Progressivism : A Great Number Of Urban Middle Class

During the Progressive Era, pressure from labor, suffrage, and conservation movements profoundly changed the course of American history. Many of the reformers' ideas clashed with the male-dominated, capitalist economic structure present at the turn of the century. Some of the intended reforms opposed the current system, but the level of social unrest necessitated change. Businessmen and activists alike initiated the reforms during the Progressive Era. Government, due to the intention of calming the common man and quieting the seemingly more and more vocal middle class, supported them. In the final analysis, from the year 1900 to 1920, Progressive Era reformers were successful in bringing about reform to the United States.

The progressive Era was times in History were local state and federal government took a leap forward in power and activism. In addition, the progressive era, was a time of development of new reforms and changes for America. Progressivism handles a wide range of problems and struggle for America. Such problems were created by unstructed industrialization, urbanization and immigration. As well as, the unfavorable distribution of power and wealth. Progressives believed strongly that problems such as these needed immediate action. Progressives existed in churches, organized labor, local political life, organizations and progressives of high education. Progressives wanted to make America better through inniatives, arranged action, idealism and social scientific research. Progressive had a tendency to expect the best possible outcome of situations. By, the 1920’s, progressives put in effect, changes of all aspects of society and government. Nevertheless, progressives had unhonorable qualities as well. They were biased of class and prejudiced against races.

According to the United States, democracy and Christianity were principal elements of a successful society. During the end of the eighteen-hundreds and throughout the beginning of the nineteen-hundreds, America tried to colonize and reform less fortunate nations. Following a social-Darwinist point of view, Americans took their “God-given” superiority to those who were incapable of establishing their own self-government (Doc. H). After much debate, American foreign policy towards the Philippines and Cuba was that it is our duty to rule them until they could rule themselves. We pledged to save the indigenous people from their savage, bloody, and corrupt ways of life. President McKinley’s foreign policy towards the Philippines stated that “they would soon have anarchy and misrule…there was nothing left to do but take them all, educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize them” (Doc. A).

The Progressive Era was a time period between the years 1900-1920 and it marked a time in American history in which society was bursting with enthusiasm to improve life in the industrial age by making political and social changes through government action that ultimately led to a higher quality of life for American citizens. Progressives were known for their beliefs in limiting the power of big business, strengthening the power of the states, and were advocators against corruption and social injustice. These progressive reformers as well as the Federal Government successfully managed to improve the quality of life and establish a precedent for a move active government, although neither was completely successful in solving significant

When the Monroe Doctrine was first implemented many Americans felt a sense of duty. They felt obligated to protect lands near their country who also wanted the same dream Americans once had. Independence. However as time went on America slowly became a country hungry for power, materials, and most of all land. Resorting to using cheap tricks and methods to provoke another country to go into a war that they will surely lose against the United States. Due to this, the foreign policy actions the United States implemented did reflect the selfish imperialist ambitions they had due to the wars they got into, America’s belief that it was their “destiny” to gain land, and the cunning tricks they used to take land from an independent nation

President Monroe wrote in the Monroe Doctrine, “ . . . .We owe it therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. . . .” This showed that America was taking all other countries as a threat as long as they tried to control areas in their hemisphere. This meant America was all about keeping their own country safe.

During Roosevelt’s time in office, he strengthened the United States’ ties to countries around the world. T.R. was a foreign-policy activist. He involved himself in the relations between the Dominican Republic and the European nations that the country owed money to. The president was afraid that European powers would start to collect their money by using force and Roosevelt didn’t want that to happen in Latin America. He asserted the United States’ power in the Western hemisphere by creating what is known as the ‘Roosevelt Corollary’ in 1904. This corollary states that “although the United States had not territorial ambitions in this hemisphere, cases of “chronic wrongdoing” on the part of a Latin American country that might invite occupation by a European

In this essay I will be explaining to you all on how the Monroe Doctrine came to be, who the document was authored by and how they gained the inspiration and where he got his ideas for this document from. I will explain what nations were affected by the policies of the Doctrine which I will explain in a little bit. I will explain how this document helped the Mexican President Juarez in successfully revolting against the Emperor Maximillian of the French. I will also cover how the British affected the document and also how President Roosevelt wanted to extend the Doctrine with his “Roosevelt Corollary.”

