CHAPTER 18 The Progressive Era, 1900–1916
TEST BANK
Learning Objectives
1. Explain why the city was so central a place for the Progressive movement in the United States.
2. Assess the ways in which the labor and women’s movements challenged nineteenth-century notions of
3. Compare and contrast the democratic and antidemocratic impulses in Progressivism.
4. Examine the ways in which the Progressive presidents facilitated the rise of the nation-state.
Multiple Choice
1. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire
a. led to legislation aimed at improving factory safety standards.
b. changed the way clothes were manufactured in the United States.
c. resulted in the death of hundreds of Chinese and Mexican immigrants.
d. destroyed an entire factory in Boston.
e. led to labor legislation protecting the rights of working women.
2. In the first decade of the twentieth century, American farm communities
a. did not experience the economic growth seen in cities.
b. had not yet recovered from the effects of falling prices in the previous century.
c. entered a “golden age” because of rising urban demand for farm goods.
d. did not benefit from the new mass-consumer society.
e. experienced limited economic growth.
3. Why did millions of American farm families migrate westward from 1900 to 1910?
a. The demand for skilled labor declined in twenty-one of the nation’s largest cities.
b. Solar technology was successfully implemented in the American Southwest.
c. The availability of free land meant more opportunities for commercial farming in the West.
d. Population growth on the Atlantic Seaboard made eastern farmland increasingly scarce.
e. They looked for states with low property taxes and less union power.
4. The Progressive era was a period of explosive growth. Which of the following fueled this process?
a. decline in population
b. decline in consumption
c. expansion of the consumer market
d. ban on immigration
e. women’s activists
5. The word “Progressivism” came into common use around 1910
a. and was used within intellectual circles.
b. to show that progress was not always positive.
c. was used to refer to the period when Americans enjoyed racial equality for the first time.
d. to refer to a group of people who wanted to bring change to America.
e. to represent those hoping to maintain the status quo.
6. The Progressive movement drew its strength from
a. plantation owners.
b. reformers and social scientists.
c. the lower classes.
d. business leaders.
e. union leaders.
7. Artists captured the transformation of urban landscapes in the Progressive era through which of the following?
a. photographs of suburbs
b. paintings of containers in ports
c. photographs of electric lights and skyscrapers
d. the Hudson River school
e. paintings of backyard life
8. What is true of McClure’s Magazine?
a. It published stories pushing the United States toward war with Spain.
b. It ran stories by muckraking journalists.
c. It was the leading magazine for women to read about duties as a wife and mother.
d. It espoused socialist ideas.
e. It examined international culture by printing letters from immigrants to the United States.
9. The writer whose work encouraged the passage of the Meat Inspection Act was
a. Henry George.
b. Theodore Dreiser.
c. Upton Sinclair.
d. Ida Tarbell.
e. Lincoln Steffens.
10. During the Progressive era, urban areas expanded rapidly. What happened in rural areas?
a. They lived a “Golden Age” due to the increased demand for farm goods.
b. Their populations decreased because people moved to the cities.
c. Their production stagnated.
d. High rates of crime made these areas almost unlivable for families.
e. They became the only space where children of poor families could get an education.
11. Life in the urban areas was characterized by
a. consistent and homogeneous economic betterment.
b. sharp inequalities.
c. gender equality.
d. social equality in terms of economic opportunities.
e. less income inequality.
12. Where was the focus of Progressive politics?
a. in the cities
b. in the West
c. in rural areas
d. inside the factories
e. in the South
13. Progressive-era immigration was part of a larger process of worldwide migration set in motion by which of the
following forces?
a. the annexation of the Philippines
b. industrial contraction
c. the decline of modern agriculture
d. massive droughts in rural southern and eastern Europe and parts of Asia
e. political turmoil
14. Labor agents
a. negotiated on behalf of immigrants for fair labor contracts.
b. recruited Chinese, Mexican, and Italian immigrants to work in Angel Island’s fruit and vegetable fields.
c. provided American employers with workers who signed long-term labor contracts.
d. were seen as champions of free labor.
e. focused on short-term labor contracts.
