Summary
Highlights
The Progressive Movement sought to reform social, political, and economic abuses resulting from late 19th-century industrialization through significant government intervention. Unlike the Gilded Age's 'freedom from government' stance, progressives advocated for 'freedom through government'. They were inheritors of the Populist movement's reform ideas, successfully implementing many of them, though they focused on urban rather than rural issues and were primarily middle and upper class.
Progressives were a diverse group with varied goals, despite a shared belief in government intervention. One major target was racial segregation, with three attitudes present: support, ignorance, or active dismantling. Booker T. Washington advocated for Black Americans to gain economic power through education and virtue, believing segregation would naturally disappear. Ida B. Wells vehemently fought against lynching and segregation. W.E.B. Du Bois, a middle ground, agreed with self-improvement but stressed the necessity of equal voting rights and desegregation, founding the Niagara Movement. This later merged with white reformers to form the NAACP, which achieved significant judicial victories against segregation.
Progressives aimed to shift political power from elites to ordinary citizens. This included reforms like the secret (Australian) ballot to prevent corruption, the direct primary allowing citizens to choose party candidates, and the direct election of senators via the 17th Amendment (1913) to curb corporate influence. They also introduced the initiative, referendum, and recall to give voters more direct power in lawmaking and holding elected officials accountable.
Progressives applied scientific management (Taylorism) principles to government to increase efficiency and combat corruption, leading to commission governments and city managers. Immigration was another focus, with diverse progressive views. Margaret Sanger, influenced by eugenics, advocated birth control for poor urban immigrants. Jane Addams established settlement houses providing services to immigrants, also rooted in eugenics. Labor unions pushed for immigration restrictions, fearing competition and lower wages, leading to the Immigration Acts of 1917 and 1921 that significantly limited Asian and European immigration.
The conservation and preservation of natural resources became a progressive goal, sparked by the closing of the frontier. Conservationists like Gifford Pinchot advocated for managed use of resources, while preservationists like John Muir sought to protect natural beauty by preventing all extraction. President Theodore Roosevelt was a key advocate, creating national parks. Muckrakers, investigative journalists like Ida Tarbell (exposing Standard Oil), Ingp Punchu (Chinese Exclusion Act injustices), and Upton Sinclair (unsanitary meatpacking in 'The Jungle'), exposed corruption and societal issues, leading to significant legislation like the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.
President Theodore Roosevelt, a progressive, aimed to provide a "square deal" for both businesses and the working class, intervening in the 1902 coal strike. He rigorously enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act, breaking up over 40 trusts, earning him the nickname "trustbuster." Woodrow Wilson, another progressive president, attacked the "triple wall of privilege": tariffs, banking, and trusts. He enacted the Underwood Tariff Act (1913), reduced tariffs, and championed the 16th Amendment (national income tax) and the creation of the Federal Reserve to regulate the money supply. Additionally, two key amendments reflected progressive sensibilities: the 18th Amendment (1919) established Prohibition, driven by women reformers and WWI efforts, and the 19th Amendment (1920) granted women the right to vote, a culmination of decades of activism.