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History of the United States Naomi Biden
Take home essay, Spring 2011 3/5/11
As the country rapidly industrialized and urbanized, a struggle to maintain order and improve the standard of living defined a new period in American history. Between 1890 and 1920 a substantial amount of political, economic and social reforms were made by a new group of American people. They were called ‘progressives’ because of their optimistic belief in the ability of society to improve. The most significant improvements were social ones however the success of social reformers can be almost entirely attributed to the efforts of political reformers. During the progressive era countless acts, tariffs and changes were made on federal and state levels throughout the country, as people fought to save “a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin” from chaos. Progress is defined as a movement towards a goal and although the goals of the era were diverse and furthermore controversial the thirty-year period was one of astronomical political, social, and economic innovations in the United States. Progressivism began as an urban white middle class movement varying in each state and centered in cities. However as reform movements gained publicity and energy they subsequently moved to the front and center of the national stage. The presidency, by example of Theodore Roosevelt, became the most significant and efficient mode of change, and laisses faire methodology was nevermore a sufficient means of bettering society.
The momentum of the progressive movement was first articulated by a new division of journalists dedicated to exposing social, economic, and political injustices. These investigative reporters initially focused on uncovering big trusts and the Rail Road industry as corrupt. In 1906 after an expose on the overly involved Rail Road corporations the government addressed the demands of the people and authorized the Hepburn Act, setting maximum railroad rates so that they were regulated and set at fair prices. The most notable economic reforms were those allowing for the distinguishing between good trusts and bad trusts, and good big industry, from ‘corrupt’ big industry. For the most part President Roosevelt felt it was his personal responsibility to decide what was beneficial to the economic welfare of the nation and what was not. He supported regulation as opposed to complete obsoletion of trusts. At a time when the senate was portrayed as “of the monopolists, by the monopolists and for the monopolists”, a notable faction of progressives understandably leaned towards antimonopoly. Antimonopoly was the belief that wealth and power should not be concentrated but rather widely spread. This notion was especially popular with farmers and middle class urban citizens. While recognizing the potential threats of monopolies, President Roosevelt also realized the importance of some big industry. The Sherman Anti Trust act, passed in 1890 was essentially what allowed and what continues to allow for the restriction on monopoly and enables antitrust litigation.
While government led the march to ‘economic reform’, the people focused more narrowly on what affected them directly, wages and hours. In the 1890’s nearly three-fourths of New York’s population lived in poverty in the tenements. The divide between the rich and the poor was carved deeply into the streets of the cities. As despair entrenched the people they began to believe that the “system” that was the “evil offspring of public neglect” and “private greed” had “come to stay, a storm-centre forever”. Reformers, particularly female ones refused to accept the vehement living conditions of the ‘other half’ or as was the case in the 1890’s, the other three-fourths. Economic reform was the most difficult to achieve and the slowest to take effect. Woodrow Wilson once said “society is looking itself over, in our day, from top to bottom, we are in a temper to reconstruct economic society”. If destroying big trusts and eliminating monopolies was the progressive goal they failed to achieve it however they did succeed in exposing corruption, limiting big industries role in government affairs, and to an extent leveling the economic ‘playing field’.
Social reform was perhaps the most publicized, successful and passionate movement during the progressive era. Muckrakers exposed the living conditions of poor immigrants with pictures and vivid detailed descriptions. Industrialization had caused living and working conditions to fall below previous standards and the laws of the nation had not yet caught up so as to regulate the new laborers essential needs and rights. Working conditions for men, women, and children up until the 20 years preceding the First World War, were completely intolerable by American standards.
The middle class and upper class, particularly white upper to middle class women, saw helping less fortunate immigrants as their personal duty or responsibility. Andrew Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth” introduced the idea that wealthy people are burdened with the difficult task of spending, giving and investing their money wisely so as to benefit the entire community. Settlement houses, a concept borrowed from England, were houses where impoverished foreigners could essentially come and stay to learn the ways of the white, middle class American. One of the first settlement houses was Hull House started in Chicago by Jane Addam’s. A full time staff of educated white men and women taught immigrants practical skills and basic English to prepare them for there integration into society. Sophisticated white women like that of Jane Addams and Alice Paul found themselves appalled at the conditions workers, specifically immigrant laborers were forced to work under. After deaths at the factory the owners made no claim for damages resulting from “carelessness”. Industries refusal to be held accountable for deaths caused by poor working conditions warranted immediate demands for reform on a national level. Organizations like that of NAWSA and the AFL fought to improve working conditions. Suffrage, or the female struggle for equality and the right to vote also made monumental progress during the early 20th century. In 1920 their goal was accomplished when the 19th amendment was ratified giving women the right to vote.
Child labor was advertised and publicized as being a “National Menace” that could no longer be ignored. By forcing the government and the public to recognize the monstrosities young impoverished children were forced to undergo child labor became less and less acceptable. In 1916 the federal child labor law was passed and by 1930 the amount of children working decreased to five percent. Similarly exposing the true conditions in the food industries was seemingly the only way to improve them. The publication of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair put the spotlight on working conditions in food industries and described the job as “a fearful kind of work that began at four o’clock in the morning, and that wore out the most powerful of men in a few years”. The unsanitary conditions revealed made consumers so uneasy that President Roosevelt had no choice but to respond. “The specific evils you point out shall, if their existence be proven and if I have the power, be eradicated” President Roosevelt stood by his word and quickly passed a series of acts, most notably the pure food and drug act, the meat inspection act and the creation of the Federal Drug Administration.
Racial reform was existent but not wildly successful or efficient. Partially because of the failure on the part of the black community to unite. Separate approaches at achieving racial equality were introduced and supported across the nation. W.E.B. Dubois encouraged the well educated of the African American community to take leadership and demand equality while Booker T. Washington proposed patience and for the masses to demonstrate there worth through attaining specialized skills and getting to work. In essence W.E.B. Dubois rallied for the top ten percent to take initiative while Booker T. Washington put his faith in the other ninety percent of the Black community. W.E.B. Dubois’s NAACP which was founded in 1909 was the absolute epitome of the progressive era although it failed to succeed to reach any of its goals in the short term, it continues to preach progressive ideals. The American Federation of Labor, like the NAACP fought for progressive reform but often came head to head with the government, as in the Danbury Hat Case of 1908 when the supreme court made union strikes illegal because of the claim that the violated the Sherman anti trust act.
The government responded to the demands of the people. First in communities, then states, then on a national level. State leaders like that of Robert Lafollette or fightin’ bob of Wisconsin, used state forums to actively pursue progressive reform. Governor Lafollette also championed reforms on national levels. Most prominently recall, which allowed voters to remove elected officials if their performance was unsatisfactory, and initiative and referendum, which gave voters the right to enact legislation and than vote for it. These reforms sought to further weakening the previous predominance of ‘big party leaders’ Direct primaries also was significant in helping to eliminate ‘party bosses’ and transferring the power to the people.
Efficiency and morality were the primary goals of the reforms made between 1890 and 1920. The progressive era was defined by the changes made during it. Social reformers were the most successful at achieving their goals but it was not with out the help of progressive politicians and legislation. The many organizations and charities that formed during this era continue to preach progressive ideals and have an optimistic outlook on the ability of our society to improve itself. The failures of the progressive era were not so much failures as they didn’t take hold immediately