15. Newspaper and magazine writers who exposed the ills of industrial and urban life, fueling the Progressive
movement, were known as
a. muckrakers.
b. activists.
c. progressives.
d. dreamers.
e. yellow press.
16. About which of the following did Ida Tarbell write an investigative journalistic story?
a. industrial workers in Ohio
b. Fordism.
c. Standard Oil
d. Shirtwaist Company
e. the mining industry
17. During the Progressive era,
a. agricultural production stagnated.
b. the United States stopped receiving immigrants.
c. the gap between economic classes got smaller.
d. corporations were considered the engine of progress.
e. the United States received a large number of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe.
18. Most immigrants who arrived in America sought “freedom” because
a. they wanted to vote for political representatives.
b. they wanted to exchange poverty for economic opportunity.
c. they wanted to live on farms.
d. they wanted to spread their culture in a new country.
e. they wanted a free press.
19. Mexican immigrants in the early twentieth century
a. moved to the West.
b. populated the South.
c. populated the East Coast.
d. moved to big cities.
e. worked for wages.
20. At what site did most immigrants from Mexico enter the United States in the early twentieth century?
a. El Paso, Texas
b. Ellis Island
c. Alcatraz Island
d. Los Angeles
e. Angel Island
21. Most new immigrants who arrived during the early years of the twentieth century
a. learned English immediately.
b. planned to remain in the United States temporarily.
c. generally earned lower wages in America than in their former homelands.
d. dominated skilled and supervisory jobs.
e. lived in close-knit communities.
22. Where is Ellis Island located?
a. New York
b. Texas
c. Washington, D.C.
d. Boston
e. California
23. A typical Mexican immigrant in the early twentieth century might hold what occupation?
a. a garment worker in a sweatshop
b. a supervisor in a factory
c. store clerk in a retail shop
d. a banker
e. a railroad laborer
24. Which of the following statements about mass consumption in the early twentieth century is true?
a. Southerners fully participated in the mass-consumption society.
b. The promise of mass consumption became the foundation for a new understanding of freedom.
c. Rural dwellers purchased goods in department stores and chain stores.
d. City people purchased goods through mail-order catalogs.
e. The new advertising industry often linked services with ethnic identities.
25. How did mass consumption in the Progressive era result in new consumer freedoms?
a. Farmers in the heartland had more time and money to attend nickelodeon shows.
b. Department stores provided city residents with access to electric washing machines.
c. Mass-produced radios were able to advertise the availability of new factory products.
d. Mass-produced appliances established a high standard of living in all households.
e. Cheap television sets broadcast middle-class values across the nation.
26. “Birds of passage” were
a. immigrants from Europe.
b. single women who decided to immigrate to the United States.
c. immigrants who worked in factories.
d. immigrants who only lived in the United States temporarily.
e. immigrants who moved to the United States to work as servants.
27. How did nickelodeons reflect a mass-consumption society in the Progressive era?
a. Amusement parks and dance halls had lost considerable popularity by this time.
b. Nickelodeons offered elite theatergoers a highbrow alternative to vaudeville shows.
c. Nickelodeons offered a popular and less expensive leisure activity for urban residents.
d. Nickelodeon shows quickly became widely available, thus providing entertainment to small–town residents.
e. Nickelodeons were popular in rural communities where people could not attend vaudeville shows.
28. During the Progressive era,
a. growing numbers of native-born white women worked as domestics.
b. most African-American women worked in factories.
c. most eastern European immigrant women worked as telephone operators.
d. growing numbers of native-born white women worked in offices.
e. the number of married women working declined.
29. Charlotte Perkins Gilman claimed that the road to woman’s freedom lay in
a. higher education.
b. holding political office.
c. the workplace.
d. access to birth control.
e. being a wife and mother.
