Wayground logo

Free Printable Worksheets

Font size

S
M
L
XL
Worksheets

The Progressive Era

Total questions: 60

Worksheet time: 57mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

When was the Progressive Era?

a)

1870 - 1910

b)

1890 - 1920

c)

1897 - 1920

d)

1900 - 1917

2.

Progressivism is defined as

a)

the attempt to make the new urban-industrial order more humane

b)

a broad-based response to industrialization and its social byproducts: immigration, urban growth, growing corporate power, & widening class divisions

c)

the attempt to to create reform movements for nativism, rural development, town growth, declining corporate power, & widening class divisions

d)

a broad-based reform plan to reduce immigration quotas, increase union membership, increase natural resource conservation, & regulate corporate power

3.

The ultimate goal of progressivism was to

a)

force wealthy businessmen to pay higher taxes

b)

increase public spending for the working classes

c)

make the new rural-urban-industrial order more humane

d)

make the new urban-industrial order more humane

4.

What were some of the traits of the Progressive movement's leaders?

a)

white

b)

native-born Catholics

c)

well-educated

d)

white collar jobs

e)

rural middle class

5.

Thorstein Veblen

a)

criticized the life of wealthy capitalists that flaunted their excessive wealth, built lavish homes, threw lavish parties, and asserted their claims of superiority

b)

believed that truth emerged from real life experiences, his work deepened reformers' skepticism of the older generation's engrained ideas and strengthened their resolve to bring about social change

c)

called for an activist government that mimicked the type of government envisioned by Alexander Hamilton, but instead of serving the interests of the business class, it should serve to the benefit of all. He founded the New Republic magazine to promote progressivism.

d)

saw schools as the central point to enact lasting social change. In his model school located at the University of Chicago he encouraged students to work collaboratively and to interact with one another

e)

focused on changing judicial thinking. He criticized judges who protected corporate interests. He insisted that the law must evolve to match societal changes. He was appointed a Supreme Court justice in 1902, and often dissented from the conservative majority, but as the progressive movement grew, the courts slowly adopted reform legislation

6.

William James

a)

criticized the life of wealthy capitalists that flaunted their excessive wealth, built lavish homes, threw lavish parties, and asserted their claims of superiority

b)

believed that truth emerged from real life experiences, his work deepened reformers' skepticism of the older generation's engrained ideas and strengthened their resolve to bring about social change

c)

called for an activist government that mimicked the type of government envisioned by Alexander Hamilton, but instead of serving the interests of the business class, it should serve to the benefit of all. He founded the New Republic magazine to promote progressivism.

d)

saw schools as the central point to enact lasting social change. In his model school located at the University of Chicago he encouraged students to work collaboratively and to interact with one another

e)

focused on changing judicial thinking. He criticized judges who protected corporate interests. He insisted that the law must evolve to match societal changes. He was appointed a Supreme Court justice in 1902, and often dissented from the conservative majority, but as the progressive movement grew, the courts slowly adopted reform legislation

7.

Herbert Croly

a)

criticized the life of wealthy capitalists that flaunted their excessive wealth, built lavish homes, threw lavish parties, and asserted their claims of superiority

b)

believed that truth emerged from real life experiences, his work deepened reformers' skepticism of the older generation's engrained ideas and strengthened their resolve to bring about social change

c)

called for an activist government that mimicked the type of government envisioned by Alexander Hamilton, but instead of serving the interests of the business class, it should serve to the benefit of all. He founded the New Republic magazine to promote progressivism.

d)

saw schools as the central point to enact lasting social change. In his model school located at the University of Chicago he encouraged students to work collaboratively and to interact with one another

e)

focused on changing judicial thinking. He criticized judges who protected corporate interests. He insisted that the law must evolve to match societal changes. He was appointed a Supreme Court justice in 1902, and often dissented from the conservative majority, but as the progressive movement grew, the courts slowly adopted reform legislation

8.

