Big Picture

Questions

1. Why did Progressives want to improve working conditions for working mothers?
2. How did the Progressives fail to bring the social improvements they hoped for?
3. Which candidates in the 1912 presidential election considered themselves to be Progressives?
4. How did Progressive efforts affect African Americans?

Answers

1. Working mothers were charged with raising the next generation, so the better their working conditions, hours, and wages, the more likely they would be to succeed at instilling in their children Christian morals and American values.
2. Prohibition passed, but was ultimately a failure. Most immigrants were not uplifted, as Progressives hoped, but were ultimately banned from entering the county. Monopolies stayed in business. Many industrial workers continued to labor in brutal conditions for low wages. And many of the democratic reforms they instituted backfired.
3. All three major candidates—Republican William Howard Taft, Democrat Woodrow Wilson, and “Bull Moose” Party candidate Teddy Roosevelt.
4. Though they sought to better the condition of the poor, many were racists who reinforced the systems of white supremacy that oppressed African-Americans.