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The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1890s to the 1920s.[1] The main objective of the Progressive movement was eliminating corruption in government. The movement primarily targeted political machines and their bosses. By taking down these corrupt representatives in office a further means of direct democracy would be established. They also sought regulation of monopolies (Trust Busting) and corporations through antitrust laws. These antitrust laws were seen as a way to promote equal competition for the advantage of legitimate competitors.

Many progressives supported prohibition in the United States in order to destroy the political power of local bosses based in saloons.[2] At the same time, women's suffrage was promoted to bring a "purer" female vote into the arena.[3] A second theme was building an Efficiency Movement in every sector that could identify old ways that needed modernizing, and bring to bear scientific, medical and engineering solutions; a key part of the efficiency movement was scientific management, or "Taylorism".

Many activists joined efforts to reform local government, public education, medicine, finance, insurance, industry, railroads, churches, and many other areas. Progressives transformed, professionalized and made "scientific" the social sciences, especially history,[4] economics,[5] and political science.[6] In academic fields the day of the amateur author gave way to the research professor who published in the new scholarly journals and presses. The national political leaders included Theodore Roosevelt, Robert M. La Follette, Sr., and Charles Evans Hughes on the Republican side, and William Jennings Bryan, Woodrow Wilson and Al Smith on the Democratic side.

Initially the movement operated chiefly at local levels; later, it expanded to state and national levels. Progressives drew support from the middle class, and supporters included many lawyers, teachers, physicians, ministers and business people.[7] Some Progressives strongly supported scientific methods as applied to economics, government, industry, finance, medicine, schooling, theology, education, and even the family. They closely followed advances underway at the time in Western Europe[8] and adopted numerous policies, such as a major transformation of the banking system by creating the Federal Reserve System in 1913.[9] Reformers felt that old-fashioned ways meant waste and inefficiency, and eagerly sought out the "one best system".[10][11]

Disturbed by the waste, inefficiency, stubbornness, corruption and injustices of the Gilded Age, the Progressives were committed to changing and reforming every aspect of the state, society and economy. Significant changes enacted at the national levels included the imposition of an income tax with the Sixteenth Amendment, direct election of Senators with the Seventeenth Amendment, Prohibition with the Eighteenth Amendment, and women's suffrage through the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[12]

Magazines were not a new medium but they became much more popular around 1900, some with circulations in the hundreds of thousands of subscribers. It was an age of Mass media. Thanks to the rapid expansion of national advertising, the cover price fell sharply to about 10 cents.[13] One cause was the heavy coverage of corruption in politics, local government and big business, especially by Muckrakers. They were journalists who wrote for popular magazines to expose social and political sins and shortcomings. They relied on their own investigative journalism reporting; muckrakers often worked to expose social ills and corporate and political corruption. Muckraking magazinesnotably McClure'stook on corporate monopolies and crooked political machines while raising public awareness of chronic urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, and social issues like child labor.[14]

The journalists who specialized in exposing waste, corruption, and scandal operated at the state and local level, like Ray Stannard Baker, George Creel, and Brand Whitlock. Other like Lincoln Steffens exposed political corruption in many large cities; Ida Tarbell went after John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. Samuel Hopkins Adams in 1905 showed the fraud involved in many patent medicines, Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle gave a horrid portrayal of how meat was packed, and, also in 1906, David Graham Phillips unleashed a blistering indictment of the U.S. Senate. Roosevelt gave these journalists their nickname when he complained they were not being helpful by raking up all the muck.[15][16]

The Progressives tended to be avid modernizers; some believed in science and technology as the grand solution to society's weaknesses, while others looked to reforming education as the key. Characteristics of Progressivism included a favorable attitude toward urban-industrial society, belief in mankind's ability to improve the environment and conditions of life, belief in an obligation to intervene in economic and social affairs, and a belief in the ability of experts and in the efficiency of government intervention.[17][18]

Across the nation, middle-class women organized on behalf of social reforms during the Progressive Era. They were especially concerned with Prohibition, suffrage, school issues, and public health.

Middle class women formed local clubs, which after 1890 were in turn coordinated by the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC). Historian Paige Meltzer puts the GFWC in the context of the Progressive Movement, arguing that its policies:

The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an American women's rights organization formed in May 1890 as a unification of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). The NAWSA set up hundreds of smaller local and state groups, with the goal of passing woman suffrage legislation at the state and local level. The NAWSA was the largest and most important suffrage organization in the United States, and was the primary promoter of women's right to vote. Carrie Chapman Catt was the key leader in the early 20th century. Like AWSA and NWSA before it, the NAWSA pushed for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women's voting rights, and was instrumental in winning the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920.[20][21] A breakaway group, the National Woman's Party, tightly controlled by Alice Paul, copied the militant suffragettes in Britain who used violence to gain publicity and force passage of suffrage. Paul's members chained themselves to the White House fence in order to get arrested, then went on hunger strikes to gain publicity. While the British suffragettes stopped their protests in 1914 and supported the British war effort, Paul began her campaign in 1917 and was widely criticized for ignoring the war and attracting radical anti-war elements.[22]

The number of rich families climbed exponentially, from 100 or so millionaires in the 1870s, to 4000 in 1892 and 16,000 in 1916. Many paid heed to Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth that said they owed a duty to society that called for philanthropic giving to colleges, hospitals, medical research, libraries, museums, religion and social betterment.[23]

In the early 20th century, American philanthropy matured, with the development of very large, highly visible private foundations created by Rockefeller, and Carnegie. The largest foundations fostered modern, efficient, business-oriented operations (as opposed to "charity") designed to better society rather than merely enhance the status of the giver. Close ties were built with the local business community, as in the "community chest" movement.[24] The American Red Cross was reorganized and professionalized.[25] Several major foundations aided the blacks in the South, and were typically advised by Booker T. Washington. By contrast, Europe and Asia had few foundations. This allowed both Carnegie and Rockefeller to operate internationally with powerful effect.[26]

Many Progressives sought to enable the citizenry to rule more directly and circumvent political bosses. Thanks to the efforts of Oregon Populist Party State Representative William S. U'Ren and his Direct Legislation League, voters in Oregon overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure in 1902 that created the initiative and referendum processes for citizens to directly introduce or approve proposed laws or amendments to the state constitution, making Oregon the first state to adopt such a system. U'Ren also helped in the passage of an amendment in 1908 that gave voters power to recall elected officials, and would go on to establish, at the state level, popular election of U.S. Senators and the first presidential primary in the United States. In 1911, California governor Hiram Johnson established the Oregon System of "Initiative, Referendum, and Recall" in his state, viewing them as good influences for citizen participation against the historic influence of large corporations on state lawmakers.[27] These Progressive reforms were soon replicated in other states, including Idaho, Washington, and Wisconsin, and today roughly half of U.S. states have initiative, referendum and recall provisions in their state constitutions.[28]

About 16 states began using primary elections to reduce the power of bosses and machines.[29] The Seventeenth Amendment was ratified in 1913, requiring that all senators be elected by the people (they were formerly appointed by state legislatures). The main motivation was to reduce the power of political bosses, who controlled the Senate seats by virtue of their control of state legislatures. The result, according to political scientist Henry Jones Ford, was that the United States Senate had become a "Diet of party lords, wielding their power without scruple or restraint, in behalf of those particular interests" that put them in office.[30]

A coalition of middle-class reform-oriented voters, academic experts and reformers hostile to the political machines started forming in the 1890s and introduced a series of reforms in urban America, designed to reduce waste and inefficiency and corruption, by introducing scientific methods, compulsory education and administrative innovations.

