The Reform Movement: From Classical Reform to the Present

Paul C. Light’s (2006) article, “The Tides of Reform Revisited: Patterns in Making Government Work, 1945-2002”, has revealed to the readers how the current landscape of administrative reorganization is and how the sphere is gradually being dominated by four major competing ideas, viz. scientific management, the war on waste, the watchful eye, and liberation management. Light (2006), has explained how at the very heart of the American reform policies lays the four tides of reform ingrained with four philosophies. Light (2006) has stated that “the Constitution contains harbingers of all four “tides,” or philosophies, of administrative reform that populate the federal statute books today. It spoke to the logical of scientific management by creating a single executive with tight day-to-day control over the officers and departments of government. It laid basis for future wars on waste by requiring an annual accounting of expenditures and revenue while reserving the appropriation power for Congress.” Light (2006) has also stated that, the Constitution also “emphasized the need for a watchful eye on government excess through an elegant system of checks and balances. And it invented future efforts to liberate government from excessive regulation by vesting all executive powers in the president.” It is noteworthy that, Light (2006) has tried to make the readers understand how in the recent decades, all the four tides have accelerated in pace and intensity and how such acceleration

The reform of Judaism began in Germany in 1819, but emerged independently in Britain in 1842 with the establishment of the West London Synagogue. One in six of all Jews in the country now belong to the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain. Like the emergence of Protestantism, Reform Judaism developed partly out of a need for internal religious changes and partly because of wider factors operating in society at large.

From 1900-1920, there was an era of reform by progressives, as a result, the federal government brought reforms at the national level. Two major types of reforms were Social reform, and Political reform. Socially, there was Women's suffrage, which gave women the right to vote. There was also meat inspection. This ensured that there were more sanitary practices in food industry. Politically, the direct election of Senators with the 17th amendment. This gave Americans the right to chose their own senators.

During the time from the 1890s to the 1920s a period of social and political reform took place in the United States known as the Progressive Era. “The era saw the expansion of political and economic freedom through the reinvigoration of the moment for woman suffrage, the use of political power to expand workers rights’ and efforts to improve democratic government by weakening the power of the city bosses and giving ordinary citizens more influence on legislation.” The progressive reformers from this time gained a majority of their support from the education middle-class of urban areas. Another term used to describe these reformers is Muckrakers.

The era of progressive reform was short, 1900 to about 1917, but much was accomplished and done in this short time span. Evils like child labor and social ills were thought curable by progressive optimists like John Spargo and Upton Sinclair but the main focus was urban America. The progressive reform movement was a period of awareness where people sought to change the injustices of society for example, Anti-Trust laws, recognition of environmental destruction and conservation of national park land, and improving the American way of life through significant areas of reform like women’s suffrage.

The validity of the statement, “Reform movements in the United States sought to expand democratic ideals” can be assessed regarding many reformations in the time period of 1825-1850 including the American temperance movement, the women’s rights movement, and the abolitionist reform. All of which very much expanded core democratic ideology, such as equality, liberty for all, and the pursuit of happiness. All these reforms share the qualities necessary to attempt to make the United States a more civilized, utopian society. Social reform was a necessity when it came to expanding democratic ideals.

Gender inequality and slavery were the two biggest evils that reformers tried eliminating in the time period. The abolition of slavery had many reformers behind it. Two very important men trying to achieve this were Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, a white man, going to show there was support from all types of people. Two of the women’s rights advocates were Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sarah Grimke. They both achieved great things to help out their cause. Although slavery and gender equality are arguably the most important evils in the time period there were still many other. One of these was alcohol. During the time period the Temperance

Between the years 1825 and 1850, the US underwent a series of social and political reforms which attempted to democratize American life. Reform movements during this period of Jacksonian Democracy attempted to dissolve disunity in the social ladder and pushed for equal rights among all citizens. Stemming from the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century, many of these reforms were backed by religious ideals over democratic principles. At the forefront of the cause, however, was the hope for a more democratic system in which there was not only popular sovereignty, but a sense of social leveling.

The Progressive movement was very influential in many ways to early twentieth century America. Businesses became safer, and much more respectful towards their employees. Society accepted moral changes, and became safer communities. The government was affected by the Progressive movement becoming much more democratic, and caring more for the needs of its people. The Progressive movement was successful in reforming American business, society and its government policies in many different instances.

The most important reform during the Progressive era was the Pure Food and Drug act, made by Theodore Rooselvelt, because it gave the federal government greater regulatory power over food product in the market. Theses acts of Congress earned support of the people, who benefited from safer goods products, from workers, who benefited from safer working conditions, and from industry, who saw the potential for restoring competitiveness in the market. As you can see, this inspection of food consumption has reduced the number of people killed, as food becomes safer and there are no more spoiled foods on the

The Progressive Era is a period when varied reforms that took place throughout the United States over the first two decades of the twentieth century. These changes were enacted by the U.S. Congress under the leadership of three consecutive presidents—Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson it was also a movement that generated a variety of changes at the state and local levels as well. Large areas of economic, social, and moral reform among southern states included prohibition, woman suffrage the regulation of child labor, campaigns to abolish the convict lease system. Reforms were made to the penal system, educational opportunities and social services for marginalized groups. The black voters were revoked and considered

In my opinion, the most important reform during the Progressive Era was his antitrust policy. Monopolies and trust, most of the time are very bad for consumers. First, because their is only one company controlling them, they can set any price they choose regardless of the demand, because they know that the consumer has no other choice whatsoever. Considering this, they will raise cost for consumers leading to inflation. Now, one of the many problems caused by this marketing controlling, is that sadly, they have no economic reason to improve or revolutionize their product, which means that as long as they are up, consumers will not have any new product coming from them. Being so, when Teddy Roosevelt created the antitrust act, he immediately

After the industrialization of the nation, problems arose because of many new circumstances. The progressive reform efforts were an integral part of United States history. Reforms such as the Antitrust Movement and the Clean Food Push helped protect the public from unsafe conditions, both in the business and in the market.

During the 19th Century there were many reform movements that took place. Reform movements were movements that were organized to reform or change the certain way of things. Reform movements did not always work but the ones that did greatly changed the way our nation operates today. There were three major reform movements that have altered the nation; the abolitionist movement, the temperance movement and the women 's suffrage movement. Without these movements, and the great leaders involved, many common rights would not exist today.

This phrase translates to “repairing the world” (What is Reform). In support of this mission, Reform Jews strive to bring peace, liberty, and amity to all people of the world through the works of good and charitable deeds. In addition to carrying out good deeds, Reform Jews meet weekly for the welcoming of Sabbath on Friday evenings in services. Sabbath is seen as an everlasting sign of the covenant between the Jewish people and God. It is often viewed as a point in which the Jewish people can discard of the cares or burden of the previous week and welcome a peaceful state of rest (Fisher 285). These services are offered at 7:00P.M. on Friday and 9:00A.M. on Saturday at Temple Beit HaYam. The Shabbat proceedings are lead by rabbis of Reform Judaism. At Temple Beit HaYam, the services are administered and lead by Rabbi Matthew Durbin. The congregation is committed to “avodah”, or worship through prayer and observance, both while in and outside of the service (Temple Beit HaYam). As supplement to the services, the Temple also offers educational services for both the youth and adult members of the congregation. This educational program aims to teach Judaism as an active experience in the lives of its students. The congregation also recognizes the importance of social unity and the value of wholesome fun. The Reform denomination of Judaism remains to be seen in easy contrast to other Jewish denominations for some of these