03 Progressivism and American Expansion

The Progressive impulse

From the 1890s into the 1920s, reformers responded to problems associated with industrialization, urban growth, political corruption, and concentrated wealth. The movement included journalists, social workers, labor activists, women’s organizations, and politicians. Many believed public policy could improve living and working conditions and make government more responsive to ordinary people.

Progressivism did not have a single set of priorities. Reformers disagreed about which problems mattered most and whose rights deserved protection. Their efforts nevertheless expanded government’s role in regulating business and providing public protections.

Government and political reform

Progressive reformers pressed city, state, and federal authorities to investigate social and economic problems and set rules. This marked a shift from leaving such problems largely to private charity or the market. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 strengthened federal oversight of food and medicines. The Keating–Owen Act of 1916 attempted to restrict interstate commerce in goods made with child labor, but the Supreme Court later invalidated it. This outcome illustrates that reform measures could meet constitutional and political obstacles.

Four constitutional amendments changed political and governmental institutions:

• The Sixteenth Amendment authorized a federal income tax.

• The Seventeenth Amendment established direct election of U.S. senators.

• The Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages.

• The Nineteenth Amendment barred denying the vote on the basis of sex.

These changes expanded federal capacity and formal political participation. However, many people—especially Black Americans in the South—continued to face barriers to voting and equal treatment.

Urban reform

Rapid city growth brought overcrowded housing, poor sanitation, poverty, and increased pressure on schools and public health services. Settlement houses offered services including childcare, classes, job training, health programs, and libraries. Hull House in Chicago, co-founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889, became a prominent center for community services and reform advocacy.

Reformers also campaigned for improved housing codes and public services. New York’s 1901 Tenement House Act, for example, established sanitation and safety requirements.

Labor conditions and reform

Industrial workers faced long hours, low wages, dangerous workplaces, and the employment of children. Unions and reform organizations campaigned for better wages, shorter hours, safer working conditions, and limits on child labor. State and federal governments gradually took a larger role in setting workplace standards and investigating hazards.

Labor reform was uneven. Laws varied across states, enforcement could be weak, and courts sometimes overturned protections.

Territorial expansion and self-government

After the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain relinquished its claim to Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. Cuba became formally independent, while the United States established control over the other territories. Filipino nationalists who had fought Spanish rule resisted U.S. rule, leading to the Philippine-American War.

The acquisition of distant territories raised a central question: could a nation committed to self-government rule people overseas without their consent? The debate reflected a tension between democratic ideals and U.S. power over people beyond its own borders.

Economic and strategic influence

U.S. influence abroad also expanded through economic and strategic policies. The Open Door policy sought equal trading access for foreign powers in China while affirming China’s territorial integrity, but it was not a binding agreement. In the Caribbean and Central America, the Roosevelt Corollary asserted a U.S. role in intervening in regional affairs.

The United States also obtained rights to build and operate the Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914 and shortened routes between the Atlantic and Pacific. These policies increased U.S. influence, but often limited the independence of other nations.

Reform at home and power abroad

Progressive reform enlarged government’s responsibility for public welfare, consumer protection, workplace conditions, and political reform. Urban reformers and labor advocates sought to address the costs of industrial growth, but results were mixed and inequalities persisted.

At the same time, overseas expansion made the United States a major imperial and regional power. The contrast between democratic reform at home and unequal U.S. power abroad was a defining tension of the era.