1. Progressive
Reform
8.5-8—Compare the
Progressive movement in
South Carolina with the
national Progressive
movement, including the
impact on temperance;
women’s suffrage; labor
laws; and
educational, agricultural,
health, and
governmental reform.

2. SC’s Progressive Prerogative
• In SC, some believed that disenfranchising African
Americans was a progressive reform of government
• This group believed African Americans were not intelligent
enough to make sound political decisions
• Major progressive issues in SC were:
– Child labor
– Fair treatment for workers
– Temperance
– Women’s suffrage
– Education
• Progressive South Carolinians did not want to align
themselves with the national movement or party
• They preferred to work within the Democratic Party to
make changes in SC
• Problems in mills prompted both Northern & Southern
progressives to propose reforms

3. Muckrakers • The muckrakers provided
detailed, accurate journalis
tic accounts of the political
and economic corruption
and social hardships
caused by the power of big
business in a rapidly
industrializing United
States
• SC’s Columbia
newspaper, The
State, supported child
labor reform with articles
that described the
problems of the workers
• Helped progressives pass
labor laws for a minimum
work age of 10, and
later, 12 years old

4. Health &
Literacy
Reforms
• Disease & illiteracy spread through the mill
villages
• Only 1/3 of SC children went to school for 4
months or less of a year
• SC Education reforms included:
– Compulsory attendance law
– Increased funding
– Establishment of adult school programs by the
state
• Local communities oversaw these reforms
• Most mill workers did not always support these
reforms (Why?)
– Needed the extra income their children made
– Resented being told their children had to go
to school, be inoculated against diseases, or
told their children couldn’t work
• State hospital built on the outskirts of Columbia
for tuberculosis (founded by church women )
• Women’s leagues raised money to build libraries
in communities throughout the state (separate
facilities for blacks & whites)

5. Land Grants
• US government offered to assist
African American farmers, but the
state wouldn’t authorize the
purchase of land
• Claflin College (African American
college) did offer land & support
• Clemson & SC State attempted to
offer new farming techniques&
encouraged diversification of
crops (Why was this important?)
• Sharecropping & crop lien system
tied most farmers to the cash
crop cotton
Claflin College for
African Americans

6. Prohibition/ Temperance
• Most of the nation believed the prohibition or temperance
in the use of alcohol would curb crime & improve family life
• SC (socially conservative) was slow to pass temperance
legislation b/c of Tillman’s control over the government
• Socially conservative farmers supported prohibition, voting
the referendum in favor of prohibition
• Even though the bill passed, Tillman substituted the State
Dispensary system so that the state would control the
distribution of alcohol
• By the late 20th century, 20+ out of 43
counties voted to be “dry”
• 1915, SC passed prohibition law
• 1918, US amended the US Constitution
to outlaw the sale & distribution of alcohol
• Rise of the Moonshiners

7. Women on Reforms
• Took active roles in promoting reforms &
improvement of their communities
• Gained little for securing the right to vote
• (White) Women’s clubs promoted
prohibition, fostered civic responsibility, &
pushed for education reforms
• African American women’s clubs promoted
better health & education in
their communities

8. National Women’s Suffrage Movement
• Initial idea - change local voting laws @
the state level
• Equal Rights Association in SC got little
support
• SC women benefited when the
movement took a national approach
• WW1 suffragettes engaged in:
– Marching
– Picketing
– Being arrested
• Not successful till political leaders
(President Wilson) recognized women’s
contributions in the war effort
• 19th Amendment gave them the right to
vote
• SC did not ratify the amendment till
1967; SC women were able to vote b/c
of ratification by other states (how many
states need to ratify before an
amendment is a law?)

9. Government Reform
• Based on the expansion of democracy &
limitation of power of:
– Corrupt political bosses
– Support for a secret ballot
– Primary elections-direct election
of Senators by voters, not party bosses
– Income tax
• Other “reforms” in SC –designed to limit the
voting power of mill workers
• Several state governors supported a fair tax
system, including an income tax to provide
needed services to the people
• 16th Amendment established the federal income
tax

10. Governor Robert Cooper
–supported raising
state taxes to use
on public
education
–supported a law
that increased the
amount of time
students were to
spend in school to
7 months per year

11. Governor Richard Manning
– Helped establish a fair
tax system that
enforced income taxes
for ALL South
Carolinians
– Established schools
– Improved
administration of
hospitals
– Paved SC’s roads (how
is this progress?)

12. The End
• Despite both Governor’s efforts, graduation
rates from high school in SC were extremely
low due to the limited number of schools in
the state
• WW1 (The Great War) brought an end to the
Progressive Era, but not an end to the
problems it tried to address