: Muckrakers were politicians.
Muckrakers were journalists and writers who exposed problems. Their work built public support for reform.
Mistake: The Seventeenth Amendment gave women the right to vote.
The Seventeenth Amendment provided direct election of senators. The Nineteenth Amendment protected women’s right to vote.
Mistake: The Jungle led only to the Pure Food and Drug Act.
It helped drive both the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, passed in 1906.
Mistake: Progressivism was a single organized party.
It was a broad movement with many groups and leaders. The Progressive (Bull Moose) Party of 1912 was only one political vehicle.
Mistake: Progressives wanted to replace capitalism.
Most wanted to regulate and reform it, not end it. Socialists were a separate, smaller group.

Common questions

What was the Progressive Era?↓

A period from roughly 1890 to 1920 when reformers worked to fix problems caused by industrialization and urban growth, including corruption, unsafe products, monopolies and poverty, by using government action.

What were the main Progressive reforms?↓

Food and drug safety laws, antitrust action, the Federal Reserve, conservation of public lands, direct democracy tools like the recall and referendum, and constitutional amendments for direct election of senators and women’s suffrage.

What did muckrakers do?↓

They were journalists who investigated and published stories about corruption, unsafe working and living conditions and abuses by big business. The public reaction pushed lawmakers to act.

Which constitutional amendments came from the Progressive Era?↓

The Sixteenth (federal income tax), Seventeenth (direct election of senators), Eighteenth (Prohibition) and Nineteenth (women’s suffrage).

How should I study the Progressive Era for a test?↓

Make a chart with three columns: the problem, the reform and who led it. Then quiz yourself from one column to the others. The topic appears in many U.S. history courses, including advanced ones.