The prohibition movement was similar to other progressive reforms because it group of answer choices

The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transport of alcoholic beverages. It was the product of a temperance movement that began in the 1830s. The movement grew in the Progressive Era, when social problems such as poverty and drunkenness gained public attention. Groups like the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1874 and led by Frances Willard, made prohibition a national issue and pressed Congress for action. In 1917 Congress approved a resolution for a prohibition amendment. It was ratified in 1919 but later repealed.

This alcoholic drug adds poverty of the blackest, dreariest, and most hopeless sort to the list of its offenses. Such is its power that men will take bread money from their families and make it blood money for drink.

Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Speech to the U.S. Senate, July 30, 1917

At the end of the nineteenth century, Progressivism emerged as a political movement in response to significant economic, social, and political inequalities. Though Progressives advocated for many different reforms, the central, shared idea was that the government should lead efforts to change society’s ills. Previously, the general consensus was that social or economic ills were best solved through private efforts. Muckraking journalists and intellectuals publicized these issues through newspapers and lectures, and protesters and activists began to affect modest change across the country.

Progressives sought the elimination of government corruption, women’s suffrage, social welfare, prison reform, prohibition, and civil liberties. While the progressive promotion of public health initiatives and universal education benefitted everyone, especially the poor and immigrants, progressives did not organize to promote black suffrage or equal rights. However, many progressive individuals did fight for civil rights on a smaller scale, and progressive activists, journalists, and thinkers formed advocacy groups such as the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP).

When President McKinley was assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt took office in 1901, progressivism became a powerful national movement. During his tenure as president, Roosevelt was a loud and effective advocate for “trust-busting,” the breaking up of enormous monopolies that had controlled prices and prevented competition. He also advocated for fair trade and pro-labor laws, including a decreased workweek, child labor restrictions, and workplace safety rules.

Roosevelt’s attitudes on race fluctuated, though he was generally considered a moderate during his era. As governor of New York, he ended school segregation. Just one month after Roosevelt was sworn in as President, he invited Booker T. Washington, a black civil rights activist, to dine at the White House. The resulting uproar over the perceived impropriety appeared to restrain Roosevelt, who never repeated the invitation. While Roosevelt appointed progressive judges and initially encouraged the prosecution of peonage cases in the South, his administration eventually retreated from these efforts, lacking the political will to uproot the systems of involuntary servitude that existed in the South.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, women joined national organizations in great numbers. The rise of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, and National Association of Colored Women grew as part of this trend. Women of all backgrounds—rich and poor, white and black, native-born Americans and immigrants—participated in these national women’s clubs. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Movement, which aimed to make alcohol illegal, was among the most popular national women’s organizations of the period. Their movement succeeded with the start of the nationwide prohibition of alcohol in 1919.

Women became leaders in a range of social and political movements from 1890 through 1920. This period is known as the Progressive Era. Progressive reformers wanted to end political corruption, improve the lives of individuals, and increase government intervention to protect citizens.

The suffrage movement was part of this wave of Progressive Era reforms. Prominent suffragists led other progressive causes as well. Jane Addams established Chicago’s Hull-House, a settlement house that educated and provided services for local immigrants. Ida B. Wells-Barnett led a campaign against the lynching of African Americans.

While earlier generations discouraged women from participating in public, political movements, society began to embrace female activism in the late nineteenth century. Progressives often argued that women’s politics complemented their traditional roles as wives and mothers, caregivers and keepers of virtue. Margaret Sanger argued that birth control would improve family life, especially for working classes. Charlotte Hawkins Brown worked to ensure that black children received a good education. Florence Kelley fought for laws that protected women in the workplace. By turning women’s traditional social roles into public and political ones, this generation of reformers began to win broader support for women’s votes.

By Allison Lange, Ph.D.
Fall 2015

Documents, Objects, and Images

How was the new deal similar to Progressive Era policies?

Explanation: The New Deal and the Progressive Era had in common the promotion of a bigger federal government with more intervention in the economy notably. The New Deal introduced a great number of federal agencies which regulated many sectors of the economy whereas trusts were weakened during the Progressive Era.

How did Progressive reformers attempt to better the lives of workers such as those in the photograph above?

How did Progressive reformers attempt to better the lives of workers such as those in factories? they urged the creation of new organizations aimed at addressing social problems associated with an industrial society.

What was the key goal of the progressive movement?

The main objectives of the Progressive movement were addressing problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and political corruption. Social reformers were primarily middle-class citizens who targeted political machines and their bosses.

How did Progressive reforms improve society?

Progressives were interested in establishing a more transparent and accountable government which would work to improve U.S. society. These reformers favored such policies as civil service reform, food safety laws, and increased political rights for women and U.S. workers.