Question

Explain Three reforms in the US made by the progressive movement of the early 20th century

Answer 1

Progressivism, in the United States, political and social-reform movement that brought major changes to American politics and government during the first two decades of the 20th century.

INTRODUCTION:

Progressive reformers made the first comprehensive effort within the American context to address the problems that arose with the emergence of a modern urban and industrial society. The U.S. population nearly doubled between 1870 and 1900. Urbanization and immigration increased at rapid rates and were accompanied by a shift from local small-scale manufacturing and commerce to large-scale factory production and colossal national corporations. Technological breakthroughs and frenzied searches for new markets and sources of capital caused unprecedented economic growth. From 1863 to 1899, manufacturing production rose by more than 800 percent. But that dynamic growth also generated profound economic and social ills that challenged the decentralized form of republican government that characterized the United States.

Goals Of Progressivism :

The Progressive movement accommodated a diverse array of reformers insurgent Republican officeholders, disaffected Democrats, journalists, academics, social workers, and other activists who formed new organizations and institutions with the common objective of strengthening the national government and making it more responsive to popular economic, social, and political demands. Many progressives viewed themselves as principled reformers at a critical juncture of American history.the progressives sought to come to terms with the extreme concentration of wealth among a tiny elite and the enormous economic and political power of the giant trusts, which they saw as uncontrolled and irresponsible. Those industrial combinations created the perception that opportunities were not equally available in the United States and that growing corporate power threatened the freedom of individuals to earn a living.

Disagreement Within Progressivism :

The great diversity of progressive reformers and the ambiguous meaning of progressivism have led some to question whether the Progressive movement possessed any intellectual or political coherence. Although many leading political leaders and thinkers joined the Progressive Party,that organization’s brief existence (1912–16) underscores the movement’s powerful centrifugal forces. The party was torn apart by fundamental disagreements among its supporters about the role of the national state in regulating society and the economy. For example, the progressives’ 1912 presidential campaign, with the celebrated former president Theodore Roosevelt as its standard bearer, was deeply divided over whether the reform movement should attack legally enforced racial segregation in the South. In the end it did not, instead accepting the right of states and localities to resolve the matter of race relations.

The Legacy Of Progressivism :

Although progressives failed in many respects, their legacy is reflected in the unprecedented and comprehensive body of reforms they established at the dawn of the 20th century.

progressivism gave rise to a reform tradition that forced Americans to grapple with the central question of the founding:

Is it possible to achieve self-rule on a grand scale?

That was the question that had divided the Federalists and Anti-Federalists at the time of the country’s founding. The persistence of local self-government and decentralized political associations through the end of the 19th century postponed the question of whether the framers’ concept of “We the People” was viable. But, with the rise of industrial capitalism, constitutional government entered a new phase. It fell to progressives to confront the question of whether it was possible to reconcile democracy with an economy of greatly enlarged institutions and a society of growing diversity.the Progressive era validated the Anti-Federalist’s fears. Despite progressivism’s championing of mass democracy, its attack on political parties and its commitment to administrative management combined to make American politics and government seem more removed from the everyday lives of citizens. Yet progressive reformers also invented institutions and associations that enabled citizens to confront, if not resolve, the new problems that arose during the Industrial Revolution. Many of the political organizations that have played significant roles in American democracy from the 20th century labour unions, trade groups, and professional, civic, and religious associations were founded during the Progressive era.

CONCLUSION:

Historians debate the exact contours, but they generally date the Progressive Era in response to the excesses of the Gilded Age from the 1890s to either World War I or the onset of the Great Depression.Many of the core principles of the progressive movement focused on the need for efficiency in all areas of society. Purification to eliminate waste and corruption was a powerful element as well as the progressives' support of worker compensation, improved child labor laws, minimum wage legislation, a limited workweek, graduated income tax and allowed women the right to vote.They had little but contempt for the strict construction of the Constitution by conservative judges, who would restrict the power of the national government to act against social evils and to extend the blessings of democracy to less favored lands. The real enemy was particularism, state rights, limited government.