John Dewey

a)

criticized the life of wealthy capitalists that flaunted their excessive wealth, built lavish homes, threw lavish parties, and asserted their claims of superiority

b)

believed that truth emerged from real life experiences, his work deepened reformers' skepticism of the older generation's engrained ideas and strengthened their resolve to bring about social change

c)

called for an activist government that mimicked the type of government envisioned by Alexander Hamilton, but instead of serving the interests of the business class, it should serve to the benefit of all. He founded the New Republic magazine to promote progressivism.

d)

saw schools as the central point to enact lasting social change. In his model school located at the University of Chicago he encouraged students to work collaboratively and to interact with one another

e)

focused on changing judicial thinking. He criticized judges who protected corporate interests. He insisted that the law must evolve to match societal changes. He was appointed a Supreme Court justice in 1902, and often dissented from the conservative majority, but as the progressive movement grew, the courts slowly adopted reform legislation

9.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

a)

criticized the life of wealthy capitalists that flaunted their excessive wealth, built lavish homes, threw lavish parties, and asserted their claims of superiority

b)

believed that truth emerged from real life experiences, his work deepened reformers' skepticism of the older generation's engrained ideas and strengthened their resolve to bring about social change

c)

called for an activist government that mimicked the type of government envisioned by Alexander Hamilton, but instead of serving the interests of the business class, it should serve to the benefit of all. He founded the New Republic magazine to promote progressivism.

d)

saw schools as the central point to enact lasting social change. In his model school located at the University of Chicago he encouraged students to work collaboratively and to interact with one another

e)

focused on changing judicial thinking. He criticized judges who protected corporate interests. He insisted that the law must evolve to match societal changes. He was appointed a Supreme Court justice in 1902, and often dissented from the conservative majority, but as the progressive movement grew, the courts slowly adopted reform legislation

10.

Jane Addams (select all that apply)

a)

Rejected the claim that unrestrained competition offered the best path to social progress

b)

Promoted the idea that within a complex industrial society the well-being of the individual was dependent upon the well being of all citizens

c)

Urged middle class Americans to take action against abuse of the poor working classes and demand better conditions in factories and slums

d)

Pursued welfare reforms that would increase giving to private charities that assisted the poor and supported measures to decrease immigration to allow native-born Americans a better chance of recovery

e)

Criticized businesses who gave to private charities while attempting to decrease liability spending and tax increases in order alleviate the suffering of the working poor

11.

Muckrakers

a)

novelists and journalists chronicled corporate wrongdoing, slum conditions, and industrial abuses

b)

President Roosevelt praised authors who wrote articles about government corruption

c)

Novelists wrote fictionalized accounts business corruption in order to remain anonymous

d)

Journalists wrote opinionated commentaries that bore little factual information and were used for political purposes

12.

Ashcan School

a)

portrayed the realities of slum life and the horrors of child labor

b)

portrayed the realities of factory accidents and horrors of prostitution

c)

portrayed the realities of slum life and the working poor

d)

portrayed the realities of child abuse and the exploitation of women in the workplace

13.

Initiative

a)

allowed voters to instruct the legislature to consider a specific bill

b)

allowed citizens to enact a law or express their views on a proposed measure

c)

was a petition that would allow voters to remove a public official from office with enough signatures

14.

referendum

a)

allowed voters to instruct the legislature to consider a specific bill

b)

allowed citizens to enact a law or express their views on a proposed measure

c)

was a petition that would allow voters to remove a public official from office with enough signatures

15.

recall

a)

allowed voters to instruct the legislature to consider a specific bill

b)

allowed citizens to enact a law or express their views on a proposed measure

c)

was a petition that would allow voters to remove a public official from office with enough signatures

16.

To survive low wages, entire families worked to include children. Nonfarm labor force employed at least __________________________ children. Some as young as ___________

a)

1.5 million; 5

b)

1.6 million; 5

c)

1.6 million; 6

d)

1.7 million; 5

e)

1.7 million; 6

17.

What are examples of where children worked? (check all that apply)

a)

retail stores

b)

construction

c)

mills

d)

tenement sweatshops

e)

street trades

18.

The average work day was _________ hours. But in the South it was as much as _________ hours per day.

a)

9; 12-13

b)

9.5; 12-13

c)

9; 11-13

d)

9.5; 11-13

19.

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle impacted the passage of the

a)

20th Amendment

b)

Pure Food & Drug Act of 1907

c)

19th Amendment

d)

Meat Inspection Act of 1906

20.

While Upton Sinclair's The Jungle exposed the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry, the author initially wrote it in order to

a)

increase public awareness of monopoly practices.

b)

increase public awareness of government corruption.

c)

expose the attempt of the government to control American industry.

d)

expose the unfair work environment experienced by poor immigrant laborers.

