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Varieties of
Progressivism
Change inevitably
inspires fear. After the Civil War the United States entered a period of
rapid change. The economy rapidly industrialized and the US found itself
a world leader in manufacturing. The population was growing and shifting
as more and more people and immigrants moved into the cities and headed
west. This rapid, and sometimes chaotic, change led to the beginning of
the progressive movement. Progressives did not oppose with continued
growth (as their name states, they believed in PROGRESS). Where they did
have a problem was with continued chaotic growth. Progressives differed
widely about what needed to be accomplished to reform society but they
virtually all agreed on this: growth was good as long as it was
controlled and the only way to effectively control and maintain order and
stability was through government involvement. (Keep in mind that at this
time the government was just beginning to take a more active role in day to
day life in the US. Up to this point the main concern of government
officials was to win office, reward their supporters and make sure taxes were
collected and mail delivered.)
There was no single
agency coordinating progressive efforts. The progressive movement
consisted of several groups of socially conscious people working relatively
independently. Progressives could be found in all classes. Most
progressive leaders hailed from the middle classes. Even business
leaders supported some progressive impulses (mainly in an effort to control
the change and be in a position to protect their positions).
One tool of the Progressives was the muckraker. These were authors who used their
audiences to expose social ills and government and corporate corruption.
Ida Tarbell was a famous muckraker who published a study of the Standard Oil
Trust, contributing to its breakup. One could consider Upton Sinclair a
muckraker for his novel The Jungle which described the horrors of the
meat packing industry and contributed to passage of regulatory
legislation. Settlement Houses were examples of progressive
attempts to improve society. Founders of
settlement houses took a nurture view of human development. If you could
change the environment a person grew up in then you could improve their
chances in life and cut down on the possibility of them becoming destitute or
criminals. The settlement houses were aimed mainly at helping immigrant
families adjust to life in the US. One of the first and most popular was
Hull House. Hull House, like most other settlement houses, relied
heavily on college women for staffing. This contributed to
the development of social work as a profession, one that accepted women.
Professionals also got
into the reforming spirit. Up to this point any old Joe could stand on
the street and sell themselves as a doctor, lawyer, or any other
profession. There were no licensing programs to regulate them. It
was a buyer beware market and too bad if you hired a doctor who amputated your
left leg instead of giving you an appendectomy. Doctors led the
way to establishing standards for entry into the profession. The
American Medical Association was founded and scientific standards and training
were required of doctors. Soon, state laws required all physicians to be
licensed. Lawyers followed suit (I said followed, not filed :}) and bar
associations were formed. This protected the professions from bad
reputations due to poorly trained practitioners and it also cut down on
competition. Now, in order to become a doctor, one had to be smart
enough and have the financial resources to attend rigorous training
programs. This effectively barred most women, African Americans, and
immigrants from entering the professions.
Some women managed to
become lawyers, doctors, and scientists but most entered fields that society
deemed "women's professions." (Doctors of the day published
"studies" that claimed the college environment was unhealthy for
women and would damage their ability to reproduce.) The women's
professions included nursing, teaching (the biggest employer of women), and
the newly growing field of social work. While women's professions were
more inclined to be "helping" professions where they were working or
caring for others, they too picked up on the reform movement and began to
emphasize standards and training.
The Beginning of the
Woman's Movement and Suffrage
Despite living in a
society that believed their place was in the home, women were highly involved
in the various reform movements of the late 1800s, early 1900s. Several
changes contributed to this presence. The home stopped consuming all of
a woman's time. Children were spending more time at school and running
water and labor saving devices eased the burden on women's time, allowing them
to develop a public presence. With more free time on their hands, they
began to form social clubs. These social clubs quickly evolved into
reform societies and thus the great participation of women in
progressivism. These reform clubs accomplished several things.
