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Progressive Voices
Progressive Era
Started around 1890’s although some say it didn’t start until the
1900’s
Some say it was kick started by Edward Bellamy (1888) and Jacob Riis
(1890)
Boosted Republican victory in 1896 – decisive in deciding who would
influence the nation
...
They failed to unite people in a common cause
...
Also formed out of
fear of the urban poor
...

Often disguised the regulation and policing of the working classes ‘we
know what’s best’ from the middle classes
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Issues that shaped and drive it included: government regulation of
economy, political corruption, prohibition, women’s suffrage,
improvement of working conditions, child labor, housing, public
health
...
liberal politics and exposing ‘realities’
They questioned laissez faire capitalism
They argued that there was more of a role for the government to take
responsibility for the state of the nation
...

They did not believe that progressive was inevitable, you can’t just
leave it you have to get involved
...

Edward Bellamy
Looking backwards, 1888 – plugs into the sense of impending disaster
and high anxiety of the period
...
Draws its strength from
identifying what America might be like in the year 2000 and the
contrast in what has gone wrong in America
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He identifies what the present is like as well as the ideal
future
...
Only 2 other
novels in the second half of the 19th century that sold more copies,
uncle Tom’s Cabin and Ben Hurr
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He successfully
convicts a widow of non paying rent and she is evicted
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Worked as a journalist on NY’s Evening Post
Paper noted for its reformist drive and conscious
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S
Equality – sequel to Looking Backwards – 1897
1880: more than one million children working more than 10 hours a
day in American factories and mills
Politicians were failing the public
Scandal and corruption marked public life
The gilded age was a triumph for only a few (Carnegie, Rockefeller,
Morgan…)
Looking backwards echoed the national trauma of the time
Julian West – wakes up 113 years in the future in Boston and finds that
his city and America is transformed into the perfect society – a social
utopia
...
There is no
conflict, no boom and busts, Americans live as equals
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This novel is said to have anticipated the
credit card
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Looking backwards provided remedies for the many problems of the
Gilded Age
Cultural work
“shocking social consequences” of the late 19th century
He noted the divides between the rich and poor and the educated and
the “ignorant” and a government which has given up
CH1 – para #4 to para #8 – prodigious coach – He doesn’t demonize
the people on the top “the privileged” they just haven’t experienced
any other way or doing things
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The driver is hunger but the vehicle is
heading for disaster
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In some ways it’s a sermon
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Sets things up for the rest of the novel
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Julian West – rich man who does nothing
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At the start he is not openly malicious
towards the “have nots”
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Suffers from insomnia – could be indicative – could show he has a
troubled mind – because of this he takes sleeping medication
Built himself an underground sleeping chamber – could also be
symbolic – he is expecting impending disaster and so hides himself
away
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Self obsessed with his own individual
state, this is a man locked into his own world
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West goes back to 1880’s Boston
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5

Dr Leete – overemphasizes how amazing the social system is of the
2000’s
...
You cant have individual
exceptionalism without it having n effect on society
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Homes are comfortable but
minimum
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No one feels the need for
possessions
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Edith Leete – still is a representation of a 19th century women, she
lives in her father’s home, she doesn’t have aspirations of her own
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Dr Leete says “we have
given them a world of their own” patronizing? A gift from the men
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In chapter 5 we learn that the labour question has been solved
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Unregulated capitalism is something of the past and is countered with
nationalism
The novel never calls the system socialism – he doesn’t want to
enflame working class vs middle/ upper classes
His nationalism is a philosophy that provided for everyone, advocated
capitalism but operating on a different scale
In his time, he had to tread carefully on the aspect of socialism
The novel kind of rebrands socialism
The nationalization of public property is a key aspect of socialism
Heavily influenced in Christianity
Looking Backward heralded the new American Golden age (Tichi)

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The book plugs into the national myth – Bellamy reinstates the myth
It’s bad now but it will be ok in the future because it’s America
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Cleaver socialism
Looking Backwards was written in the belief that the Golden Age lies
before us and not behind us (Bellamy)
Over 150 Bellamy Clubs formed in 27 states – Ho to incorporate ideas
of the book in to real life
May 1889 – the Nationalist magazine appeared – discussed the book
and advocated key changes and putting ideas into practice
Jan 1891 The New Nation, edited by Bellamy – kick starts a campaign
to promote nationalism to challenge the Democrats and Republicans
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1896 peoples party/ democratic alliance defeated by republicans
Vida Scudder said Looking Backwards altered Americas middle-classes
to the brutalities and stupidities of the capitalist order
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” – “leaving the elevated railroad where it
dives under the Brooklyn Bridge at Franklin Square, scare a dozen
steps will take you where we wish to go with its rush and roar echoing
yet in our ears we have turned to the corner from prosperity to
poverty
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Supposed we look into one? Be a little careful, please!
The hall is dark and you might stumble over the children pitching
pennies there
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You can feel your
way, if you cannot see it” (Jacob Riis)
37,000 tenement houses housed 1 million people
Half the population of NY was living in the tenement houses
Late 19th century NY was one of the most densely populated place on
the planet, the lower east side may have been the worst
Book – The Gilded Age
Landlords crammed as many people in as possible
No regulations
Unregulated capitalism
1884, tenement house commission
1888, he works for the Evening Sun, whilst working there he starts
writing How The Other Half Lives
Wanted to capture the interest of the middle classes and upper
classes, those who could be activated by the images in his book
He tries to stop people from looking away from the problems which
New York was facing

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“Bandits Roost” Riis

“Bottle Alley, Mulberry Bend”

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Twelve year old boy (who had sworn he was sixteen) pulling threads in a
sweat shop, about 1889
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Tenement five cents a spot

The man slept in this cellar for four years, about 1890

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Room in Tenement, 1910

All Photograph copy write Jacob Riis
On the direct appeal to middle classes……
“As a rule, the tenement housing class will live like pigs, and die like sheep,
unless they are compelled to live decently and are prevented by the strong
protection of the authority against evils over which they have no control”
(George Waring, Sanitation Engineer 1879)
Theodore Roosevelt was a fan of Riis
Police commissioner and governor of New York, Roosevelt worked
with Riis to improve New York (prior from his being president)

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Closed dossing houses, opened playgrounds and tried to improve
sanitation and safety
Roosevelt offered Riis opportunities to work with him in public office
but Riis always turned him down
Wrote his autobiography, The Making of an American, in 1901
Died May 26, 1914, aged 65

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