21.

Which of these was a result of the circumstances described in the passage?

a)

Many meat-packing plants were shut down due to inhumane working conditions.

b)

Factory conditions became safer very quickly due to workers complaining to factory owners.

c)

Often multiple family members were forced to work outside of the home due to low factory wages.

d)

Factory workers began to actively support capitalism because of its opportunity to earn more wealth than other economic systems.

22.

Many historians have argued that the conditions represented in the novel The Jungle were caused by

a)

the country's strict belief in laissez-faire economics.

b)

the belief that a vegetarian diet was a communist plot.

c)

a lack of labor supply in major American industrial centers.

d)

differing hygiene standards brought into the U.S. by immigrants.

23.

Jacob Riis, Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, and Ida Tarbell are all associated with what American literary movement?

a)

Muckrakers

b)

Romanticism

c)

Transcendentalism

d)

Harlem Renaissance

24.

Which Progressive-era figure is MOST closely associated with exposing the effects of poverty and overcrowding in American cities in the late 1800s?

a)

Jacob Riis

b)

Ralph Nader

c)

Upton Sinclair

d)

Frederick Jackson Turner

25.

Which choice fits in the blank in this Progressive Era timeline?

a)

1906- Helen Hunt Jackson publishes regarding treatment of Native Americans

b)

1906- Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle, criticizing the working conditions in the U.S. meat processing industry

c)

1912- Theodore Roosevelt Publishes The Square Deal in which he addresses problems in the treatment of American unions

d)

1912- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Lost World showing the deforestation of the rain forests.

26.

Which legislation is most closely associated with the work of Ida Tarbell?

a)

the Dawes Act of 1887

b)

the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910

c)

the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890

d)

the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

27.

16th Amendment

a)

empowered Congress to tax incomes

b)

provided for the direct election of senators by voters

c)

prohibited the manufacture, sale, or importation of alcohol

d)

granted women the right to vote

28.

17th Amendment

a)

empowered Congress to tax incomes

b)

provided for the direct election of senators by voters

c)

prohibited the manufacture, sale, or importation of alcohol

d)

granted women the right to vote

29.

18th Amendment

a)

empowered Congress to tax incomes

b)

provided for the direct election of senators by voters

c)

prohibited the manufacture, sale, or importation of alcohol

d)

granted women the right to vote

30.

19th Amendment

a)

empowered Congress to tax incomes

b)

provided for the direct election of senators by voters

c)

prohibited the manufacture, sale, or importation of alcohol

d)

granted women the right to vote

31.

The Act defines unethical business practices, such as price fixing and monopolies, and upholds various rights of labor.

a)

Clayton Antitrust Act

b)

Morgan Antitrust Act

c)

Keating-Owen Act

d)

Adamson Act

32.

a short-lived statute enacted by the U.S. Congress which sought to address child labor by prohibiting the sale in interstate commerce of goods produced by factories that employed children under fourteen, mines that employed children younger than sixteen

a)

Clayton Antitrust Act

b)

Morgan Antitrust Act

c)

Keating-Owen Act

d)

Adamson Act

33.

a federal law that established an eight-hour workday, with additional pay for overtime work, for interstate railroad workers.

a)

Clayton Antitrust Act

b)

Morgan Antitrust Act

c)

Keating-Owen Act

d)

Adamson Act

34.

Clayton Antitrust Act

a)

1914

b)

1915

c)

1916

d)

1917

35.

Keating-Owen Act

a)

1914

b)

1915

c)

1916

d)

1917

36.

Adamson Act

a)

1914

b)

1915

c)

1916

d)

1917

37.

Underwood-Simmons Tariff

a)

1913

b)

1914

c)

1915

d)

1916

38.

Federal Reserve Act

a)

1913

b)

1914

c)

1915

d)

1916

39.

Federal Trade Commission Act

a)

1913

b)

1914

c)

1915

d)

1916

40.

Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act

a)

Reduced tariffs on Southern goods by 15%

b)

put more control of the nation's banking/finances with the government

c)

acted as a watchdog administration to investigate violations of federal regulations

d)

barred products produced by child labor

41.

Federal Reserve Act

a)

Reduced tariffs on Southern goods by 15%

b)

put more control of the nation's banking/finances with the government

c)

acted as a watchdog administration to investigate violations of federal regulations

d)

barred products produced by child labor

42.

