Progressivism Movement

Taft knew his techniques would be different from Roosevelt. Unlike Roosevelt Taft did not believe in stretching his presidential powers. In foreign affairs Taft pursued an active role in Latin America. Taft thought of the idea of a World court to deal with issues all over the world. Domestic issues included Taft shunning many progressive republicans by defending the Payne-Aldrich act which continued high tariff taxes. A trade agreement with Canada was pushed through congress with Taft’s help, but unfortunately the Canadians rejected it.

During the latter part of the nineteenth century, presumably around the 1890's, it became known as the Progressive Era, a time of change, reform, and adaptation. As Vernon L. Parrignton put it, it was a "democratic renaissance" (Vernon L. Parrington in The Progressive Movement: Liberal or Conservative). So what was Progressivism? Well, its main goals were to curb corporate power, to end business monopolies, and to wipe out political corruption. They also wanted to democratize electoral procedures, protect working people, and bridge the gap between social classes. They called for reforms such as the referendum, initiative, and the recall. They wanted the Americanization of the immigrant and the

The progressive era was a time period in America after reconstruction that took place from 1900 to 1920. The progressive era focused mainly on social and political reform, trying to fix America's economy by working towards equal conditions for individuals, stopping political corruption and increasing government intervention on social and economic issues. Progressivists were social activists and political reformers working to improve conditions and the treatment of the American people. They believed that the government could be a tool for change. Progressive reform started out as a social movement and later on took a more political stand. The progressive era was successful in the fight to reform the United States by improving industrialization, urbanization cities, and reforming America's social and gender classes.

Progressivism began in the early 1900s. It had roots in several earlier movements such as the Liberal Republican and the Mugwumps. Progressivism centered in cities. Progressives were middle class and well educated. Progressives stayed in the political mainstream. They aimed not to remake American society, but to merely make the existing system work better and to do this they were willing to make compromises. Progressivism offered the middle class, business leader, and farmers a safe reform. By 1900 the American economy was strong. As a result people of all classes felt more confident and more willing to compromise. Progressives made city and state governments more democratic. They also tightened regulations on business. For Progressives, honest and efficient government was an important goal, but not the ultimate one. They saw government as a tool to be used to promote the welfare of all citizens. Regulating business was, for both city and state governments, a major part of that task. Progressives passed more laws aiming at protecting various groups, especially children.

By 1817 the great American experiment was in full swing. America was developing into an effective democratic nation. However as the democracy continued to grow, two opposing political parties developed, the Jeffersonian Republicans and the Federalists. The Jeffersonian Republicans believed in strong state governments, a weak central government, and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. The Federalists saw it differently. They opted for a powerful central government with weaker state governments, and a loose interpretation of the Constitution. The seemingly solid divide between Federalist and Republican would begin to blur during the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. For, neither Republican president was able lead

William Howard Taft spent the majority of his presidency concerning himself with foreign policy and proving to be even more progressive than Roosevelt in terms of busting trusts. Taft was very interested in involving American politics to areas abroad, a foreign policy critics dubbed "dollar diplomacy". Along with the help of Washington, Taft encouraged Wall Street bankers to invest their superfluous money into foreign areas of strategic concern to the United States, such as the Far East and regions critical to the Panama Canal. Their investments would supposedly "strengthen American defenses and foreign policies, while bringing further prosperity to their homeland- and to themselves" (683). Taft's "dollar diplomacy", although not coinciding with the domestic progressivism norm exemplified by Roosevelt, was progressive nonetheless as it replaced the necessity of the big stick. Not only interested with matters abroad, Taft focused his eyes on the issue that made his predecessor famous, busting the trusts. In all, Taft brought 90 suits against the trusts during his four year term, largely outnumbering Roosevelt's 44 suit total in seven and half years. Taft's most famous and publicized antitrust suit was against the U.S. Steel Corporation. This suit also brought the most criticism, surprisingly by Taft's "creator", Theodore Roosevelt. Under Taft's control, trusts were

The year 1912 brought one of the most important presidential elections in United States history. Four nominees confronted one another during this election: Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson, Progressive leader Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, Republican William Howard Taft, and Socialist Eugene Debs. This election also proved to be crucial as it brought forth new considerable and “substantive” discussions concerning the Union and its future. These issues included, whether government should expand democracy, apply more control over businesses, and how solve the labor conflict, among others. Each of the four major presidential candidates took a position on these issues, either choosing to support or oppose such changes. The presidential

