The Social Reform Movement

In McPherson’s “Antebellum Southern Exceptionalism” essay, it is noted that the argument is focused on the fact that although the South was seen as different and exceptional, it was actually the North who had been changing. The South was only keeping the same values and traditions it had been following for years (McPherson 41). One instance where the North’s change is noted is when McPherson demonstrates the percentage of agricultural work in the North and South; "In 1800, 82 percent of the Southern labor force worked in agriculture compared with 68 percent in the free states. By 1860 the Northern share had dropped to 40 percent while the Southern proportion had actually increased slightly, to 84

The North’s economy was based on textiles, shipping, and skilled trades. Their climate was not suited for the same type of agricultural products that the South produced like cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco. Northern states like New England manufactured and shipped goods like guns, clocks, plows and axes (page 399). One reason for the South’s dependence on slavery is because their economy relied on the existence of slave labor. For example, the cultivation of cotton depended largely on slave labor, with 75% of the crop grown on plantations,

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.

It was during the Recreation Period when the rights of the blacks were not the same as the whites and made their lives difficult. Segregation was very common at the time. It affected many of the black society, including Booker T. Washington. He was a major contributor to the end of segregation, and in 1895, he delivered the Atlanta Compromise Speech. He believed that with the hard work of the blacks, that they would earn and gain the respect of the esteemed whites. The main idea of The Atlanta Compromise Speech was that blacks should obtain social responsibility and need to work from the bottom to top to achieve this. Booker T. Washington’s speech was given to persuade the citizens to end the idea of segregation and promote cooperation

Industrialization after the Civil War was a period where Industrial city were being built, there were jobs for people and the political aspect was having corruption. In this paper the main points in this paper discussed the major aspects of the Industrialization Revolution, such as groups that were affected by the Industrial society, and the affects the life of the average working American. While the Industrial Revolution was a great turning point in the history of mankind, it led humanity to great technological advancements, middle and lower class, African American rights,

As the previous chapters indicate, there are numerous extant studies on the post-World War II shift in partisanship in the American South, with several studies published even before the election of President Kennedy. As such, I know that this will not be the definitive treatment of this subject. Here, I ask this question, in which is embedded a hypothesis: “Did the decline of agriculture in the southern economy contribute to increased Republican Party strength in the American South?” This question, by its very nature, has to account for the economic prosperity brought by such a dramatic economic change. After all, when the Twelve Southerners wrote their defense of the southern way of life, the South was a society of subsistence farmers (Ransom, et al. 1978). People were not used to having much money. The money one made did not seem to be at the whims of public policy, but rather was determined by factors outside of politics, such as the weather and blight. But as the economy changed, so did society; people began to see their wealth in relation to the wealth of others. Subsistence farmers wanted to have food on the table and maybe some extra crops to sell so they could buy shoes once a year from a catalogue for their children. Today, work for most southerners takes place in an office or factory. Farmers still work the land with larger farms, but they no longer are the linchpin of the economy. If crops fail, southern cities such as Houston and Nashville will not economically

After the Civil War there were many factors that contributed the changes that occurred in farming in America. Among them was the drive for the South to renew and regain what had been lost due to the war. Leaders saw it as a time to diversify and turn towards industrialization. The Industrial revolution was underway and with it brought many new inventions that would lead to growth in the farming industry. The wide open space between the East and the West called “The Frontier” was open for homesteading. New immigrants with their farming knowledge and ability were flooding the East and West gates of the U.S. This was a time in American history when Americans

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.

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

Following the Civil War, a second industrial revolution in America brought many changes to the nation’s agriculture sector. The new technologies that were created transformed how farmers worked and the way in which the sector functioned. Agriculture expanded and became more industrial. Meanwhile government policies, or lack of them for a while, and hard economic conditions put difficult strains on farmers and their occupation. These changes in technology, economic conditions, and government policy from 1865 to 1900 transformed and improved agriculture while leaving farmers in hardship.

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

The Northern victory in the Civil War caused “sweeping transformations” in terms of political, economic and social values.(McPherson 13) Politically, the power of the planter class was destroyed and the Republican Party had full control of the national government. Economically, the ideology free-labor and capitalism triumphed over the economic system of slavery.The emancipation of 4 million slaves and “their elevation to civil and political equality with whites” in itself was a tremendous social reform.(McPherson

The decline of slavery in the upper South in the early 19th century can be identified as a profound change which would contribute to the eventual division of the nation. After 1830, the pattern of regional slavery in the South experienced great variations, such that the upper South gradually declined ties with slavery while the lower South distinctively became identified with it. This profound change was brought on by a shift in utilizing free labor rather than slavery to drive economic production in the upper South (Goldfield et. al, p. 285). The climate and geography in states of the upper South overtime proved less

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.

    “Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom- Lucifer” (Alinsky, Personal Acknowledgement). Saul Alinsky was a social reformer during the Cold War era in American History. He published Rules For Radicals in 1971. As the name implies, the manifesto contains some radical ideas on social reform. The manifesto outlines the ethics, tactics and philosophy of how to successfully shift power from the “Haves” to the “Have-nots.” Alinsky created a controversial body of propaganda in the way he challenges core moral values of American beliefs for the time period such as Capitalism and the class system. He further challenges American beliefs by questioning the foundational ideologies of  Americans such as the extent of equality, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  To argue that Saul Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals does not have radical ideals is a misconception as the document challenges the class system created by inequality, however, Saul Alinsky’s vision in Rules For Radicals ethics, tactics and philosophy is represented by ideals of equality, liberty and justice making the manifesto a continuum of traditional American ideals fueled by the idea