Federal Trade Commission Act

a)

Reduced tariffs on Southern goods by 15%

b)

put more control of the nation's banking/finances with the government

c)

acted as a watchdog administration to investigate violations of federal regulations

d)

barred products produced by child labor

43.

ICC

a)

International Criminal Court

b)

International Cricket Council

c)

Interstate Commerce Commission

d)

Internet Commerce Corporation

44.

Which of these was a characteristic of the Progressive movement?

a)

constant pressure to reduce government regulation and control of business

b)

efforts to increase the control held by the nation's elite, upper class citizens

c)

passage of Civil Rights legislation to end segregation and discrimination in the south

d)

work towards the removal of corrupt influences on local, state, and national government

45.

In 1902, President Roosevelt became involved in and supported the workers in a strike in what industry?

a)

textiles

b)

coal mining

c)

gold mining

d)

oil drilling

46.

Theodore Roosevelt is often called a "Progressive" President. Which of these would BEST be an example of this label?

a)

his refusal to seek a third term as President

b)

he backed the construction of the Panama Canal

c)

his support of "banana republics" in Latin American.

d)

he supported passage of the Food and Drug Act of 1906

47.

With which area of Progressive reform was Gifford Pinchot MOST closely associated?

a)

public education

b)

child labor laws

c)

women's suffrage

d)

environmental conservation

48.

Which 20th century U.S. President is credited with establishing the national forest and park system in order to better manage American resources and wilderness areas?

a)

Jimmy Carter

b)

Harry S. Truman

c)

George W. Bush

d)

Theodore Roosevelt

49.

Which of these BEST describes Theodore Roosevelt's "Square Deal" policies?

a)

a reduction in prices of all luxury items

b)

governmental cheese and bread for all needy Americans

c)

a plan to bring the country out of a severe economic depression

d)

fair business competition and increased welfare for needy Americans

50.

In obtaining passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt would likely have encountered more resistance than the passage of the Hepburn Act because

a)

the Hepburn Act strengthened existing government control of railroads.

b)

the Hepburn Act supported the railroad industry's desire to deregulate.

c)

the Pure Food and Drug Act weakened existing government control of the food industry.

d)

the Pure Food and Drug Act supported the food industry's desire for government oversight.

51.

Although the Hepburn Act passed Congress with relative ease during the term of Theodore Roosevelt, the Pure Food and Drug Act

a)

was enacted under the leadership of President Taft.

b)

was not enacted until the later creation of the Food and Drug Administration.

c)

was overturned in a later decision by the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Taft.

d)

was enacted only after the public outcry following the literary works of muckrakers.

52.

In the presidential election of 1912, he ran as the Democratic candidate. What was his platform?

a)

Socialism

b)

New Freedom

c)

Square Deal

d)

Conservativism

53.

Which Progressive leader is BEST known for his role in the movement to conserve America's natural resources, forests, and wilderness areas?

a)

Horace Mann

b)

Upton Sinclair

c)

Gifford Pinchot

d)

Lincoln Steffens

54.

Which action of President Taft angered the progressives in his party?

a)

signing the Payne-Aldrich Tariff

b)

busting 90 trusts in a four-year term

c)

dismissing James Sherman as his Vice President

d)

appointing Gifford Pinchot as Secretary of Interior

55.

All of these are describing the

a)

the National Park Service.

b)

the Bureau of Land Management.

c)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

d)

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

56.

Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom" dealt with reform along which of these issues?

a)

peace

b)

tariffs

c)

prohibition

d)

segregation

57.

Which of these represents a major deciding factor in the Election of 1912?

a)

Women had gained the right to vote

b)

Hoover was blamed for the Depression

c)

There was a split in the Republican Party

d)

World War I was unpopular in the United States.

58.

Which government agency is responsible for enforcing national consumer protection laws?

a)

Better Business Bureau

b)

Federal Trade Commission

c)

County Sheriff's Department

d)

State Attorney General's

59.

In 1920 Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the ____ Amendment, earning it the nickname "The Perfect 36."

a)

17th

b)

18th

c)

19th

d)

20th

60.

With which of these reform movements was Carrie Chapman Catt MOST closely associated?

a)

Abolition

b)

Child Labor

c)

Labor Unions

d)

Women's Suffrage