The pace was set in Detroit Michigan, where Republican mayor Hazen S. Pingree first put together the reform coalition.[31] Many cities set up municipal reference bureaus to study the budgets and administrative structures of local governments.

Progressive mayors took the lead in many key cities,[32] such as Cleveland, Ohio (especially Mayor Tom Johnson); Toledo, Ohio;[33] Jersey City, New Jersey;[34]Los Angeles;[35]Memphis, Tennessee;[36]Louisville, Kentucky;[37] and many other cities, especially in the western states. In Illinois, Governor Frank Lowden undertook a major reorganization of state government.[38] In Wisconsin, the stronghold of Robert LaFollette, the Wisconsin Idea used the state university as a major source of ideas and expertise.[39]

As late as 1920, half the population lived in rural areas. They experienced their own progressive reforms, typically with the explicit goal of upgrading country life.[40] By 1910 most farmers subscribed to a farm newspaper, where editors promoted efficiency as applied to farming.[41] Special efforts were made to reach the rural South and remote areas, such as the mountains of Appalachia and the Ozarks.[42]

The most urgent need was better transportation to get out of the mud. The railroad system was virtually complete; the need was for much better roads. The traditional method of putting the burden on maintaining roads on local landowners was increasingly inadequate. New York State took the lead in 1898, and by 1916 the old system had been discarded in every area. Demands grew for local and state government to take charge. With the coming of the automobile after 1910, urgent efforts were made to upgrade and modernize dirt roads designed for horse-drawn wagon traffic. The American Association for Highway Improvement was organized in 1910. Funding came from automobile registration, and taxes on motor fuels, as well as state aid. In 1916, federal-aid was first made available to improve post-roads, and promote general commerce. Congress appropriated $75 million over a five-year period, with the Secretary of Agriculture in charge through the Bureau of Public Roads, in cooperation with the state highway departments. There were 2.4 million miles of rural dirt rural roads in 1914; 100,000 miles had been improved with grading and gravel, and 3000 miles were given high quality surfacing. The rapidly increasing speed of automobiles, and especially trucks, made maintenance and repair a high priority. Concrete was first used in 1933, and expanded until it became the dominant surfacing material in the 1930s.[43][44] The South had fewer cars and trucks and much less money, but it worked through highly visible demonstration projects like the "Dixie Highway."[45]

Rural schools were often poorly funded, one room operations. Typically, classes were taught by young local women before they married, with only occasional supervision by county superintendents. The progressive solution was modernization through consolidation, with the result of children attending modern schools. There they would be taught by full-time professional teachers who had graduated from the states' teachers colleges, were certified, and were monitored by the county superintendents. Farmers complained at the expense, and also at the loss of control over local affairs, but in state after state the consolidation process went forward.[46][47]

Numerous other programs were aimed at rural youth, including 4-H clubs,[48] Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. County fairs not only gave prizes for the most productive agricultural practices, they also demonstrated those practices to an attentive rural audience. Programs for new mothers included maternity care and training in baby care.[49]

The movement's attempts at introducing urban reforms to rural America often met resistance from traditionalists who saw the country-lifers as aggressive modernizers who were condescending and out of touch with rural life. The traditionalists said many of their reforms were unnecessary and not worth the trouble of implementing. Rural residents also disagreed with the notion that farms needed to improve their efficiency, as they saw this goal as serving urban interests more than rural ones. The social conservatism of many rural residents also led them to resist attempts for change led by outsiders. Most important, the traditionalists did not want to become modern, and did not want their children inculcated with alien modern values through comprehensive schools that were remote from local control.[50][51] The most successful reforms came from the farmers who pursued agricultural extension, as their proposed changes were consistent with existing modernizing trends toward more efficiency and more profit in agriculture.

Across the South black communities developed their own Progressive reform projects.[52][53] Typical projects involved upgrading the schools, modernizing church operations, expanding business opportunities, fighting for a larger share of state budgets, and engaging in legal action to secure equal rights.[54] Reform projects were especially notable in rural areas, where the great majority of Southern blacks lived.[55]

George Washington Carver (1860-1943) was well known for his research projects, especially involving agriculture. He was also a leader in promoting environmentalism.[56]

Rural blacks were specially involved in environmental issues, in which they developed their own traditions and priorities.[57][58]

Progressives believed that the family was the foundation stone of American society, and the government, especially municipal government, must work to enhance the family.[59] Local public assistance programs were reformed to try to keep families together. Inspired by crusading Judge Ben Lindsey of Denver, cities established juvenile courts to deal with disruptive teenagers without sending them to adult prisons.[60][61]

The purity of food, milk and drinking water became a high priority in the cities. At the state and national levels new food and drug laws strengthened urban efforts to guarantee the safety of the food system. The 1906 federal Pure Food and Drug Act, which was pushed by drug companies and providers of medical services, removed from the market patent medicines that had never been scientifically tested.[62]

With the decrease in standard working hours, urban families had more leisure time. Many spent this leisure time at movie theaters. Progressives advocated for censorship of motion pictures as it was believed that patrons (especially children) viewing movies in dark, unclean, potentially unsafe theaters, might be negatively influenced in witnessing actors portraying crimes, violence, and sexually suggestive situations. Progressives across the country influenced municipal governments of large urban cities, to build numerous parks where it was believed that leisure time for children and families could be spent in a healthy, wholesome environment, thereby fostering good morals and citizenship.[63]

Some Progressives sponsored eugenics as a solution to excessively large or underperforming families, hoping that birth control would enable parents to focus their resources on fewer, better children.[64] Progressive leaders like Herbert Croly and Walter Lippmann indicated their classically liberal concern over the danger posed to the individual by the practice of Eugenics. [65] The Catholics strongly opposed birth control proposals such as eugenics .[66]

The Progressives tried to permanently fix their reforms into law through constitutional amendments 1619. The 16th amendment made an income tax legal (this required an amendment due to Article One, Section 9 of the Constitution, which required that direct taxes be laid on the States in proportion to their population as determined by the decennial census). The Progressives also made strides in attempts to reduce political corruption through the 17th amendment and the direct election of U.S. Senators. The most radical and controversial amendment came during the anti-German craze of World War I that helped the Progressives and others push through their plan for prohibition through the 18th amendment (once the Progressives fell out of power the 21st amendment repealed the 18th in 1933). The final progressive amendment came with the passage of the 19th amendment and women's suffrage.[67]

Prohibition was the outlawing of the manufacture, sale and transport of alcohol. Drinking itself was never prohibited. Throughout the Progressive Era, it remained one of the prominent causes associated with Progressivism at the local, state and national level, though support across the full breadth of Progressives was mixed. It pitted the minority urban Catholic population against the larger rural Protestant element, and Progressivism's rise in the rural communities was aided in part by the general increase in public consciousness of social issues of the temperance movement, which achieved national success with the passage of the 18th Amendment by Congress in late 1917, and the ratification by three-fourths of the states in 1919. Prohibition was essentially a religious movement backed by the Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Scandinavian Lutherans and other evangelical churches. Activists were mobilized by the highly effective Anti-Saloon League.[68] Timberlake (1963) argues the dries sought to break the liquor trust, weaken the saloon base of big-city machines, enhance industrial efficiency, and reduce the level of wife beating, child abuse, and poverty caused by alcoholism.[69]