30. In regard to labor, what did Ford do for his workers?
a. He invited labor leaders to set up unions at Ford.
b. He paid more than double the wages paid by other factory owners.
c. He improved work conditions, making the jobs more interesting.
d. He made it more difficult for them to be consumers.
e. He paid more, with compensation that included stock options.
31. The term “Fordism”
a. refers to Henry Ford’s invention of the automobile.
b. was used by labor unions, who hailed Ford’s innovative approach.
c. describes an economic system based on limited production of high-end goods.
d. refers to Henry Ford’s effort to organize workers into a union.
e. describes an economic system based on mass production and mass consumption.
32. As the consumer age started, what buzzwords did many companies use to sell their products?
a. cheap and inexpensive
b. honest and trustworthy
c. freedom and liberty
d. dependable and secure
e. rich and elegant
33. The “living wage” and the “American standard of living” were an outgrowth of
a. a mature consumer economy.
b. the powerful influence of labor unions.
c. an increasingly diverse society.
d. the power of monopolistic corporations.
e. an effective nationwide advertising campaign.
34. Why did workers experience the introduction of scientific management as a loss of freedom?
a. Scientific management typically lowered wages.
b. Workers had to work longer hours under scientific management.
c. Safety conditions worsened when companies introduced scientific management.
d. Skilled workers under scientific management had to obey very detailed instructions.
e. Foremen tended to drive workers with more brute force under scientific management.
35. What did Progressives see as the chief restriction on liberty?
a. European powers
b. social pressure
c. segregation
d. lack of privacy
e. economics
36. Industrial freedom in the Progressive era meant in practice
a. a decline in union activism.
b. a loss of personal autonomy for skilled workers working under scientific management.
c. a push by corporations for greater worker input in locating factories and distributing profits.
d. access to health insurance and retirement benefits.
e. legal protections against groundless dismissals and workplace harassment.
37. How did Louis Brandeis characterize labor unions?
a. Unions should be abolished.
b. Unions represented freedom for workers.
c. The organizing of workers took away their individual freedom.
d. He saw unions as a positive first step toward a communist society.
e. Unions should give workers the chance to air grievances, but should not make any managerial decisions.
38. In the early twentieth century, the Socialist Party advocated which of the following?
a. free rent
b. legislation to improve the condition of laborers
c. public ownership of radio stations
d. national health insurance
e. the dissolution of the White House
39. By 1912, the Socialist Party
a. appealed only to immigrants.
b. appealed only to industrial workers.
c. had elected scores of local officials.
d. was concentrated in New York City.
e. had yet to elect a member to Congress.
40. Why did the Socialist Party gain significant political influence during the Progressive era?
a. Popular politicians, such as Theodore Roosevelt, spoke about socialism’s merits.
b. Jewish and other immigrant laborers supported its fight against economic exploitation of workers.
c. Party leaders promised working-class Irish voters that the party would not supplant machine politics.
d. Socialist Party candidates promised to run exclusively for state and local offices.
e. Socialist Party politicians successfully manipulated machine politics.
41. What made Eugene Debs a successful leader?
a. He unified a diverse group of people for the socialist cause.
b. He was able to stay out of jail during strikes.
c. He wooed industrialists and gained sizeable donations.
d. The Socialist Party’s numbers surpassed the total number of socialists in Europe.
e. He unified American socialists and capitalists.
42. Which statement about the American Federation of Labor in the early twentieth century is correct?
a. The AFL represented unskilled workers only.
b. AFL membership tripled between 1920 and 1929.
c. The AFL forged closer ties with the Socialist Party.
d. The AFL established pension plans for long-term workers.
e. The AFL proposed an overthrow of the capitalist system.
43. Why did Samuel Gompers seek to forge closer ties with forward-looking corporate leaders?
a. He wanted to establish employer-financed health care.
b. He wanted to work his way into circles of political influence.
c. He wanted to stabilize employer-employee relations.
d. He hoped to win their support for the nationalization of large industries.
e. He wanted to explore his own new personal business opportunities.
