Florence Kelley's Progressive Movement

Florence Kelley was a progressive supporter of many causes especially The National Child labor Committee also known as the NCLC. The progressive movement lasted from 1896 to 1916 that was led by whites who were typically middle class citizens. The progressive movement was to show the government the problems it had and to come up with solutions for them.The committee pushed for labor legislation to put a end to the horrors of child labor. The National Consumers League had Kelly as the very first general secretary.This league fought for safety conditions to be improved in work places such as factories. Some of the things that she fought for specifically are to have eight hour work days,for women to be safe in the workplace and for she was
very against sweatshop labor. Her believes were not at all popular due to the fact many companies paid women less than men. Paying women less meant more money the company can save. What finally helped the National Consumers League was the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire , were many young women died due to the exits being barricaded. Florence kelley as well as Jane Addams was a inspiration for women to fight for women's suffrage. Women saw these two strong leaders who played important parts in the progressive movement and knew they had to insure their own right to vote. Women turned their focus to there right to vote during the progressive era. Two other progressive groups were the Socialist Party of America and the industrial Workers of the World also known as IWW.
Both of these groups are radical progressives groups with much of the same principal. The difference was just the way they approached the same problems and how far they would fight for some things The socialist party approached problems by trying to get other socialist in positions such of local and state as well as federal positions. This worked to a extent but it was not as effective as the IWW that was formed by William Haywood. His approach to problems was more direct and used general strikes, general strikes got the group noticed by the government. The IWW was responsible for strikes such as the silk strike,Mesabi Range Iron strike,and the Lawrence Textile Strike. The government did not take kindly to the actions of the IWW and arrested,tar and feathered, and lyned them. There were also other progressive groups such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti saloon League. These two groups both supported the prohibition of Liquor, they focused on this because they saw drinking as a vice that caused men to waste their money and fight each other. They worked there way from bar to bar to city to city to state to state to get support for their belief. They did not even get half of the public's support and still were effective in their mission and got the 19th Amendment to pass, which outlawed the sell of liquor
nationwide. All progressives fought for the end of corruption,waste,and to get rid of politics of inefficiency.Progressive in large cities were focused on changing the machine politics that was wasting American citizens tax money. Progressives also fought for the commission system to be in place which is still used by many states today. The commission system lets there be three, five, or seven commissioners which helped there be less corruption and less wasting of money that could be used in event of a natural disaster or any other need the state may have. Commissioners focused on there responsibilities of taxation, are responsible for taxation, appropriations, ordinances, and other general things.