Agitation for prohibition began during the Second Great Awakening in the 1840s when Crusades against drinking originated from evangelical Protestants.[70] Evangelicals precipitated the second wave of prohibition legislation during the 1880s, which had as its aim local and state prohibition. During the 1880s, referendums were held at the state level to enact prohibition amendments. Two important groups were formed during this period. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was formed in 1874.[71] The Anti-Saloon League was formed in 1893, uniting activists from different religious groups.[72]

The third wave of prohibition legislation, of which national prohibition was the grand climax, began in 1907, when Georgia passed a statewide prohibition law. By 1917, two thirds of the states had some form of prohibition laws and roughly three quarters of the population lived in dry areas. In 1913, the Anti-Saloon League first publicly appealed for a prohibition amendment. They preferred a constitutional amendment over a federal statute because although harder to achieve, they felt it would be harder to change. In 1913, Congress passed the Webb-Kenyon Act, which forbade the transport of liquor into dry states. As the United States entered World War I, the Conscription Act banned the sale of liquor near military bases.[73] In August 1917, the Lever Food and Fuel Control Act banned production of distilled spirits for the duration of the war. The War Prohibition Act, November, 1918, forbade the manufacture and sale of intoxicating beverages (more than 2.75% alcohol content) until the end of demobilization.

The drys worked energetically to secure two-third majority of both houses of Congress and the support of three quarters of the states needed for an amendment to the federal constitution. Thirty-six states were needed, and organizations were set up at all 48 states to seek ratification. In late 1917, Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment; it was ratified in 1919 and took effect in January 1920. It prohibited the manufacturing, sale or transport of intoxicating beverages within the United States, as well as import and export. The Volstead Act, 1919, defined intoxicating as having alcohol content greater than 0.5% and established the procedures for federal enforcement of the Act. The states were at liberty to enforce prohibition or not, and most did not try.[74]

Consumer demand, however, led to a variety of illegal sources for alcohol, especially illegal distilleries and smuggling from Canada and other countries. It is difficult to determine the level of compliance, and although the media at the time portrayed the law as highly ineffective, even if it did not eradicate the use of alcohol, it certainly decreased alcohol consumption during the period. The Eighteenth Amendment was repealed in 1933, with the passage of the Twenty-First Amendment, thanks to a well-organized repeal campaign led by Catholics (who stressed personal liberty) and businessmen (who stressed the lost tax revenue).[74]

The Progressives worked hard to reform and modernize the schools at the local level. The era was notable for a dramatic expansion in the number of schools and students served, especially in the fast-growing metropolitan cities. After 1910 the smaller cities began building high schools. By 1940, 50% of young adults had earned a high school diploma. The result was the rapid growth of the educated middle class, who typically were the grass roots supporters of Progressive measures.[75] During the Progressive Era, many states began passing compulsory schooling laws.[76] An emphasis on hygiene and health was made in education, with physical and health education becoming more important and widespread.[77]

The "Flexner Report" of 1910, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation, professionalized American medicine by discarding the scores of local small medical schools and focusing national funds, resources, and prestige on larger, professionalized medical schools associated with universities.[78][79] Prominent leaders included the Mayo Brothers whose Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, became world-famous for innovative surgery.[80]

In the legal profession, the American Bar Association set up in 1900 the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). It established national standards for law schools, which led to the replacement of the old system of young men studying law privately with established lawyers by the new system of accredited law schools associated with universities.[81]

Progressive scholars, based at the emerging research universities such as Harvard, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin and California, worked to modernize their disciplines. The heyday of the amateur expert gave way to the research professor who published in the new scholarly journals and presses. Their explicit goal was to professionalize and make "scientific" the social sciences, especially history,[4]economics,[5] and political science.[6] Professionalization meant creating new career tracks in the universities, with hiring and promotion dependent on meeting international models of scholarship.

The Progressive Era was one of general prosperity after the Panic of 1893a severe depressionended in 1897. The Panic of 1907 was short and mostly affected financiers. However, Campbell (2005) stresses the weak points of the economy in 19071914, linking them to public demands for more Progressive interventions. The Panic of 1907 was followed by a small decline in real wages and increased unemployment, with both trends continuing until World War I. Campbell emphasizes the resulting stress on public finance and the impact on the Wilson administration's policies. The weakened economy and persistent federal deficits led to changes in fiscal policy, including the imposition of federal income taxes on businesses and individuals and the creation of the Federal Reserve System.[82] Government agencies were also transformed in an effort to improve administrative efficiency.[83]

In the Gilded Age (late 19th century) the parties were reluctant to involve the federal government too heavily in the private sector, except in the area of railroads and tariffs. In general, they accepted the concept of laissez-faire, a doctrine opposing government interference in the economy except to maintain law and order. This attitude started to change during the depression of the 1890s when small business, farm, and labor movements began asking the government to intercede on their behalf.[83]

By the start of the 20th century, a middle class had developed that was leery of both the business elite and the radical political movements of farmers and laborers in the Midwest and West. The Progressives argued the need for government regulation of business practices to ensure competition and free enterprise. Congress enacted a law regulating railroads in 1887 (the Interstate Commerce Act), and one preventing large firms from controlling a single industry in 1890 (the Sherman Antitrust Act). These laws were not rigorously enforced, however, until the years between 1900 and 1920, when Republican President Theodore Roosevelt (19011909), Democratic President Woodrow Wilson (19131921), and others sympathetic to the views of the Progressives came to power. Many of today's U.S. regulatory agencies were created during these years, including the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. Muckrakers were journalists who encouraged readers to demand more regulation of business. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906) was influential and persuaded America about the supposed horrors of the Chicago Union Stock Yards, a giant complex of meat processing that developed in the 1870s. The federal government responded to Sinclair's book and The Neill-Reynolds Report with the new regulatory Food and Drug Administration. Ida M. Tarbell wrote a series of articles against Standard Oil, which was perceived to be a monopoly. This affected both the government and the public reformers. Attacks by Tarbell and others helped pave the way for public acceptance of the breakup of the company by the Supreme Court in 1911.[83]

When Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected President with a Democratic Congress in 1912 he implemented a series of Progressive policies in economics. In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, and a small income tax was imposed on high incomes. The Democrats lowered tariffs with the Underwood Tariff in 1913, though its effects were overwhelmed by the changes in trade caused by the World War that broke out in 1914. Wilson proved especially effective in mobilizing public opinion behind tariff changes by denouncing corporate lobbyists, addressing Congress in person in highly dramatic fashion, and staging an elaborate ceremony when he signed the bill into law.[84] Wilson helped end the long battles over the trusts with the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914. He managed to convince lawmakers on the issues of money and banking by the creation in 1913 of the Federal Reserve System, a complex business-government partnership that to this day dominates the financial world.[85]

