Progressivism

Summary “Progressivism was the reform movement that ran from the late 19th century through the first decades of the 20th century, during which leading intellectuals and social reformers in the United States sought to address the economic, political, and cultural questions that had arisen in the context of the rapid changes brought with the Industrial Revolution and the growth of modern capitalism in America. The Progressives believed that these changes marked the end of the old order and required the creation of a new order appropriate for the new industrial age.” http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/07/the-progressive-movement-and-the-transformation-of-american-politics

Thomas West- Heritage Foudation Progressivism as a formative experience in making modern America… “the most important cause was a change in the prevailing understanding of justice among leading American intellectuals and, to a lesser extent, in the American people. Today's liberalism and the policies that it has generated arose from a conscious repudiation of the principles of the American founding.”

Argument “While the Progressives differed in their assessment of the problems and how to resolve them, they generally shared in common the view that government at every level must be actively involved in these reforms. The existing constitutional system was outdated and must be made into a dynamic, evolving instrument of social change, aided by scientific knowledge and the development of administrative bureaucracy.” Thomas West

To what extent did the Progressives Succeed in re-shaping America? Partial success at… 1) making government more responsive to the will of the people 2) curbing big business and 3)addressing the social welfare of the people.

1) Making government more democratic Accomplishments at the Federal level: “made more democratic; hence: -the direct elections of Senators (17th Amendment) -the open primary, the initiative and referendum. -It also had to be made to provide for more revenue; hence, the Sixteenth Amendment and the progressive income tax.” -More inclusive via 19th Amendment- Women’s Suffrage Moderates (Susan B. Anthony) vs militants (Alice Paul) Within the law outside of the law

2) Curbing Big Business Federal level: Companies using monopolistic practices to drive out competition had to be broken up thus: 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Law (little enforcement power) and later the Clayton Anti-trust law (creation of the FTC with regulatory powers). Trust-busting Presidents: T. Roosevelt and Taft Meat Inspection Act & FDA- due to Upton Sinclair’s work State Level: Minimum wage laws 8 hour workdays Child labor laws-due to Lewis Hines’s work

2) Curbing Big Business State Level: Rise of labor unions: practices Knights of Labor-more inclusive, demise at Haymarket Riot AFL-Samuel Gompers-less inclusive IWW- “Wobblies”-radical- Eugene Debs Major Confrontations: shows limited success of union efforts Haymarket, Homestead, Pullman

3) General welfare of the people Federal Level: 18th Amendment- Prohibition Amendment (vs. Temperance) 21st Amendment-repealed Prohibition Tenement Reform Act FDA, Meat Inspection Act Efforts: more successful at state and local level of government YMCA- Social Gospel Movement Jane Addams- Hull house, settlement houses in underprivileged neighborhoods Jacob Riis- How the Other Half Lives-Tenement Reform Gospel of Wealth- Andrew Carnegie Lewis Hines-child labor laws