Opposition To Social Progressivism In The United States

The Progressive Era was a period that changed America greatly due to political reforms and social activism. This era brought forth many changes in America and almost all Americans were involved in this movement somehow. This period began in the late 1800s and lasted until the mid-1900s. The Progressive Era was one of the biggest movements in America. The main point of this movement was to purify the government. Several historians have wrote excerpts on their perspective of the Progressive Era. George Mowry, Joseph Huthmacher, and Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore are three key Progressive historians. In their writings, each of the historians explain who the Progressives were, who was affected during this time, events that took place in the community and government, and other topics.

Although the Progressive Era managed to solve much of the backwater left over from Industrialization, it failed in regards to discrimination. America would have to wait decades later for the issue of civil equality to truly be addressed. Due to the apathy of the politicians during that time, the desperate need for a scapegoat, and the hypocrisy people displayed when confronted with the topic, the movement that was intended to achieve “progress” in society completely forgot about equality.

The Progressive movement occurred after the civil war moving into the 20th Century and into the first World War. It focused on four main goals: Cleaning up politics, limiting power of big businesses, reducing poverty, and promoting social justice. In this paper, I will show some of the attempts to accomplish these goals, and some of the failures of the movements.

1st sub-topic- Progressives believed that the American society was ill due to unjust with the workers and farmers, in other words corruption.

During the Progressive Era, many citizens attempted to stop the racism within former confederate states by exposing the horrors of the wrongdoings, through speeches, protests, literature and other means of expression, who were known as progressives. One progressive, Ida B. Wells. helped to expose lynchings and racial discrimination through the use of bold and clear literature. Another, Booker T. Washington, believed that blacks should become more economically independent, so that discrimination will eventually cease. W.E.B. Dubois, another progressive, wanted and expressed instant racial equality through the use of forming groups and classic literature.

During the Progressive Era, which was known as a large reform movement, there was a widespread across the United States of political reform and social activism. The main focus and goal of the Progressives and their movement was lowering government involvement and eliminating corruption in the government. Progressives reacted to problems caused by large factories and cities. Furthermore, they attacked big corporations, such as the Armour meat-packing company and others, for how harsh their practices were. The progressives exposed these companies and how they treated workers, removed competitors, and set high prices. The meatpacking industry capitalized when the growth of livestock farming in the Midwest started to grow rapidly. Meatpacking companies and industries, such as the Armour meat-packing company, handle the slaughtering, processing, and distribution of animals including cattle and pigs. Although the meatpacking industry created a lot of jobs, working in a meatpacking company was not luxurious because the factories were unsanitary, unregulated, and tremendously dangerous.

When observing the government of this nation, there is one undeniable truth: the government’s primary purpose is for the safety and maintenance of its people. According to Morris I. Leibman in his article “Civil Disobedience: A Threat to Our Law Society”, the demand for equality cannot be converted into a fight for superiority. We must all learn to be equal under the law, and in order for this equality to reach its acme, we must learn to accept the policies that our government sets before us. In fact, as stated by

Most local governments had a laissez faire approach to prostitution and that motivated several social justice reformers to band together during the Progressive Era. Iowa became the first state to pass injunction and abatement laws in 1909. Again, state prostitution laws didn’t exist up until that point in history! Although, every state eventually followed suit by passing those same laws, which allowed police to shut down brothels as “public nuisances” as long as there were complaints from concerned citizens and the judge agreed with their opinion. Consequently, many cities began shutting down their red-light districts, but some notable cities such San Francisco, New Orleans, and San Antonio didn’t enforce the new laws.

In the early 20th century, a fervent desire to allow the United States to escape from the corrupt and unfair politics of the Gilded Age and to improve life for "the employees in utter ignorance of cleanliness or danger to [their] health" (Document B) emerged. This great desire to reform society became known as Progressivism. Under the leadership of three progressive presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson, the Progressive Era reformers and the federal government brought low and moderate national reform, though these measures often fell short of Progressive ideals. Roosevelt took the first steps towards reforming American society with his "square deal," although his willingness to work with corporations and trusts

As a point of comparison of this scenario and the America today, we could cite the implementation of laws which are only thinking about in the interests of a particular group of society, as it was the recent Ordinance of not smoking in public areas, that helps a group of non-smokers, but restricting law through legal action of another group that are smokers, removing the right to do freely what they want.

America prides itself on being one of the most successful democratically governed counties. The idea of the American dream is that all citizens have equal civil liberties and a responsive government. However the effectiveness of democracy is being threatened by increasing inequality in the United States. “The dominant view holds that economic development and modernization are the key to the continued growth of democracy” (Snider and Faris 2001; United Nations, 2011). In the last decade especially the American Society has had significant moments of increasing equality. In 1960 the Civil Rights Movement changed how different races were viewed. Also in the 1960s the Women’s Right Movement push for equal rights between genders. Both of these

Dictionary.com defines progressive as, “Favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters.” Progressivism came about as a reform movement that gathered momentum in the late 19th century and continued for the first decades of the 20th century. It was brought on by the rapid changes caused by the Industrial Revolution and the sudden growth of capitalism in America. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first main figure endorsing the movement. Conservatism is a political philosophy based on tradition and the opposition to sudden change. Conservatives attempt to maintain stability and continuity of an established philosophy. Many are religious conservatives

Progressivism was a wide and varied movement that changed American values and lifestyles having everlasting impact on American history.

The Progressives were a group of reformers who were most active in the first two decades of the 20th century. These reformers were mainly white, middle-class Americans who had been born in the United States. They focused on improving social and political feuds in the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s. They were a vital part of society. They did a lot to help society, such as, they managed to get more control of the national government. They fought to improve working conditions and schools/education in poor neighborhoods. An example of how they did this was, by passing laws saying that all children have to go to school.

1. A permanent union of all working classes; wanted farmer and working to share the same bond.