In 1913, Henry Ford dramatically increased the efficiency of his factories by large-scale use of the moving assembly line, with each worker doing one simple task in the production of automobiles. Emphasizing efficiency, Ford more than doubled wages (and cut hours from 9 a day to 8), attracting the best workers and sharply reducing labor turnover and absenteeism. His employees could and did buy his cars, and by cutting prices over and over he made the Model T cheap enough for millions of people to buy in the U.S. and in every major country. Ford's profits soared and his company dominated the world's automobile industry. Henry Ford became the world-famous prophet of high wages and high profits.[86]

Labor unions, especially the American Federation of Labor (AFL), grew rapidly in the early 20th century, and had a Progressive agenda as well. After experimenting in the early 20th century with cooperation with business in the National Civic Federation, the AFL turned after 1906 to a working political alliance with the Democratic party. The alliance was especially important in the larger industrial cities. The unions wanted restrictions on judges who intervened in labor disputes, usually on the side of the employer. They finally achieved that goal with the NorrisLa Guardia Act of 1932.[87]

The level of immigration grew steadily after 1896, with most new arrivals unskilled workers from eastern and southern Europe, who found jobs working in the steel mills, slaughterhouses, and construction crews in the mill towns and industrial cities. The start of World War I in 1914 suddenly stopped most international movement, which only resumed after 1919. Starting in the 1880s, the labor unions aggressively promoted restrictions on immigration, especially restrictions on Chinese and other Asians.[88] The basic fear was that large numbers of unskilled, low-paid workers would defeat the union's efforts to raise wages through collective bargaining.[89] Other groups, such as the prohibitionists, opposed immigration because it was the base of strength of the saloon power, and the West generally. Rural Protestants distrusted the urban Catholics and Jews who comprised most of the immigrants after 1890.[90] On the other hand, the rapid growth of the industry called for large numbers of new workers, so large corporations generally opposed immigration restriction. By the early 1920s a consensus had been reached that the total influx of immigration had to be restricted, and a series of laws in the 1920s accomplished that purpose.[91] A handful of eugenics advocates were also involved in immigration restriction.[92] Immigration restriction continued to be a national policy until after World War II.

During World War I, the Progressives strongly promoted Americanization programs, designed to modernize the recent immigrants and turn them into model American citizens, while diminishing loyalties to the old country.[93] These programs often operated through the public school system, which expanded dramatically.[94]

Although the Progressive Era was characterized by public support for World War I under Woodrow Wilson, there was also a substantial opposition to World War I.

In the 1940s typically historians saw the Progressive Era as a prelude to the New Deal and dated it from 1901 (when Roosevelt became president) to the start of World War I in 1914 or 1917.[95] Historians have moved back in time emphasizing the Progressive reformers at the municipal[96] and state[97] levels in the 1890s.

Much less settled is the question of when the era ended. Some historians who emphasize civil liberties decry their suppression during World War I and do not consider the war as rooted in Progressive policy.[98] A strong anti-war movement headed by noted Progressives including Jane Addams (a future winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and perhaps the Era's most prominent reformer) was suppressed after Wilson's 1916 re-election, a victory largely enabled by his campaign slogan, "He kept us out of the war." [99] The slogan was no longer accurate by April 6 of the following year, when Wilson surprised much of the Progressive base that twice elected him and asked a joint session of Congress to declare war on Germany. The Senate voted 826 in favor; the House agreed, 37350. Some historians see the so-called "war to end all wars" as a globalized expression of the American Progressive movement, with Wilson's support for a League of Nations as its climax.[100]

The politics of the 1920s was unfriendly toward the labor unions and liberal crusaders against business, so many if not most historians who emphasize those themes write off the decade. Urban cosmopolitan scholars recoiled at the moralism of prohibition and the intolerance of the nativists of the KKK, and denounced the era. Richard Hofstadter, for example, in 1955 wrote that prohibition, "was a pseudo-reform, a pinched, parochial substitute for reform" that "was carried about America by the rural-evangelical virus".[101] However, as Arthur S. Link emphasized, the Progressives did not simply roll over and play dead.[102] Link's argument for continuity through the twenties stimulated a historiography that found Progressivism to be a potent force. Palmer, pointing to leaders like George Norris, says, "It is worth noting that progressivism, whilst temporarily losing the political initiative, remained popular in many western states and made its presence felt in Washington during both the Harding and Coolidge presidencies."[103] Gerster and Cords argue that, "Since progressivism was a 'spirit' or an 'enthusiasm' rather than an easily definable force with common goals, it seems more accurate to argue that it produced a climate for reform which lasted well into the 1920s, if not beyond."[104] Even the Klan has been seen in a new light, as social historians now see Klansmen as "ordinary white Protestants" primarily interested in purification of the system, which had long been a core Progressive goal.[105]

While some Progressive leaders became reactionaries, that usually happened in the 1930s, not in the 1920s, as exemplified by William Randolph Hearst,[106]Herbert Hoover, Al Smith and Henry Ford.[107][108]

What historians have identified as "business progressivism", with its emphasis on efficiency and typified by Henry Ford and Herbert Hoover[109] reached an apogee in the 1920s. Wik, for example, argues that Ford's "views on technology and the mechanization of rural America were generally enlightened, progressive, and often far ahead of his times."[110]

Tindall stresses the continuing importance of the Progressive movement in the South in the 1920s involving increased democracy, efficient government, corporate regulation, social justice, and governmental public service.[111][112] William Link finds political Progressivism dominant in most of the South in the 1920s.[113] Likewise it was influential in the Midwest.[114]

Historians of women and of youth emphasize the strength of the Progressive impulse in the 1920s.[115] Women consolidated their gains after the success of the suffrage movement, and moved into causes such as world peace,[116] good government, maternal care (the SheppardTowner Act of 1921),[117] and local support for education and public health.[118] The work was not nearly as dramatic as the suffrage crusade, but women voted[119] and operated quietly and effectively. Paul Fass, speaking of youth, says "Progressivism as an angle of vision, as an optimistic approach to social problems, was very much alive."[120] International influences that sparked many reform ideas likewise continued into the 1920s, as American ideas of modernity began to influence Europe.[121]

There is general agreement that the Era was over by 1932, especially since a majority of the remaining Progressives opposed the New Deal.[122]

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Progressive Era - Wikipedia

Progressivism is a philosophy based on the idea of progress, which asserts that advancement in science, technology, economic development, and social organization are vital to improve the human condition. Progressivism became highly significant during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, out of the belief that Europe was demonstrating that societies could progress in civility from barbaric conditions to civilization through strengthening the basis of empirical knowledge as the foundation of society.[1] Figures of the Enlightenment believed that progress had universal application to all societies and that these ideas would spread across the world from Europe.[1] Sociologist Robert Nisbet defines five "crucial premises" of the Idea of Progress as being: value of the past; nobility of Western civilization; worth of economic/technological growth; scientific/scholarly knowledge obtained through reason over faith; the intrinsic importance and worth of life on Earth.[2] Beyond this, the meanings of progressivism have varied over time and from different perspectives.

