Unit 2-The Progressive Era: Progress and Progressivism (1890-1920) |
Big Ideas
Organizing Principle
- The Progressive movement partially succeeded in improving life for average Americans by curbing big business, making the government more responsive to the will of the people, and enacting social welfare legislation.
Essential Questions
Students will consider...
- Why was there a need for social, economic, and political reform during the Progressive Era?
- Who were Progressives? How and why did they become progressive? How would their ideas and policies influence American society and politics throughout the 20th Century?
- To what extent did progressive political reform successfully combat the social and economic ills created by a rapidly industrializing society?
- How and why did some elements of progressivism embrace traditional ideas?
- How did African Americans differ on how to best achieve justice and equality during the age of Jim Crow?
- Was the 19th Amendment a culmination of previous reform movements or a catalyst for future women’s and equal rights movements of the twentieth century?
- How did Americans of this period define progress?
Understandings
Students will understand how, why and/or to what extent...
- As a nation prospers and grows, economic opportunities may increase for some individuals and groups, while decreasing for others.
- Movements for change and reform often become necessary when the relationship between a nation and its ideals are conflicting.
- The desire for self-improvement and the common good can influence people to reform themselves and society.
- The strategies used to achieve reform produce varying degrees of success and opposition.
- A nation may agree on values and principles philosophically, but disagree on the practical political and economic application of those same values and principles.
- Governments can be structured in order to address the needs and desires of the governed.
- Leadership can affect societal, economic and political change in order to promote freedom and equality.
Knowledge
Students will know...
- Rapid industrialization at the turn of the century created economic, cultural, social, and political changes that had both positive and negative effects on urban life
- Progressive reformers were often educated, middle class and female. Reformers volunteered, advocated and strategized to address social, economic and political ills created by a rapidly industrialized and unregulated society.
- Problems associated with rapid industrialization could not be managed by individual philanthropy alone. During the Progressive Era government became more proactive and efficient in combating these problems
- Monopolies partially emerged as a result of “laissez-faire” government policies towards big business. This lack of government regulation often led to poor working conditions for labor and unfair marketing practices that hurt consumers.
- Progressive journalists known as “muckrakers” (i.e. Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, Upton Sinclair, Jacob Riis, S.S. McClure, Ray Stannard Baker, etc.) worked to expose the corruption and mismanagement of monopolies and government.
- Governments at all levels adopted Progressive reforms that made it more responsive to the needs of its people, and thus more democratic.
- Reforms of the Progressive Era benefited many people, such as women and labor, who had previously been underserved. However, not everyone, including African Americans benefited from these progressive reforms.
- African American leaders such as Ida Wells, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had varying perspectives on how to best achieve racial justice and equality at the turn of the century.
Skills
Students will be able to...
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to determine how values and ideas, such as the Social Gospel Movement, scientific management, “trust-busting” and prohibition were central to the concept of progressivism.
- Use Historical Comprehension to determine how politicians at various levels of government, including Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft and Woodrow Wilson, led and advocated for progressive reform.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to compare various perspectives of muckraking journalists who worked to expose the social, economic and political ills of an industrialized society
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to compare multiple perspectives of women’s rights activists in securing greater political power and social equality.
- Use Historical Analysis and Interpretation to compare various African American perspectives on how to best achieve justice and equality in the face of segregation and discrimination.
- Use Historical Research to interpret historical data, construct reasoned arguments and draw conclusions about key turning points of the Progressive Era using historical evidence collected from a variety of sources
- Use Chronological Thinking to identify the historical narrative for Progress & Progressivism (1890-1920).