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Progressive Era

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In the United States, the Progressive Era was a period of reform which lasted from the 1890s to the 1920s.[1]

Progressives strongly opposed waste and corruption, seeking change in regard to worker's rights and protection of the ordinary citizen in general. Initially the movement was successful at local level, and then it progressed to state and gradually national.[2] The reformers (and their opponents) were predominantly members of the middle class. Most were well educated white Protestants who lived in the cities. Catholics, Jews and African Americans had their own versions of the Progressive Movement, led by the likes of George Cardinal Mundelein, Oscar Straus and Booker T. Washington. The Progressives pushed for social justice, general equality and public safety, but there were contradictions within the movement, especially regarding race.[1]

Almost all major politicians declared their adherence to some progressive measures. In politics the most prominent national figures were the Republican politicians Theodore Roosevelt and Robert LaFollette, Sr. and Democratic politicians William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson.[3]

Reform

Significant changes achieved at the national levels included Prohibition with the Eighteenth Amendment and women's suffrage through to the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as the income tax with the Sixteenth Amendment and direct election of Senators with the Seventeenth Amendment.

Muckrakers were journalists who exposed waste, corruption, and scandal in the highly influential new medium of national magazines, such as McClure's. Progressives shared a common belief in the ability of science, technology and disinterested expertise to identify all problems and come up with the one best solution. [4]

Progressives moved to enable the citizenry to rule more directly and circumvent political bosses; California, Wisconsin, and Oregon took the lead.[5] California governor Hiram Johnson established the initiative, referendum, and recall, viewing them as good influences for citizen participation against the historic influence of large corporations on state assembly.[6] About 16 states began using primary elections. Many cities set up municipal reference bureaus to study the budgets and administrative structures of local governments. In Illinois, Governor Frank Lowden undertook a major reorganization of state government.[7] In Wisconsin, the stronghold of Robert LaFollette, the Wisconsin Idea, inspired by Charles McCarthy, used the state university as the source of ideas and expertise.[8]


"Characteristics of progressivism"

  • Favorable attitude toward urban-industrial society
  • Belief in mankind's ability to improve environment & conditions of life
  • Belief in obligation to intervene in economic and social affairs
  • Belief in ability of experts and in efficency of government intervention

Criticism of Progressive Era achievements

The progressive philosophy and the Progressive Era actions taken by government have critics as well. The changes during this era that political figures (with the help of industry figures) implemented to bring about "progress" have affected (some believe negatively) the following areas: birthing and family, schooling, law, journalism, food production and distribution, and many other areas of life.

A few critics: 

    Murray Rothbard: (family[9])
       Faith Gibson: (birthing[10])
  John Taylor Gatto: (schooling[11])  
Janice Rogers Brown: (law[12])        
William L. Anderson: (journalism[13]) 
    Gary D. Libecap: (food[14])

Issues at the federal level

Notable Progressive intellectuals, writers, advocates

References

  1. ^ a b Muncy, Robin. "Women in the Progressive Era". National Park Service. {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate-2008-02-06" ignored (help)
  2. ^ Mintz, Steven (2006). "Learn About the Progressive Era". Digital History. University of Houston. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  3. ^ "Progressive Era". Eagleton Digital Archive of American Politics. Eagleton Institute of Politics. 2004. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  4. ^ "Progressivism". The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.). Columbia University Press. 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-06.}
  5. ^ Bailey, Kennedy & Cohen 1998, pp. 687–688
  6. ^ McDowell, J.L. (2004-04-15). "Would Hiram Johnson Be Pleased? The Unintended Consequences of Progressive Era Reforms". Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The Midwest Political Science Association, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved 2008-02-06. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ "Lowden, Frank Orren". The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.). Columbia University Press. 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  8. ^ "Progressivism and the Wisconsin Idea". Wisconsin Historical Society. 2008-02-06.
  9. ^ "The Progressive Era and the Family". Murray_Rothbard. 2008-02-29.
  10. ^ "The Official Plan to Eliminate the Midwife:1900 -- 1930". Faith Gibson. 2008-03-04.
  11. ^ "A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling". John_Gatto. 2008-02-29.
  12. ^ "A Whiter Shade of Pale". Janice_Brown. 2008-02-29.
  13. ^ "End of Another Progressive-Era Relic". William_L._Anderson. 2008-02-29.
  14. ^ "The Determinants of Progressive Era Reform: The Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906" (PDF). Gary D. Libecap. 2008-02-29.