The contemporary common political conception of progressivism in the culture of the Western world emerged from the vast social changes brought about by industrialization in the Western world in the late 19th century, particularly out of the view that progress was being stifled by vast economic inequality between the rich and the poor; minimally regulated laissez-faire capitalism with monopolistic corporations; and intense and often violent conflict between workers and capitalists, thus claiming that measures were needed to address these problems.[3]

The term is also now often used as shorthand for a more or less left-wing way of looking at the world.[4]

Immanuel Kant identified progress as being a movement away from barbarism towards civilization. Eighteenth century philosopher and political scientist Marquis de Condorcet predicted that political progress would involve the disappearance of slavery, the rise of literacy, the lessening of inequalities between the sexes, reforms of harsh prisons and the decline of poverty.[5] "Modernity" or "modernization" was a key form of the idea of progress as promoted by classical liberals in the 19th and 20th centuries, who called for the rapid modernization of the economy and society to remove the traditional hindrances to free markets and free movements of people.[6] German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was influential in promoting the Idea of Progress in European philosophy by emphasizing a linear-progressive conception of history and rejecting a cyclical conception of history. Karl Marx applied to his writings the Hegelian conception of linear-progressive history, the modernization of the economy through industrialization, and criticisms of the social class structure of industrial capitalist societies. As industrialization grew, concerns over its effects grew beyond Marxist and other radical critiques and became mainstream.

In the late 19th century, a political view rose in popularity in the Western world that progress was being stifled by vast economic inequality between the rich and the poor, minimally regulated laissez-faire capitalism with out-of-control monopolistic corporations, intense and often violent conflict between workers and capitalists, and a need for measures to address these problems.[7] Progressivism has influenced various political movements. Modern liberalism was influenced by liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill's conception of people being "progressive beings".[8] British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli developed progressive conservatism under "One Nation" Toryism.[9][10] Similarly in Germany, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck enacted various progressive social welfare measures out of conservative motivations to distance workers from the socialist movement and as humane ways to assist in maintaining the Industrial Revolution.[11] Proponents of social democracy have identified themselves as promoting the progressive cause.[12] The Catholic Church encyclical Rerum novarum issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, condemned the exploitation of labour and urged support for labour unions, government regulation of businesses in the interests of social justice, while upholding the rights of private property and criticizing socialism.[13] A Protestant progressive outlook called the Social Gospel emerged in North America that focused on challenging economic exploitation and poverty, and by the mid-1890s the Social Gospel was common in many Protestant theological seminaries in the United States.[14] In 1892, during a major political contest between landlords and tenants, the landlord advocates were known as the "moderates" and the land value tax reformers were known as the "progressives".[15]

In America, progressivism began as a social movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and grew into a political movement, in what was known as the Progressive Era. While the term "American progressives" represent a range of diverse political pressure groups (not always united), some American progressives rejected Social Darwinism, believing that the problems society faced (poverty, violence, greed, racism, class warfare) could best be addressed by providing good education, a safe environment, and an efficient workplace. Progressives lived mainly in the cities, were college educated, and believed that government could be a tool for change.[16] American President Theodore Roosevelt of the US Republican Party and later the US Progressive Party declared that he "always believed that wise progressivism and wise conservatism go hand in hand".[17] American President Woodrow Wilson was also a member of the American progressive movement within the Democratic Party.

Progressive stances have evolved over time. In the late 19th century, for example, certain progressives argued for scientific racism on the grounds that it had a scientific basis.[18] Other progressives holding both Christian and racist beliefs justified racism on biblical text.[19][20] Modern progressives now tend to describe race as merely a social construct[21] noting that genetic markers are not exclusive to any race of people, and that human races do not even exist biologically. There is controversy about this issue, with some geneticists reporting that there is research that supports a biological, genetic basis for our usual understanding of human races.[22][23][24]Imperialism was a controversial issue within progressivism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the United States where some progressives supported American imperialism, while others opposed it.[25] In response to World War I, progressive American President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points established the concept of national self-determination and criticized imperialist competition and colonial injustices; these views were supported by anti-imperialists in areas of the world that were resisting imperial rule.[26] During the period of acceptance of economic Keynesianism, circa 1920s to 1970s, there was widespread acceptance in many nations of a large role for state intervention in the economy. However, with the rise of neoliberalism and challenges to state interventionist policies in the 1970s and 1980s, centre-left progressive movements responded by creating the Third Way that emphasized a major role for the market economy.[27] In the aftermath of the arising of the Great Recession, economic policies established or influenced by neoliberalism have faced scrutiny and criticism in mainstream politics.[citation needed] There have been social democrats who have called for the social democratic movement to move past Third Way.[28] Prominent progressive conservative elements in the British Conservative Party have criticized neoliberalism.[29]

Notes

Bibliography

Original post:
Progressivism - Wikipedia

July 4is an occasion for Americans to express their patriotism. But the ways we do so are as diverse as our nation.

To some, patriotism means my countryright or wrong. To others, it means loyalty to a set of principles, and thus requires dissent and criticism when those in power violate those standards. One version of patriotism suggests Love it or leave it. The other version means Love it and fix it.

Former President George W. Bush questioned the patriotism of anyone who challenged his war on terrorism. In his 2001 State of the Union address, for example, Bush claimed, Youre either with us, or with the terrorists. He introduced the Patriot Act to codify this view, giving the government new powers to suppress dissent. (The anti-war movement countered with bumper stickers illustrated with an American flag that proclaimed Peace is Patriotic.)

In contrast, President Barack Obama has said: I have no doubt that, in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it. He observed that, Loving your country shouldnt just mean watching fireworks on the Fourth of July. Loving your country must mean accepting your responsibility to do your part to change it. If you do, your life will be richer, our country will be stronger. He was echoing the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, who declared, in a speech during the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, the great glory of American democracy is the right to protest for right.

After his followers began chanting Build that Wall at a rally last month in Tampa, Donald Trump interrupted his speechand gavea bear hug to an American flagon the stage behind himapparently as a way to demonstrate his patriotism. (Note: You can see a priceless image of the cringeworthy embracehere.)

Displaying the flagon ones house, business, or car, even on coffee mugs, clothing, and tattoos is a traditional way for people to voice their love of country. Jodi Goglio, chief operating officer at Eder Flag Manufacturing Co. in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, reports that the firm is having a banner year. Sales are up 15% from a year ago, in part because this is a national election year and political events need flags.

Ironically, about 6% of all American flags sold in the U.S. are made in China. Surely Trump, who wants to make America great again and bring jobs home would support legislation requiring that all American flags be manufactured in this country. But that would conflict with Trumps own business practices. The entire Donald J. Trump Collection of clothingincluding mens dress shirts, suits, ties and accessoriesis made in factories overseas, mostly in China, Bangladesh, and Central America, to take advantage of cheap labor.What kind of patriotism isthat?

Trump follows in the tradition of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, Americas largest corporation, who promoted the motto Buy American. But today the retail giant, now owned by his heirs, imports most of its merchandise from Asia, much of it made under inhumane sweatshop conditions

Progressives understand that people can disagree with their government and still love their country and its ideals. The flag, as a symbol of the nation, is not owned by the administration in power, but by the people. We battle over what it means, but all Americansacross the political spectrumhave an equal right to claim the flag as their own.

Indeed, throughout U.S. history, many American radicals and progressive reformers have proudly asserted their patriotism. To them, America stood for basic democratic valueseconomic and social equality, mass participation in politics, free speech and civil liberties, elimination of the second-class citizenship of women and racial minorities, a welcome mat for the worlds oppressed people. The reality of corporate power, right-wing xenophobia, and social injustice only fueled progressives allegiance to these principles and the struggle to achieve them.

