Progressive Era Word Search

ADDAMS – Jane Addams founded Hull House in Chicago, pioneering the settlement house movement to assist immigrants and urban poor while advocating for social reforms and women’s rights.

ANTITRUST – Laws designed to break up monopolies and regulate large corporations, preventing unfair business practices and promoting competition. Sherman Antitrust Act was a key example of this legislation.

BALLOT – Progressive reforms included secret ballot initiatives, direct primaries, and voting reforms to reduce political corruption and increase citizen participation in democratic processes and elections.

CHILD – Child labor was a major Progressive concern. Reformers fought to end exploitative practices, establishing minimum age requirements and compulsory education laws protecting young workers.

CITIES – Rapid urbanization created overcrowding, sanitation problems, and poverty. Progressives focused on municipal reform, improving city services, housing conditions, and implementing professional city management systems.

CORRUPT – Political corruption through bribery, cronyism, and machine politics plagued American cities. Progressives worked to expose dishonest officials and implement reforms promoting transparency and accountability.

FACTORY – Industrial factories often featured dangerous working conditions, long hours, and low wages. Progressive reformers advocated for workplace safety regulations, reasonable hours, and workers’ rights.

GRAFT – Political graft involved officials accepting bribes or kickbacks for favors. Muckrakers exposed these practices, leading to reforms designed to eliminate corruption from government operations.

IMMIGRANT – Millions of immigrants arrived from Southern and Eastern Europe, facing discrimination and harsh conditions. Settlement houses and reformers worked to assist with assimilation and improve lives.

JUSTICE – Social justice was a central Progressive goal, seeking fair treatment for workers, immigrants, women, and the poor through legal reforms, equal rights advocacy, and elimination of exploitation.

LABOR – Labor movements fought for workers’ rights including fair wages, reasonable hours, safe conditions, and collective bargaining power. Unions grew stronger during this reform era.

MONOPOLY – Large business trusts controlled entire industries, eliminating competition and raising prices. Trust-busting efforts aimed to restore competitive markets and protect consumers from exploitation.

MUCKRAKER – Investigative journalists who exposed corruption, unsafe conditions, and social injustices through powerful writing. Examples include Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, and Jacob Riis exposing problems.

POVERTY – Widespread urban poverty resulted from industrialization, low wages, and poor conditions. Progressives studied poverty’s causes and implemented programs addressing economic inequality and hardship.

PULLMAN – The 1894 Pullman Strike involved railroad workers protesting wage cuts and high rents. Federal troops broke the strike, highlighting tensions between labor and capital.

REFORM – Progressive reforms targeted political corruption, social problems, and economic inequality through legislation, grassroots movements, and government action improving American society and democracy.

RIIS – Jacob Riis was a photojournalist who documented tenement life in “How the Other Half Lives,” exposing urban poverty and spurring housing reforms through powerful images.

SINCLAIR – Upton Sinclair wrote “The Jungle,” exposing meatpacking industry horrors. His investigative work exemplified muckraking journalism and led to important food safety regulations and reforms.

SLUMS – Overcrowded urban neighborhoods with poor sanitation, inadequate housing, and poverty. Reformers worked to improve living conditions through housing codes, sanitation improvements, and social programs.

STRIKE – Workers organized strikes to demand better wages, hours, and conditions. While often met with violence, strikes brought attention to labor issues and pressured employers.

SUFFRAGE – The women’s suffrage movement fought for voting rights, culminating in the Nineteenth Amendment’s 1920 ratification. Leaders included Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

TARBELL – Ida Tarbell was a muckraking journalist who exposed Standard Oil’s monopolistic practices in detailed investigative articles, contributing to antitrust actions against the powerful company.

TENEMENT – Crowded, poorly maintained apartment buildings housing working-class families in cities. Reformers like Jacob Riis documented terrible conditions, leading to improved housing codes and regulations.

WILSON – Woodrow Wilson served as Progressive Era president (1913-1921), implementing reforms including Federal Reserve creation, antitrust legislation, and labor protections through his New Freedom program.