President Theodore Roosevelt, a leader of progressivism was highly in favor for a reform at a national level. He believed it was the governments duty to regulated businesses and improve the life's of the people. While the second industrial revolution brought major industrial achievement it also gave corporate bosses excessive amount of power, which they used to bend political parties to their favor and progressives such as president Wilson hoped to rectify this(Document 2). During this progressive movement many Americans focused on reform the country in ways that would creating a limitation on major business, such as Rockefeller Standard Oil, that used a unfair monopoly system to build their empire, which was damaging the economy. Roosevelt being the first to take signification action on trust-busting, such as passing the Hepburn Act which was enacted in 1906 set a precedent for the power of the federal government. The Hepburn Act set a maximum price for the freight rates on the railroads and it extended the reach of the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulation of pipelines, freight companies, sleeping-car companies, bridges and ferries. During this period the federal government passed an incredible amount of legislation that mainly regulated the problems in the society to provide a greater sense of regulation and protection for the people. Problems such as overbearing freight prices, vile food preparation and inconsistent economic status were issues that needed to be amended. Roosevelt also focused of the conservation of natural resources to help further developed the nation land and it's usefulness(Document 6). Anti-trust acts, Federal Reserve Acts were also established to break trusts to help improve market rates and improve the quality of life for the working class through more regulations on businesses by the federal government. Roosevelt trust-busting helped

In the presidential election of 1912 the Democrat Woodrow Wilson, Progressive Theodore Roosevelt, Republican William Howard Taft, and Socialist Eugene Debs all had their opposing views on the issues that concerning the future of democracy in America. Some of the issues were; the Conservation of Natural Resources, Direct Democracy, Labor, Race, Tariff, Trusts and Regulation of Business, and votes for Women. Majority of the people desired change, as would I if I were to have lived during this time period . My vote would have been for Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, as the change he promises is fair compared to the other candidates.

Rather than governmental identification of social problems and their solutions, conservations rely upon the market mechanics of supply and demand and the individual incentive of profit. Because government is exponentially larger today than it was before the Great Depression, conservatives today often critique the status quo and are resistant to further governmental expansion.

Roosevelt, hearing about his partner’s insulting speeches, broke from the Republican’s and formed a third party which he called the Progressive Party. The two duked it out in “The most remarkable political joust that the United States has ever seen…” Meanwhile, very quietly, Woodrow Wilson, under the Democratic Party was campaigning.

In the August before the election, the most successful third party in the 20th century was formed. After Theodore Roosevelt was denied the Republican nomination, he was elected in the newly formed Progressive Party. Theodore was the man for the job saying, "In loyalty, honor and duty there was nothing for me to do but to heed their call and make the race with all my might, regardless of present or future consequences to myself". (Miller 527) With this spirit, this third party had accomplished the unthinkable by becoming in second in the presidential election of 1912. This was the only time in American history that the Republican Party has come in third in both the popular and electoral vote. Sidney M. Milkis stated, "Ostensibly, the "cause" of Progressivism—the platform's commitment to direct democracy and social and industrial justice—gave reform leadership its dignity, indeed its heroic quality."(Claremont Institute) The Progressive Party's accomplishment proved that third parties can have influence on an election and they are not to be taken lightly.

Roosevelt felt President Taft was too conservative and pro-business (Robinson, 2003). In reaction to that, he met with Progressive leaders after returning from Africa and began plotting a political comeback (Robinson, 2003).

The term Progressivism implies a philosophy that promotes change/reform in the current political, economic, and social aspects of society while conservatism stresses gradual change in society but promotes tradition rather than change. The Progressive movement from 1901 to 1917 worked to improve aspects of society that grew out of problems which occurred during the Industrial Age. The goals of the "Progressives" were to stop monopolies, corruption, inefficiency and social injustices. Both progressive acts and amendments were being passed to deal with social ills, corruption in politics and corporate America. The period from 1901-1917 was more a victory for liberalism, mainly "modern liberalism", than a triumph of conservatism due to the

Progressivism generally took two forms: Political and Social reform.What most social reformers found was that they could not rely on people doing the “right” and “moral” thing all the time. If law is going to be used for social reform, who is going to make the law? Politicians. However, politics and politicians were seen as a big part of the problem, not the solution, therefore, Progressives seen that the future for a new America ultimately depended on changing the government and politics.