Most Americans are unaware that much of our patriotic cultureincluding many of the leading symbols and songswas created by people with decidedly progressive sympathies.

For example, thePledge of Allegiancewas authored and promoted by Rev. Francis Bellamy, a leading Christian socialist. Bellamy penned thePledge of Allegiancein 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus discovery of America by promoting use of the flag in public schools.

It was the Gilded Age, an era of major political and social conflict. Reformers were outraged by the widening gap between rich and poor, and the behavior of corporate robber barons who were exploiting workers, gouging consumers, and corrupting politics with their money. Workers were organizing unions. Farmers joined forces in the Populist movement to leash the power of banks, railroads, and utility companies. Progressive reformers fought for child labor laws, against slum housing, and in favor of womens suffrage. Radicals were gaining new converts.

In foreign affairs, Americans were battling over the nations role in the world. America was beginning to act like an imperial power, justifying its expansion with a combination of white supremacy, manifest destiny, and spreading democracy. At the time, nativist groups in the North and Midwest as well as the South were pushing for restrictions on immigrantsCatholics, Jews, and Asiansdeemed to be polluting Protestant America. In the South, the outcome of the Civil War still inflamed regional passions. Many Southerners, including Civil War veterans, swore allegiance to the Confederate flag.

Bellamy (cousin of best-selling radical writer Edward Bellamy) believed that unbridled capitalism, materialism, and individualism betrayed Americas promise. He hoped thePledge of Allegiancewould promote a different moral vision to counter the rampant greed he thought was undermining the nation. Bellamy initially intended to use the phrase liberty, fraternity and equality, but concluded that the radical rhetoric of the French Revolution wouldnt sit well with many Americans. So he coined the phrase, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all, intending it to express a more egalitarian vision of America, a secular patriotism to help unite a divided nation.

Or consider the lines inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Emma Lazarus was a poet of considerable reputation in her day, who was a strong supporter of Henry George and his socialistic single-tax program, and a friend of William Morris, a leading British socialist. Her welcome to the wretched refuse of the earth, written in 1883, was an effort to project an inclusive and egalitarian definition of the American Dream.

And there was Katharine Lee Bates, a professor of English at Wellesley College. Bates was an accomplished and published poet, whose bookAmerica the Beautiful and Other Poemsincludes a sequence of poems expressing outrage at U.S. imperialism in the Philippines. A member of progressive-reform circles in the Boston area, concerned about labor rights, urban slums and womens suffrage, an ardent feminist, for decades she lived with and loved her Wellesley colleague Katharine Coman, an economist and social activist.

America the Beautiful, written in 1893, not only speaks to the beauty of the American continent but also reflects her view that U.S. imperialism undermines the nations core values of freedom and liberty. The poems final wordsand crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining seaare an appeal for social justice rather than the pursuit of wealth.

In the Depression years and during World War II, the fusion of populist, egalitarian and anti-racist values with patriotic expression reached full flower.

Langston Hughes poem, Let America Be America Again, written in 1936, contrasted the nations promise with its mistreatment of his fellow African-Americans, the poor, Native Americans, workers, farmers and immigrants:

O, let my land be a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath

But opportunity is real, and life is free

Equality is in the air we breathe.

In 1939, composer Earl Robinson teamed with lyricist John La Touche to write Ballad for Americans, which was performed on the CBS radio network by Paul Robeson, accompanied by chorus and orchestra. This 11-minute cantata provided a musical review of American history, depicted as a struggle between the nobody whos everybody and an elite that fails to understand the real, democratic essence of America.

Robeson, at the time one of the best-known performers on the world stage, became, through this work, a voice of America. Broadcasts and recordings of Ballad for Americans (by Bing Crosby as well as Robeson) were immensely popular. In the summer of 1940, it was performed at the national conventions of both the Republican and Communist parties. The work soon became a staple in school choral performances, but it was literally ripped out of many public school songbooks after Robinson and Robeson were identified with the radical left and blacklisted during the McCarthy period. Since then, however, Ballad for Americans has been periodically revived, notably during the bicentennial celebration in 1976, when a number of pop and country singers performed it in concerts and on TV.

Aaron Coplands Fanfare for the Common Man and A Lincoln Portrait, both written in 1942, are now patriotic musical standards, regularly performed at major civic events. Few Americans know that Copland was a member of a radical composers group.

Many Americans consider Woody Guthries song This Land Is Your Land, penned in 1940, to be our unofficial national anthem. Guthrie, a radical, was inspired to write the song as an answer to Irving Berlins popular God Bless America, which he thought failed to recognize that it was the people to whom America belonged.

The words to This Land Is Your Land reflect Guthries assumption that patriotism and support for the underdog were interconnected. In this song, Guthrie celebrated Americas natural beauty and bounty, but criticized the country for its failure to share its riches. This is reflected in the songs last and least-known verse, which Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen included when they performed the song in January 2009 at a pre-inaugural concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial, with President-elect Obama in the audience:

One bright sunny morning;

In the shadow of the steeple;

By the relief office;

I saw my people.

As they stood hungry;

I stood there wondering;

If this land was made for you and me.

During the 1960s, American progressives continued to seek ways to fuse their love of country with their opposition to the governments policies. The March on Washington in 1963 gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King Jr. famously quoted the words to My Country Tis of Thee, repeating the phrase Let freedom ring 11 times.

Phil Ochs, then part of a new generation of politically conscious singer-songwriters who emerged during the 1960s, wrote an anthem in the Guthrie vein, The Power and the Glory, that coupled love of country with a strong plea for justice and equality. The words to the chorus echo the sentiments of the anti-Vietnam War movement:

Here is a land full of power and glory;

Beauty that words cannot recall;

Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom;

Her glory shall rest on us all.

One of its stanzas updated Guthries combination of outrage and patriotism:

Yet shes only as rich as the poorest of her poor;

Only as free as the padlocked prison door;

Only as strong as our love for this land;

Only as tall as we stand.

This song later became part of the repertoire of the U.S. Army band.

And in 1968, in a famous anti-war speech, Norman Thomas, the aging leader of the Socialist Party, proclaimed, I come to cleanse the American flag, not burn it.

In recent decades, Bruce Springsteen has most closely followed in the Guthrie tradition. From Born in the USA, to his songs about Tom Joad (the militant protagonist in John SteinbecksThe Grapes of Wrath), to his anthem about the 9/11 tragedy (Empty Sky), to his albumWrecking Ball(including its opening song, We Take Care of Our Own), Springsteen has championed the downtrodden while challenging America to live up to its ideals.

Steve (Little Stevie) Van Zandt is best known as the guitarist with Springsteens E Street Band and for his role as Silvio Dante, Tony Sopranos sidekick on the TV show, The Sopranos. But his most enduring legacy should be his love song about America, I Am a Patriot, including these lyrics:

I am a patriot, and I love my country;

Because my country is all I know.

Wanna be with my family;

People who understand me;

I got no place else to go.

And I aint no communist,

And I aint no socialist,

And I aint no capitalist,

And I aint no imperialist,

And I aint no Democrat,

Sure aint no Republican either,

I only know one party,

And that is freedom.