44. The Industrial Workers of the World
a. represented skilled workers only.
b. was led by Eugene Debs.
c. organized only women workers.
d. was a union within the American Federation of Labor.
e. advocated a workers’ revolution.
45. Striking working women in Lawrence, Massachusetts,
a. made immigrant women work in the factories after the strike.
b. went to work in rural areas.
c. sent their children out of town while they went on strike.
d. were treated kindly by the police because they were seen as the weaker sex.
e. advocated for the rights of skilled workers only.
46. Which statement about the textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1912 is correct?
a. The strike was undertaken by workers who sought opportunities to move into management.
b. The strike was in response to an increase in weekly hours.
c. The strikers asked the American Federation of Labor for assistance.
d. Children of the striking workers publicly marched up New York’s Fifth Avenue.
e. The strike was settled on the employer’s terms.
47. In “The Workingman’s Conception of Industrial Liberty,” what does John Mitchell say about wages?
a. Wages need to be tripled for all factory workers.
b. Women should be paid half of what men earn.
c. Workers should be able to provide for their families and themselves with their wages.
d. Laborers’ wages should be paid as gold, not silver.
e. Workers should only receive stock options as compensation.
48. What brought about a new wave of sympathy for the plight of women in the garment industry in Lawrence,
Massachusetts?
a. The city had extended maximum working hours for garment workers.
b. The police of Lawrence had severely beaten striking women.
c. The AFL had negotiated a sham contract for Lawrence’s garment factories.
d. The police had forced the children of Lawrence to leave town.
e. The appearance of malnourished children who had been evacuated from Lawrence shocked the public.
49. The battle for free speech among workers in the early twentieth century
a. was led by the American Federation of Labor.
b. was led by the Industrial Workers of the World.
c. was not an issue of concern to most workers.
d. was insignificant because the courts consistently supported workers’ rights to assemble, organize, and
spread their views.
e. was never successful on the local level.
50. The Ludlow Massacre
a. was a confrontation between Plains Indians and the U.S. Army.
b. occurred in California.
c. was led by the AFL.
d. happened during a strike against Rockefeller-owned companies.
e. took place in the company housing.
51. What organization challenged the sexual norms of the early twentieth century?
a. Women’s Christian Temperance Union
b. Heterodoxy
c. National American Woman Suffrage Association
d. General Federation of Women’s Clubs
e. American Federation of Labor
52. What was one accomplishment of the Society of American Indians?
a. Indians of many tribal backgrounds were united.
b. It had most reservations closed.
c. Buffalo numbers were increased so that they could be released back into the wild.
d. Many family farms were created for Indians.
e. Indians received much more aid from the federal government.
53. What Progressive-era issue became a crossroads where the paths of labor radicals, cultural modernists, and
feminists intersected?
a. trust-busting
b. the initiative and referendum
c. women’s suffrage
d. unionism
e. birth control
54. Feminism
a. did not discuss sexual behavior.
b. first entered the political vocabulary during the Progressive era.
c. only represented women fighting for the right to vote.
d. believed in traditional gender roles.
e. promoted the idea that women should not control property.
55. Which of the following was an expression of personal freedom in the Progressive era?
a. the lifestyle of the inhabitants of Greenwich Village
b. sex outside of marriage for young men
c. selecting a husband for your daughter to marry
d. familiarity with Gloria Steinem’s writings on sexuality
e. attending a lecture by Phyllis Schlafly
56. What in Margaret Sanger’s early life likely motivated her activism as an adult?
a. Her family lived near silver mines.
b. Her first stop upon arriving in America was Ellis Island.
c. Her parents were feminists.
d. Her mother gave birth to eleven children.
e. Her parents often visited Greenwich Village.