Another issue that created a crack in the outward appearance of harmony during “The Era of Good Feeling” was President Monroe’s foreign policy of isolationism. In the Monroe doctrine, President Monroe states, “we should consider any attempt on their [European powers’] part to extent their system to any portion of the hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety”. This statement makes the United States seem like a protector of Latin nations. However, the United States was not looking to protect Latin nations from European powers; the United States was looking to protect itself from European acts of aggression. This misconstrued view that the United States was the protector of Latin nations helps people buy into the false belief that “The Era of Good Feeling” really was a time of harmony in the United States.

Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency marked the beginning of a very liberal period in American history. This new ‘Progressive Era’ was mobilized largely by the middle class as an attempt to put an end to the problems created by the period of excess that was the Gilded Age. Believing that big business was ruining democracy, and assuming a moral obligation to shield the poor and downtrodden from corrupt capitalists, the Progressives commenced an era of sweeping reforms. From the outset, the Progressive movement targeted domestic issues such as political machines, monopolies, and factory regulations. While President Roosevelt—the face of the Progressive movement—frequently became entangled in global affairs during his time in the Whitehouse, the focus of Progressives during this stage remained primarily on domestic concerns. It was not until after Roosevelt’s presidency that the Progressives followed their patron’s lead, becoming active participants in foreign affairs. Theodore Roosevelt’s exit from the spotlight and subsequent return to politics in 1912 caused the Progressives to split from the Republican Party, and when war broke out in Europe in 1914, Progressives were then divided amongst themselves regarding how the Great War should be handled from afar. As foreign policy issues became a larger concern than domestic issues, the Progressives shifted their attention away from home and toward foreign policy.

Progressivism originated as the optimistic vision that society was capable of improvement, and that continued growth and advancement were the nation's destiny. This, however, would require direct, purposeful human intervention in social and economic affairs. Progressive reformers wished to limit the disperse authority and wealth by empowering the government to regulate or break up trusts at both state and national levels. They also believed in the importance of social cohesion. Individuals were not autonomous; rather they are each part of a great web of social relationships. Therefore they pushed for reforms to help women, children, industrial workers, immigrants, and even African Americans to

During the Progressive Era from 1890-1920, America saw three new presidents: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. This period of time is known as the Progressive Era due to the political and social changes made to move away from a laissez-faire government to a more active government by the administrations of these presidents. Prior to this period, Americans had to suffer through poor working conditions, low wages, social and class inequality and become victims to large corporations that took advantage of the people. In particular, the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson established the key principles and ideas of economic reform and social reform, which would end up returning the power from the manipulative corporations back to the government, establishing a model for a more active role for the federal government, and improve the lives of Americans. However, even though Roosevelt and Wilson had similar intentions of reforming America, they both had different means of achieving it.

While the Cold War does not mark a significant distinction from US involvement in Latin America pre-Cold War, the inclusion of ideology in US foreign policy decisions did mark a change in attitudes and focus. While US policy can be described as rational to a certain point, the Cuban dilemma caused an irrational fear in US foreign policy makers to avoid a second-Cuba. The fear of a “second Cuba” can be seen in the various interventions by the US in Latin America during this period.

The economy was expanding and the US became more interested in the well being of surrounding economies. The Dominican Republic was in debt to various European nations at this time. They were having problems paying their debts and chose to stop paying them. In response to this issue, President Theodore Roosevelt formulated an extension to the Monroe Doctrine. The Roosevelt Corollary, as it became to be known, gave the US the power to intervene with European powers coming west in an attempt to collect debts.2 The fear was that Europe, in an attempt to collect debts, would occupy and control the country in debt. With the Panama Canal on the scope, this would hinder economic stimulus in the US. President Roosevelt’s beliefs are best captured in the Corollary when he stated:

In 1940 the U.S. gave Brazil a 45 million dollar credit to build and operate a steel mill. They also accepted Mexico’s expropriation of U.S. oil companies with in Mexico and helped write the Venezuelan oil bill of 1943 which required U.S. oil companies to share at least 50 percent of their profits .This was a big step in the right direction for the United States to repair relations with Latin America. Even though there were some Latin American countries who were skeptical of the situation, eleven countries signed the agreements including Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, Colombia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Venezuela . These agreements were to establish more trust in the United States for the Latin American countries, but some Latin Americans were unconvinced of the United States’ intentions.