Since the American Revolution, each generation of progressives has expressed an American patriotism rooted in democratic values that challenged jingoism and my countryright or wrong thinking. They rejected blind nationalism, militaristic drum beating, and sheep-like conformism.

Throughout the United States history, they have viewed their movementsabolition of slavery, farmers populism, womens suffrage, workers rights, civil rights, environmentalism, gay rights, and othersas profoundly patriotic. They believed that Americas core claimsfairness, equality, freedom, justicewere their own.

America now confronts a new version of the Gilded Age, brought upon by Wall Street greed and corporate malfeasance. In the midst of a recession, the gap between rich and poor is still widening. Although the economy has improved in recent years, Americans are feeling more economically insecure than at any time since the Depression. They are upset by the unbridled selfishness and political influence-peddling demonstrated by banks, oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies, and other large corporations. They are angry at the growing power of American-based global firms who show no loyalty to their country, outsource jobs to low-wage countries, avoid paying taxes, and pollute the environment.

We are, once again, battling over immigration and who belongs in America. Some right-wing groups and talk-show pundits, calling themselves patriots, have even challenged the citizenship of our president.

These trends have triggered a growing grassroots movementreflected by Occupy Wall Street, the Fight for 15, the Dreamers, Black Lives Matter, and othersinvolving a diverse coalition of community groups, immigrant rights organizations, unions, consumer advocates, and human rights activistsdemanding stronger regulations to protect consumers, workers, and the environment from abusive corporations, living wages, fairer trade, an end to police abuse and mass incarceration, and higher taxes on the very rich to pay for better schools, safer roads, and student loans.

This movement, which embodies the idea of liberty and justice for all, reflects Americas tradition of progressive patriotism. It recognizes that conservatives have never had a monopoly on Old Glory.

HappyJuly 4th.

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Sorry, right-wing xenophobes: Patriotic radicals and ...

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER Progressive activists attacked Donald Trumps motorcade and supporters in Minneapolis late Friday night, but the local media downplayed the unprecedented attack against an American presidential candidate.

Heres the attack on Trumps motorcade.

The Star Tribunesite found a way to blame Trump and his supporters for the physical attacks by progressives, even while it posted a video showing a vicious public attack on a Trump supporter, and an apparent theft in public from a Trump supporter being escorted into the event.

But the Star Tribunes caption makes no mention of the attacks, merely stating The New York businessman made his first visit to the state as the Republican presidential candidate for a private nighttime fundraiser at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

The article mentions the violence in the second paragraph, while describing it as merely some people getting pushed, jostled and spat on, and suggests in the lede that the violence was Trumps responsibility.

Donald Trump roiled Minnesota politics for a few hours Friday night without ever showing his face in public.

The New York businessman made his first visit to the state as the Republican presidential candidate for a private nighttime fundraiser at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Dozens of protesters gathered out front ahead of the event and marched around the large building. Later in the evening, a smaller contingent grew unruly. Some fundraiser attendees were pushed and jostled, spit on and verbally harassed as they left the convention center.

Here are tweeted reports from Renee Jones Schneider, a photographer at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, who recorded Trumps event and supporters being attacked.

Jaime DeLage, a reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, tweeted out coverage of the fundraiser.

Before the attacks, the protestors first tried to block entrances.

Link:
Progressives Attack Donald Trump's Motorcade and ...

The 1890's are often viewed today as a happy time period when Americans lived uncomplicated lives with few problems to worry about. But, time has a way of covering up the negative and the ugly. Rather than being a "happy time," the 1890's may have been one of the worst times for Americans.

This was also a time when thousands of immigrants were flooding into the country from Europe. Many of these immigrants remained in the eastern industrial cities working for low wages in dirty and dangerous jobs. During the 1890's, the United States had one of the highest industrial accident rates in the world. Yet, workers who were severely injured or crippled could rarely collect any compensation.

Strikes were illegal at this time. Workers who attempted to go out on strike were often arrested or even beaten up by company thugs. A particularly ugly situation developed at Andrew Carnegie's Homestead steel works outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1892. Open warfare broke out between strikers and private guards hired by Carnegie to break the strike. Rifles and even cannons were used in a series of battles between the two sides that left 10 dead.

Times were tough for rural Americans, too. Farmers constantly complained that their lives were ruled by eastern bankers and railroad men. Farmers had to contend with high interest rates for loans in order to buy land, seed and farm equipment. They also had to pay outrageous freight rates set by the railroads in order to get their products to market. Many farm foreclosures resulted when crops failed or prices for farm products dropped.

All these economic problems increased in 1893 when a severe economic depression struck. Many thousands of Americans lost their jobs, farms and homes. The prevailing attitude of government, however, was to stay out of the way of private business. Little was done by the government, from Congress on down to city councils, to reduce the economic suffering of the people.

Corruption and Reform

During the early years of the new century, those individuals who tried to approach government with proposals to improve the lot of factory workers, farmers and small businessmen had little success. Especially at the local and state levels of government, lawmakers were often controlled by political machines and special interest groups. At this time, local and state government reached a low point in American history. Greed, corruption, and outright bribery were common among many politicians.

A New York Times editorial of July 3, 1911, complained that "Respectable and well-meaning men all over the State and especially in this city, are going about saying: 'What is the use? You only replace one lot of rascals by another, generally worse."' Across the country in California, the Southern Pacific Railroad controlled the state legislature and dictated how the state should be run. This was always to the benefit of the railroad. In many states at this time, railroads and other large corporations saw to it that legislatures did nothing to interfere with their profits, power and privilege.

By the early 1900's, reform minded individuals and groups spoke out increasingly against the "robber barons," as the big bankers, industrialists and railroad men were called. Farm, labor, and small business groups along with ministers and journalists charged that the enormous wealth of big business was secured by exploiting hardworking Americans. Political cartoonists portrayed big corporations like the Southern Pacific Railroad as grasping octopuses. A particular target of the reformers were city and state governments that often cooperated or were regularly paid off by the big business interests.

The period from 1890 to 1917 was a time of intense reform activity in the United States. Many different reform movements existed at this time, ranging from farmers who wanted to regulate railroad freight rates, to women fighting for the right to vote, to city social workers trying to improve the health of immigrant children. Generally, these advocates of reform were middle class professionals and small businessmen, both Republicans and Democrats. They wanted changes to take place in American society, but not radical or revolutionary changes. They wanted government to take a more active role in regulating big business. They also realized that before meaningful changes could take place, the stranglehold over local and state government by corrupt politicians and the huge corporations had to be broken. The reformers of this time called themselves "progressives."

The Progressive Movement

The first successes of the progressive reformers were achieved in city governments. Corrupt city officials were publicly exposed, voted out of office, and replaced by reform leaders. Under progressive administrations, cities like Toledo, Ohio, established the minimum wage, the eight-hour day, and paid vacations for workers.

Some cities took over the ownership of gas, water and electric utilities. In many cities, employees were hired and promoted through a civil service system that eliminated the old method of paying off political debts with overpaid city jobs. City government itself was reformed. Party politics was removed in some cities when candidates for mayor, city council, and the school board ran in nonpartisan elections. In spite of their successes at the local level of government, progressives realized that it was at the state level that the most important changes had to take place.

