Lessons, Tips, and Resources for the Progressive Era in United States History Since 1877.

Some teachers teach American Expansion before addressing the Progressive Era. Personally, I’ve found it easier for students to understand why the Progressive Era occurred when its taught directly after the Industrial and Gilded Ages, but do what’s best for you and your students. I spend about 7 days on this unit plus a test day. I agree that’s not a lot of time, it’s just the time that’s allotted within the district I work for. I would prefer to spend around 11 days on this unit. So if you have more time, definitely use it.

I introduce the Progressive Era unit by using a Galler Walk/PowerPoint. If you’re interested in a premade one from my store, you can purchase it by Clicking Here. Sometimes I use it as a Gallery Walk and other times as a PowerPoint. I do print it off and give a copy to my students for reference. I stopped asking my students to take notes because they always struggled with what to write and often wrote random things. By printing the PowerPoint (6 slides to a page), students have all the information they need at their fingertips and can use it to reference for help on assignments later in the unit.

One of the most important things to do when introducing the Progressive Era is to explain that this time period occurred because people wanted to right the wrongs of industrial society. They wanted to fix problems in housing, industry, politics, and more. Theodore Roosevelt is going to be confusing because here he is a President and in the next unit, he hasn’t become President yet. So you also want to explain to students that the American Expansion Unit and the Progressive Unit occur in the same time period but that it makes more sense to teach the Progressive Era first due to its connection to the Industrial and Gilded Ages (that is if you teach it before American Expansion).

I start this unit by talking about the farmers and the Grange Movement. In particular, their concern about the government addressing the issue of railroads and their support for the Populist (People’s) Party. Remember to explain that the Interstate Commerce Act was passed because of the influence of the Grangers. The Populist Party plays a significant role in the Progressive Era and resulted in several new amendments. Run of the Populist Party’s Platform with the students and explain which pieces were adopted. The Amendments influenced by this group include the 16th and 17th Amendments.

Other Progressive Era Amendments include the 18th and 19th. The 19th Amendment and the granting of Women’s Suffrage in 1920 is generally considered the last Progressive Era achievement.

Protection for workers would be a major issue during this era. They were concerned about their working conditions and pay. The Populists and others would use this to try to draw more voters like William Jennings Bryan during the 1896 Presidential Election.

Progressives realized how much power businesses had over the government and that many of the government’s actions favored business over the people. They sought to reduce the influence of big business and end corruption in politics.

During this period we also saw the rise in the Social Gospel Movement. Settlement Houses sprang up all over the nation, slowly replacing the power of the Political Machines of the Industrial and Gilded Ages. Jane Adams and Hull House are must-knows for this topic.

The Temperance Movement, which sought to ban alcohol, continued to grow in this period. Eventually, Temperance workers would be successful in the passing of the 18th Amendment which banned the sale of alcohol and started Prohibition. The 18th Amendment would be the only one to be repealed by the 21st Amendment, making alcohol legal again.

Women’s Suffrage continued to make strides during the Progressive Era. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton remained active in this movement. They would be successful in gaining the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment (although neither of them lived to see it). It is important to note that Native Americans would not gain the right to vote until 1924 without having to give up their tribal traditions under the Indian Citizenship Act.

Muckrakers were the writers and journalists who sought to expose corruption and abuses of big business and the government. They were called Muckrakers because they would rake through the muck to expose the abuses. Key Muckrakers were Jacob Riis, Ida Tarbell, and Upton Sinclair. The Jungle by Sinclair is probably the most notable Muckraker work next to Riis’s How the Other Half Lives.

It is important to show students the connection between The Jungle and the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. Both sought to protect consumers from products that could cause them harm and death. Both women’s organizations and Muckrakers were responsible for seeing these two pieces of legislation passed. I explain to students that before the Pure Food and Drug Act, companies could literally sell water and claim it was a cureall as there was no government regulation. Companies could also sell harmful products with no repercussion before the legislation was passed. An interesting way to connect this law to today is the Red Bull lawsuit. The FDA says that companies can only make claims that they can prove with their products. Red Bull used to have a slogan that said it gave its customers “wings.” They were sued and lost because they did not give the plaintiff “wings.” Red Bull’s new slogan is “Red Bull gives you wiings,” because wiings do not actually exist.

The movement to protect African American rights continued during this period. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Boys may have not agreed on how African Americans should achieve equality, but they both agreed that they should have it. Fun fact about DuBois is he was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. I used to get these two mixed up in their beliefs. Booker T. Washington supported education first and gradual equality, I remember that he has “book” in his name and he pushed for great educational opportunities for African Americans. Ida B. Wells also played a role in this time period, advocating against lynching and in support of civil rights for African Americans.