Further reading

Overviews

  • Bailey, Thomas A.; Kennedy, David M.; Cohen, Lizabeth (1998), The American Pageant (11th ed.), Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0669397288
  • Buenker, John D., John C. Burnham, and Robert M. Crunden. Progressivism (1986)
  • Buenker, John D. and Joseph Buenker, Eds. Encyclopedia of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Sharpe Reference, 2005. xxxii + 1256 pp. in three volumes. ISBN 0-7656-8051-3. 900 articles by 200 scholars
  • Buenker, John D. Dictionary of the Progressive Era (1980)
  • Crunden, Robert M. Ministers of Reform: The Progressives' Achievement in American Civilization, 1889-1920 (1982)
  • Diner, Steven J. A Very Different Age: Americans of the Progressive Era (1998)
  • Glad, Paul W. "Progressives and the Business Culture of the 1920s," The Journal of American History, Vol. 53, No. 1. (Jun., 1966), pp. 75-89. in JSTOR
  • Gould Lewis L. America in the Progressive Era, 1890-1914" (2000)
  • Gould Lewis L. ed., The Progressive Era (1974)
  • Hays, Samuel D. The Response to Help Me, 1885-1914 (1957),
  • Hofstadter, Richard, The Age of Reform (1954), Pulitzer Prize
  • Jensen, Richard. "Democracy, Republicanism and Efficiency: The Values of American Politics, 1885-1930," in Byron Shafer and Anthony Badger, eds, Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000 (U of Kansas Press, 2001) pp 149-180; online version
  • Kennedy, David M. ed., Progressivism: The Critical Issues (1971), readings
  • Lasch, Christopher. The True and Only Heaven: Progress and its Critics (1991)
  • Leuchtenburg, William E. "Progressivism and Imperialism: The Progressive Movement and American Foreign Policy, 1898-1916," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 39, No. 3. (Dec., 1952), pp. 483-504. JSTOR
  • Mann, Arthur. ed., The Progressive Era (1975), readings of women's suffrage (1999)
  • McGerr, Michael. A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920 (2003)
  • Mowry, George. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900-1912. (1954) general survey of era; online
  • Noggle, Burl. "The Twenties: A New Historiographical Frontier," The Journal of American History, Vol. 53, No. 2. (Sep., 1966), pp. 299-314. in JSTOR
  • Pease, Otis, ed. The Progressive Years: The Spirit and Achievement of American Reform (1962), primary documents
  • Thelen, David P. "Social Tensions and the Origins of Progressivism," Journal of American History 56 (1969), 323-341 online at JSTOR
  • Wiebe, Robert. The Search For Order, 1877-1920 (1967).

National politics

  • Howard K. Beale|Beale Howard K. Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power. (1956).
  • Blum, John Morton. The Republican Roosevelt. (1954). Series of essays that examine how TR did politics
  • Brands, H.W. Theodore Roosevelt (2001).
  • Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992).
  • Coletta, Paolo. The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1990).
  • Cooper, John Milton The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. (1983).
  • Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt (1991).
  • Harbaugh, William Henry. The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. (1963).
  • Harrison, Robert. Congress, Progressive Reform, and the New American State (2004).
  • Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 8-9-10.
  • Kolko, Gabriel. "The Triumph of Conservatism" (1963).
  • Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972).
  • Morris, Edmund Theodore Rex. (2001), biography covers 1901-1909
  • Mowry, George E. Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement. (2001).
  • Pestritto, R.J. "Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism." (Rowman and Littlefield, 2005).
  • Sanders, Elizabeth. Roots of Reform: Farmers, Workers and the American State, 1877-1917 (1999).
  • Wilson, Joan Hoff. Herbert Hoover, Forgotten Progressive (1965).
  • Bert,Antwon. "Progressive action" (1998)

State, local, ethnic, gender, business, labor

  • Abell, Aaron I. American Catholicism and Social Action: A Search for Social Justice, 1865-1950 (1960),
  • Bruce, Kyle and Chris Nyland. "Scientific Management, Institutionalism, and Business Stabilization: 1903-1923" Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 35, 2001
  • Buenker, John D. Urban Liberalism and Progressive Reform (1973).
  • Buenker, John D. The Progressive Era, 1893-1914 (1998), in Wisconsin
  • Feffer, Andrew. The Chicago Pragmatists and American Progressivism (1993).
  • Frankel, Noralee and Nancy S. Dye, eds. Gender, Class, Race, and Reform in the Progressive Era (1991).
  • Hahn, Steven. A Nation under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration (2003).
  • Huthmacher, J. Joseph. "Urban Liberalism and the Age of Reform" Mississippi Valley Historical Review 49 (1962): 231-241, in JSTOR; emphasized urban, ethnic, working class support for reform
  • Link, William A. The Paradox of Southern Progressivism, 1880-1930 (1997).
  • Montgomery, David. The Fall of the House of Labor: The workplace, the state, and American labor activism, 1865-1925 (1987).
  • Muncy, Robyn. Creating A Feminine Dominion in American Reform, 1890-1935 (1991).
  • Lubove, Roy. The Progressives and the Slums: Tenement House Reform in New York City, 1890-1917 Greenwood Press: 1974.
  • Rodgers, Daniel T. Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (2000). stresses links with Europe
  • Rosenzweig, Roy. Eight Hours For What We Will: Workers & Leisure in an Industrial City, 1870-1920 (1983).
  • Stromquist, Shelton. Reinventing 'The People': The Progressive Movement, the Class Problem, and the Origins of Modern Liberalism, University of Illinois Press, 2006. ISBN 0-252-07269-3.
  • Thelen, David. The New Citizenship, Origins of Progressivism in Wisconsin, 1885-1900 (1972).
  • Wesser, Robert F. Charles Evans Hughes: politics and reform in N.Y. 1905-1910 (1967).
  • Wiebe, Robert. "Business Disunity and the Progressive Movement, 1901-1914," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 44, No. 4. (Mar., 1958), pp. 664-685. in JSTOR
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