How does progressivism succeed and fail

Greed, corruption, and outright bribery were common among many politicians. A New York Times editorial of July 3, , complained that "Respectable and well-meaning men all over the State and especially in this city, are going about saying: 'What is the use?

You only replace one lot of rascals by another, generally worse. This was always to the benefit of the railroad. In many states at this time, railroads and other large corporations saw to it that legislatures did nothing to interfere with their profits, power and privilege. By the early 's, reform minded individuals and groups spoke out increasingly against the "robber barons," as the big bankers, industrialists and railroad men were called.

Farm, labor, and small business groups along with ministers and journalists charged that the enormous wealth of big business was secured by exploiting hardworking Americans. Political cartoonists portrayed big corporations like the Southern Pacific Railroad as grasping octopuses. A particular target of the reformers were city and state governments that often cooperated or were regularly paid off by the big business interests.

The period from to was a time of intense reform activity in the United States. Many different reform movements existed at this time, ranging from farmers who wanted to regulate railroad freight rates, to women fighting for the right to vote, to city social workers trying to improve the health of immigrant children.

Generally, these advocates of reform were middle class professionals and small businessmen, both Republicans and Democrats. They wanted changes to take place in American society, but not radical or revolutionary changes. They wanted government to take a more active role in regulating big business. They also realized that before meaningful changes could take place, the stranglehold over local and state government by corrupt politicians and the huge corporations had to be broken.

The reformers of this time called themselves "progressives. The first successes of the progressive reformers were achieved in city governments. Corrupt city officials were publicly exposed, voted out of office, and replaced by reform leaders. Under progressive administrations, cities like Toledo, Ohio, established the minimum wage, the eight-hour day, and paid vacations for workers.

Some cities took over the ownership of gas, water and electric utilities. In many cities, employees were hired and promoted through a civil service system that eliminated the old method of paying off political debts with overpaid city jobs. City government itself was reformed. Party politics was removed in some cities when candidates for mayor, city council, and the school board ran in nonpartisan elections.

In spite of their successes at the local level of government, progressives realized that it was at the state level that the most important changes had to take place. The Progressive Movement won its first important victory at the state level of government with the election of Robert M. La Follette as governor of Wisconsin in From to , La Follette spearheaded numerous progressive reforms.

His leadership helped Wisconsin establish a railroad regulation commission to set fair freight rates. A graduated state income tax that taxed the rich at a higher rate was passed into law.

A pure food law was voted in. A corrupt political practices act became law. A direct primary system was enacted allowing political party members rather than party bosses to nominate candidates. The astounding success of La Follette's progressivism in Wisconsin swept the country. Soon, other reform-minded leaders were adapting La Follette's ideas to their own states.

In California, Hiram Johnson was elected governor in after attacking the domination of state government by the Southern Pacific Railroad. His failures while in office represented the essence of the progressive movement; the League of Nations, the "Progressive" income tax, universal healthcare, prohibition and The Federal Reserve.

Freedom was not in the nature of President Wilson. It falls, not under the theory of the universe, but under the theory of organic life. It is accountable to Darwin" — Woodrow Wilson. In contrast to Wilson, Coolidge had done just the opposite. His actions were on route to change U. This is simply not true, to create economic prosperity there must be action taken on both; cut spending and cut taxes.

Coolidge had accomplished both and created an immediate boom within the economy. His strong opposition to progressivism characterized his successful presidency, by obtaining economic stability. Which led to what has been previously stated, the Roaring Twenties.

This time period gave way to technological advances that revolutionized America such as in home telephones, cars, radios and the airplane. Unfortunately Coolidge and his policies would be short lived after the death of his son, Herbert Hoover, who had been despised by Coolidge and labeled as unfit for office, took his place. Like Wilson and Roosevelt before him, Hoover took the progressive route and went in a fundamentally different direction, creating the second and more legendary depression.

With the economic crash of and the seemingly endless spiral into economic destabilization, one would think the American people would learn from history and past mistakes.

Progressivism has no place in the U. We must band together and educate the unaware of the falsehoods that liberals and progressives feed through mass media outlets into the minds of the impressionable citizens. Give them true hope and change through economic freedom and limited government. Furthermore, racism often pervaded most Progressive reform efforts, as evidenced by the suffrage movement. Civil rights and Progressive reforms were thus mostly exclusionary projects that had little real influence on each other in the early twentieth century.

The Progressive reformers of the time focused little of their effort on improving the lives of African Americans and other minorities. Additionally, the Progressive Era was characterized by loose, multiple, and contradictory goals that impeded the efforts of reformers and often pitted political leaders against one another, most drastically in the Republican Party. For instance, national Progressive leaders such as Roosevelt argued for increased federal regulation to coordinate big business practices while others, such as Wilson, promised to legislate for open competition.

At the local, municipal, and state levels, various Progressives advocated for disparate reforms whose concerns ranged as wide as prisons, education, government reorganization, urban improvement, prohibition, female suffrage, birth control, improved working conditions, labor, and child labor.

Although significant advancements were made in social justice and reform on a case-by-case basis, there was little local effort to coordinate reformers on a wide platform of issues. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. The Progressive Era: — This rise in AFL prominence allowed it to not only strictly regulate its own members, but also to influence the development of anti-immigration policy over the course of the early twentieth century.

While the AFL preached a policy of egalitarianism in regard to African-American workers, by , it was actively discriminating against them. For instance, the AFL sanctioned the maintenance of segregated locals within its affiliates—particularly in the construction and railroad industries—a practice that often excluded black workers altogether from union membership and thus from employment in organized industries.

Generally the AFL viewed women and black workers as competition, as strikebreakers, or as an unskilled labor reserve that kept wages low. Arthur allowing the U. The AFL also initiated one of the first organized labor boycotts against Chinese immigrant workers, by putting white stickers on the cigars made by unionized white cigar rollers while simultaneously discouraging consumers from purchasing cigars rolled by Chinese workers.

By the outbreak of World War I, the AFL vigorously opposed unrestricted immigration and capitalized on the fears of white workers who believed that an influx of unskilled immigrants would flood the labor market and lower wages. As a result, the AFL intensified its opposition to all immigration from Asia and was instrumental in passing and enforcing immigration restriction bills from the s to the s, such as the Emergency Quota Act and the Immigration Act of Privacy Policy.

Skip to main content. The Progressive Era: — Search for:. The Limits of Progressivism. The Limits of Progressivism Although the Progressive Era was a period of social progress, it also had multiple, contradictory goals that impeded reform efforts. Learning Objectives Describe the impediments that hindered a more robust Progressivist movement. Key Takeaways Key Points Despite its many contradictory goals, the Progressive Era saw improvements in areas such as labor relations, healthcare, and justice.

Often, Roosevelt, a Progressive, passed laws that restrained businesses, while Wilson passed laws that supported open competition. These laws came into conflict with each other. The Progressive movement was comprised of white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants WASPs who often sought to reform minorities and people from other religious and cultural backgrounds, leaving the shift of power in the hands of the WASPs.

End of an Era In addition to internal contradictions that limited the scope and success of Progressives, the movement as a whole lost popular support around the time of World World I. Progressivism for Whites Only African Americans, immigrants from Asia, and Native Americans were largely excluded from the focus of Progressive reform. Learning Objectives Discuss how Progressivism left some groups behind.