I.
A social-economic-moral-political movement known as Progressivism
dominated American life in the first 20 years of the 20th
Century.
a.
Progressivism was not one movement, but many.
b.
Progressivism is now most often viewed as fundamentally conservative
in nature, but at the time it was viewed as liberal, even radical at times.
c.
Progressives stood for reform of American society in the arenas of
politics and law, economics, civil rights, labor rights, and moral
attitudes.
d.
Progressivism, like Populism, was a “ground-up” movement—it began at
the local level and worked its way up to the highest levels of government.
Unlike Populism, it involved both the emerging American middle class and the
intellectual elites—as well as the Populist constituencies of Labor and
Agriculture.
e.
Progressivism was a response to the problems created by the rapid
growth and industrialization of American in the three decades following the
civil war.
II.
The first waves of the Progressive movement involved political reform
and the rights of workers vis-à-vis large corporations.
a.
Municipal reform was undertaken in large cities across the county to
destroy the powers of the political Machines that had long dominated city
politics.
b.
Cities began developing infrastructure for providing social services
to the poor and unemployed.
c.
Some of the Machines—such as Tammany Hall in New York—actually
reformed themselves by allying themselves with the concerns of social
reformers.
d.
At the state level, the “Wisconsin Plan,” developed in Wisconsin by
Governor Robert Lafollette, served as a model for other states across the
country.
e.
The Wisconsin Plan consisted of political reforms such as Direct Election of
Senators, Direct Primaries, the Right of Recall, The Initiative and
Referendum. 18 states would implement most of the Wisconsin plan by 1918—all
states implemented parts of it.
f.
The plight of labor was another target of early progressive reform
efforts. Numerous states adopted laws forbidding child labor, placing limits
on the number of hours people could work (8 hour workday became law in
several states), and forced companies to introduce systems of workman’s
compensation—to take care of workers who were injured on the job, or the
families of workers who were killed on the job.
III.
The early reform efforts were inspired and reinforced by the work of
the muckrakers.
a.
Muckrakers were journalists who did sensationalistic investigative
journalism into the conditions people were subjected to in their everyday
and work life.
i. In his book The Jungle, Upton Sinclair exposed the horrors
of poor immigrants working at a meat
packing plant in Chicago. Eventually, the expose led to the passing of the
US Clean Food and Drug Act.
ii. Ida Tarbell, in her book, The History of Standard Oil,
exposed the ruthless methods J.D. Rockefeller had used to create his huge
oil empire and to drive others out of business. This led to the passage of
the Clayton Anti-Trust Act and eventually, the break-up of Standard Oil into
seven smaller companies.
iii. William Allen White, in The Shame of the Cities, exposed
the corruption of machine politics in US cities and the costs it imposed on
everyone, especially the urban poor.
IV. Progressivism
percolated up to the national level more slowly, but eventually it found
expression not only in the US Congress, but in the White House.
a.
Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson were all
Progressive Presidents.
b.
While Roosevelt may have been the most vociferous, Wilson was the
most effective.
V.
National level Progressivism was focused on different areas than
local.
a.
Perhaps the best way to understand Progressivism at the national
level is to understand it as a “Cult of Efficiency.”
b.
Efficiency was the key word—Progressives wanted to modernize
everything about the way government worked and to increase efficiency
throughout society.
VI.
The National government was also key to the effort to getting the
corporations under control. Numerous pieces of national legislation were
passed controlling various aspects of business.
VII.
National Progressivism resulted in the implementation of effective
anti-trust laws, the end of child labor, the reduction of tariffs, the
creation of the Federal Reserve System, the Right to Vote for women, and
Prohibition—among many other reforms.
VIII.
The Progressive movement marked the end of laissez-faire government
in America and the beginning of public acceptance—indeed demand for—an
active government that looked out for the welfare of common people.
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