Now that African Americans had the right to vote with the 15th Amendment, there were attempts to suppress those rights. The Grandfather Clause protected poor whites from literacy tests and poll taxes. However, African Americans who could not afford to pay a poll tax or pass a literacy test (that was made for them to fail) prevented them from voting. Segregation also continued to grow during the period, it was challenged in Plessy v. Ferguson but the Supreme Court Said that “separate but equal” was constitutional, fueling segregated facilities all across the south.

Preservation of the nation’s natural resources also became an issue during this period. John Muir played a major role and influenced Theodore Roosevelt to create the National Parks. Since the creation of the National Parks, our nation’s resources have been preserved for future generations. This includes places like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone.

More power entered the hands of voters with initiative, recall, and referendums. People now played a greater role in the political process.

The Pendleton act created the civil service exam, ending the Spoils System. This helped to reduce corruption in government and ensured that people in government positions were actually qualified to perform those positions.

Third parties like the Populists saw a rise in participation in this era. They sought to provide a voice to minority groups like the farmers and others. These political parties helped to increase participation in politics for those who might feel marginalized by the larger political parties. They would influence elections and the passing of laws and amendments. The most notable was the Election of 1912 when the Republican vote was split between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, resulting in the election of Woodrow Wilson the Democratic candidate.

The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 to regulate the nation’s monetary policy from interest rates to selling government bonds.

Theodore Roosevelt earned the name Trustbuster for shutting down harmful trusts. Although ones he deemed to be good for the economy, he left them open. William Howard Taft actually shut down more trusts, but T. Roosevelt is known as the Trustbuster and the use of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Progressive also sought to end child labor and they were successful in Congress passing legislation to restrict child labor. However, the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. Child labor would not be abolished until 1941.

For assignments after we get past the introduction, I do a wide variety of student-centered assignments.

This is a great unit to work with Political Cartoons. I do not have these available yet in my store, so check back for updates or join my email list for when they’re uploaded. I have two assignments for political cartoon analysis. One is the SLIDE method where students identify symbols, labels, infer, describe, and what era it is from. The other is a card sort where they match the political cartoons to the topic like the 19th Amendment or the Interstate Commerce Act. Both are great activities.

I know pretty much everyone gives an excerpt over The Jungle for students to read and analyze. You can easily find excerpts and the full book online. Stay tuned if you’re interested in worksheets for this topic.

Of course, I do my tried and true picture cards. I make a grouping of pictures and clues related to vocabulary terms and I give students a worksheet with a word bank. They then use the visual clues to determine which vocabulary term the set of pictures represents. This activity by far has been the best one I’ve ever developed from scratch, helping all levels of students including ELL/ESL and Sped. The first time I did this the students weren’t big fans, but after that, they are excited to see the picture cards on their desks when they come in now. If you’re interested in a pre-made set for the Progressive Era, CLICK HERE to purchase. You can of course make your own.

I also do a Fact or Fiction Activity. For this I cut red and green card stock into cards, you can purchase colored index cards that have red and green. I give each student a pair of each. I then put a PowerPoint up on the screen with a statement. I read the statement aloud and I ask the students if the statement is a fact or if it’s fiction. They hold up the green card for fact and red for fiction, this helps to quickly glance around the room to see who understands the concept correctly. Once I click on the slide a second time, a statement appears saying if it’s a fact or if it’s fiction. If it’s fiction, the statement is corrected with the parts changed to make it correct colored green so students can see where they made mistakes. This is a fun and easy class activity to review at the end of the unit. I have a Progressive Era Fact or Fiction you can purchase by CLICKING HERE. You can of course make your own as well.

If I don’t use the Gallery Walk/PowerPoint as a Gallery Walk, I do a Vocab Walk activity for this period. With this activity, I created slides I could print out and hang up around the room. On the top is a definition and on the bottom is a term. Students can pick any slide and start there. They read the term and then look for the hanging slide with the correct definition. When they find that card, they write down the next term on their worksheet. They repeat this process until the last definition takes them back to the first term they started with. Students can start at any point in the room, making it easy to space out and have students not all in the same place at once. This is a great activity to get students up and moving as well as talking to each other about the definitions of different terms. You can make your own, but if you want to save time I have a Progressive Era Vocab Walk available for purchase by CLICKING HERE.

If I have time, I play a Jeopardy game with the students projected on the screen from a PowerPoint. It’s fun to see how the students get into competing with each other in their groups. Pro tip – buy those front desk bells as “buzzers.” If you’re interested in my Jeopardy Game for the Progressive Era, it’s available by CLICKING HERE.

Cause and Effects of events are definitely a struggle for students. I try to emphasize events that cause other events to occur. like the passing of the 16th Amendment affecting the taxation of people’s annual income. One way to help students make these connections is through card sorts. My Progressive Era Card Sort is available by Clicking Here.

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