The Progressive Movement won its first important victory at the state level of government with the election of Robert M. La Follette as governor of Wisconsin in 1900. A Republican, "Battling Bob" La Follette served three two-year terms as governor. From 1901 to 1906, La Follette spearheaded numerous progressive reforms. His leadership helped Wisconsin establish a railroad regulation commission to set fair freight rates. A graduated state income tax that taxed the rich at a higher rate was passed into law. A pure food law was voted in. A corrupt political practices act became law. A direct primary system was enacted allowing political party members rather than party bosses to nominate candidates. "Battling Bob" also modernized state government with the so-called "Wisconsin Idea." This involved participation in government by experts such as political scientists, economists and educators.

The astounding success of La Follette's progressivism in Wisconsin swept the country. Soon, other reform-minded leaders were adapting La Follette's ideas to their own states. When Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, became governor of New Jersey in 1911, he put into practice many of La Follette's reforms. In California, Hiram Johnson was elected governor in 1910 after attacking the domination of state government by the Southern Pacific Railroad. In a remarkable legislative session in 1911, Johnson pushed through many progressive changes inspired by La Follette's experience in Wisconsin. Johnson went even further when he successfully stumped the state for a state constitutional amendment providing for the initiative, referendum and recall.

The Progressive Movement also influenced national politics. When Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, became President after McKinley was assassinated in 1901, he promoted a number of reforms at the national level of government. Federal laws dealt with the regulation of corporations and railroads, government meat inspection, workmen's compensation for industrial accidents, and wilderness conservation. When Woodrow Wilson became president, he, too, transformed many of his progressive ideas into national legislation.

Perhaps the highpoint of the national Progressive Movement was the formation of the Progressive Party in 1912. This party was made up mainly of Republicans who felt that party leaders had turned their backs on progressive goals. The Progressive Party presidential candidate was Theodore Roosevelt, who believed that the man who had replaced him in the White House, Republican William Howard Taft, had failed to promote progressive reforms.

The 1912 platform of the Progressive Party contained most of the ideas that the progressives held dear to their hearts. The platform attacked the "unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics." It went on to support such reforms as the direct election of U.S. senators, women's suffrage, industrial safety laws, a minimum wage for women, the eight-hour day, unemployment insurance, an inheritance tax, collective bargaining for workers, a ban on child labor, and the initiative, referendum and recall. The platform was an agenda for needed legislation in the new century. Nearly all the ideas promoted by the Progressive Party in 1912 eventually became law. This was the Progressive Party legacy. It led the United States into modern times.

Despite widespread popularity, Teddy Roosevelt and his vice-presidential running mate, California's Hiram Johnson, lost to Woodrow Wilson. Over the next few years many Progressive Party candidates were defeated. By 1917, the party had ceased to exist. With the entrance of the U.S. into World War I in 1917, the interests of Americans were directed overseas. The Progressive Movement quietly disappeared, although La Follette and other progressives remained prominent in politics for many years.

The Swiss Connection

In 1909, George Judson King, an officer of the Ohio Direct Legislative League, visited Switzerland. A progressive, King was interested in studying the various forms of direct democracy practiced by the Swiss. He discovered that Switzerland had adopted a national referendum procedure in 1874 following a period of political corruption. The Swiss added a nationwide initiative for constitutional amendments in 1891. While in Switzerland, King interviewed several government leaders asking them what they thought about the referendum and initiative. One official told him, "The Swiss people recognize in the initiative and referendum their shield and sword. With the shield of the referendum they ward off legislation they do not desire; with the sword of the initiative they cut the way for the enactment of their own ideas into law."

Other Americans before and after King who visited Switzerland were also impressed with how the referendum and initiative worked. They returned to the U.S. with their favorable observations, and made the referendum and initiative an important part of the progressive agenda for reform. While Governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson stated that the referendum and initiative were "the safeguard of politics." Direct democracy, Wilson said, "takes power from the boss and places it in the hands of the people."

The first state to adopt the initiative idea into its constitution was South Dakota in 1898. Utah followed in 1900, and Oregon did the same in 1902. Sixteen more states provided for the initiative process between 1906 and 1918 during the heyday of the Progressive Movement. The remaining four states with the initiative (Alaska, Wyoming, Illinois and Florida) did not adopt this form of direct democracy until after 1950. The

District of Columbia got the initiative last in 1977. Seventeen of the twenty-three initiative states lie west of the Mississippi River.

Getting The "I and R" In Oregon

Oregon was not the first state to get the initiative and referendum. But, the story of how the "I and R" were finally added to its state constitution illustrates how the progressives fought for their reforms in many states around the turn of the century.

Like many states in the 1890's, Oregon was largely in the hands of the wealthy corporations, particularly the railroads. The state government had become inefficient and corrupt. One journalist of the time described the Oregon state legislature as being filled with "briefless lawyers, farmless farmers, business failures, bar-room loafers, Fourth-of-July-orators, and political thugs." The majority of the lawmakers were ignorant, illiterate and lazy. Legislative sessions at Salem, the state capital, took place along with public drunkenness and flocks of prostitutes ready to offer their services to the lawmakers.

The economic depression of 1893 ruined many Oregon farmers. The farmers blamed Wall Street, the railroads, and their own corrupt state government. Into this situation stepped a man with a strange name: William Simon U'Ren.

Born in Wisconsin and educated in Colorado, U'Ren was a wanderer. Over the years he had worked as a blacksmith, bookkeeper, and lawyer. When he arrived in Oregon in 1892, U'Ren joined a group of reform minded farmers in Clackamas County. After reading about the Swiss experience with direct democracy, U'Ren launched a ten year crusade for an initiative and referendum, the "I and R," in Oregon.

U'Ren organized a petition drive calling for an amendment to the state constitution that would provide for the "I and R." Many women working for the right to vote aided U'Ren. Female teachers frequently spoke in favor of the "I and R" at meetings and social gatherings held in schoolhouses all over the state. When the legislative session met at Salem in 1895 (it met every two years), U'Ren had 15,000 signatures on petitions calling for the "I and R." However, the Republican political machine that controlled the legislature at that time opposed the reforms. So, the lawmakers ignored U'Ren and his petitions.

U'Ren decided to change his tactics. He later said, "I now decided to get the reforms by using our enemies' own methods-by fighting the devil with fire." First, U'Ren ran for a seat in the state legislature in 1896. After winning the election, he organized a revolt in the legislative session of 1897. U'Ren managed to put together a group of lawmakers who for one reason or another opposed the political leaders of the legislature. Although U'Ren's group was in the minority, it refused to participate in any legislative business. The rebels even refused to take their oath of office. These actions effectively prevented a quorum, so lawmaking came to a standstill. Absolutely nothing happened during the entire legislative session of 1897.

During the next regularly scheduled session of the state legislature, U'Ren again threatened to stop all official business unless the political bosses agreed to support his "I and R" constitutional amendment. The politicians gave in and the legislature approved the amendment. However, constitutional amendments had to be passed by two succeeding legislative sessions before being submitted to the people for ratification. So, U'Ren had to wait until 1902 before the "I and R" finally became part of the state constitution. However, by this time the initiative and referendum were so popular in the state that almost everyone was behind it. In the words of one journalist, it was a "quiet revolution." William Simon U'Ren later became a progressive governor of Oregon.

For Discussion

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The Progressives - Constitutional Rights Foundation