57. The Progressive era’s birth-control movement was characterized by
a. public lectures on sexual freedom and contraception by activists such as Emma Goldman.
b. free distributions of condoms to working girls
c. the distribution of birth-control devices by Margaret Sanger.
d. a belief in a woman’s right to an active sexual life, but only in conjunction with childbearing.
e. a legal campaign for the legalization of abortion.
58. Why did Carlos Montezuma call for the abolition of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1916?
a. The bureau used heavy-handed tactics in collecting taxes.
b. The bureau was under the influence of a rival tribal leader.
c. The bureau had failed to secure Indian self-determination.
d. The bureau failed to offer Native Americans equal employment opportunities.
e. The bureau refused to enforce Prohibition on Indian reservations.
59. Why did Progressive reformers think they had much to learn from the Old World?
a. British legislators were far more advanced in their thoughts on racial diversity.
b. The French had built a strong reputation in the field of rehabilitative prison programs.
c. The Italians had introduced a series of laws securing equal rights for women.
d. Germans had pioneered several measures of social legislation.
e. Russian bureaucrats had innovated ecumenical churches that offered welfare programs.
60. Pragmatism
a. promoted free and compulsory education.
b. insisted that institutions should be judged by concrete effects.
c. was a short-lived political movement.
d. was a group of feminist activists.
e. was aligned with the Catholic Church.
61. What was John Dewey’s philosophy?
a. Social Darwinism
b. New Imperialism
c. Americanism
d. pragmatism
e. mercantilism
62. Which of the following statements about urban Progressives is true?
a. They worked to shrink the size of government.
b. They sought to establish private ownership of gasworks and waterworks.
c. They cut taxes to increase revenue for schools and parks.
d. They sought to improve public transportation.
e. They worked with political machines.
63. Pragmatics intended to do which of the following?
a. scientifically evaluate public policy
b. promote a religious revival
c. continue focusing on ideals
d. test institutions on their longevity
e. focus on doctrines
64. Which of the following statements about the Oregon System is correct?
a. It instituted the direct primary for electing union leaders.
b. It was developed by Oregon lawyer Robert La Follette.
c. It failed to pass women’s suffrage legislation in Oregon.
d. It initiated the nation’s first and most long–lasting sales tax.
e. “Oregon System” is a misnomer; it was actually developed in Montana.
65. What role did Hiram Johnson play as a Progressive?
a. As a statehouse member, he tried to stop Progressive initiatives in California.
b. In Wisconsin, Johnson pushed for political primaries.
c. He promoted the Oregon System and taxes on the wealthy.
d. As governor of California, he secured passage of the Public Utilities Act.
e. He was a railroad baron who gave to Progressive causes.
66. Henry George introduced a slate of political changes known as the Oregon System. The system included which
of the following?
a. social and economic equality
b. more power to large corporations
c. the concept of indirect democracy
d. initiative, referendum, and recall
e. the creation of a third political force
67. Electoral reform during the Progressive era
a. expanded the electorate significantly.
b. had little impact, especially in the cities.
c. enfranchised African-Americans.
d. actually limited many Americans’ right to vote.
e. did away with all residency requirements for voting.
68. Which of the following contradictions plagued Progressive reformers’ ideas on the political process?
a. Progressive reformers rejected party labels but were themselves highly partisan politicians.
b. Progressive reformers took every opportunity to disclose scandals in muckraking magazines, but they also
called for a restriction of free speech.
c. Progressive reformers recorded the votes of nativists but promised more liberal reforms on immigration.
d. Progressive reformers worked both to expand the electorate and to shrink its size through other measures.
e. Progressive reformers believed in the civil rights of children but refused to lower the voting age to sixteen.
69. What did passage of the Seventeenth Amendment entail?
a. It allowed for a federal income tax.
b. Women in every state could now legally vote.
c. The manufacturing and selling of alcohol was now illegal.
d. Presidents could only serve two terms
e. U.S. senators were now chosen by popular vote.