They secured passage of legislation that regulated child labor and the food
and drug industries. Their greatest accomplishment was winning passage
of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 that prohibited infringement of the
rights of a US citizen to vote based on sex. The path to women's
suffrage was a long one. Early arguments challenged the accepted idea of
separate spheres for men and women. Leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton
argued that women were citizens and were entitled to the same rights as men,
that being mothers and wives had no bearing on this at all. This
argument met with resistance as it challenged a social norm. As the
movement matured the tactics changed. Rather than challenge the idea of
separate spheres and the idea that women were nurturers and supporters with
arguments claiming natural rights, new tactics embraced the perception of
women as nurturers. It was argued that giving women the right to vote
would not challenge this role but would enhance it and allow women to bring
the virtues they were teaching in the home to a larger public. With
arguments such as these the movement began to gain more support. In 1910
Washington became the first state in 14 years to grant women the right to
vote. Ten years later the movement culminated with passage of the
nineteenth amendment.
Reforming
the Government
As progressivism
continued to gain popularity, leaders of the movement came to realize that,
(as discussed above) government involvement would be required to effectively
address societal problems. As this realization grew, so too did the
realization that government was in no condition to take on this role,
therefore, reform had to start with the government. One problem facing
government involvement was the political boss and machine systems.
Bosses were not all evil, they did provide several services that municipal and
state governments were unwilling or unable to meet. Jobs, business, and
support were doled out by bosses and their machines in return for votes.
Ballots were public and watchers were placed at the polls to make sure people
voted as they said they would. This way bosses kept control of local and
state politics. Reformers found a way around this with several
tools. First, the secret ballot was instituted. No longer could
bosses make sure people were voting as they claimed they would. Another
tactic was replacement of the Mayoral form of government with the City
Manager. City councils would be elected and then would select a City
Manager to run the city. Ideally, these people would be from outside
conventional politics and would therefore be untainted by corruption and
unavailable to the bosses.
African Americans
During the Progressive Era
African Americans were
also reforming and looking for different alternatives during these
years. Segregated from most of the new woman's social clubs, they often
formed their own and grew to address issues such as lynching. W.E.B. Du
Bois came onto the scene, offering an alternative to Booker T. Washington's
philosophy, referred to as "self-help" on how to attain equality.
Du Bois believed that the gifted
individuals in black society should not settle for industrial training as
Washington believed, but should go on for University education. When
this elite entered society as professionals then the remainder of the African
American community would reap the benefits of equality and acceptance.
Du Bois attacked Washington for encouraging segregation. He argued that
they should demand immediate restoration of their civil rights rather than
change their ways and wait patiently for acceptance. In 1909, Du Bois'
supporters and a group of white men and women who were sympathetic with their
plight joined and founded the NAACP. This body used the federal court
system to wage the battles necessary to gain equality and won some significant
cases. These included the striking down of Grandfather Clauses in
Oklahoma and residential segregation laws in Louisville.
Other Movements, Some
Good, Some Not So Good
The consumption of
alcohol had gained attention as a contributor to society's evils before the
Civil War. During the Progressive era it came under attack again.
The temperance movement was led largely by women who had first hand
knowledge of the problems alcohol could cause a family. Women were the
ones who had to feed their families on strained budgets because their husbands
wanted to go spend a bunch of money getting drunk with Jimbo Billy-Bob Jack
Daniels, the town drunk. Women were the ones who suffered violence at
the hands of drunk husbands. With this first hand knowledge of the
economic and health problems alcoholism caused, women were the vanguard of the
temperance movement which culminated with passage of the Eighteenth Amendment
which banned the production and consumption of alcohol in the US.
The application of
Eugenics to progressive zeal had disturbing results. Eugenics is the
belief that, just as Darwin argued that good traits that make a species
stronger will be passed to the next generation, bad traits and characteristics
can also be transmitted. When this belief mixed was picked up by people
intent on improving their society it was perverted. Some decided they
had an obligation to prevent passage of these negative traits. They
attempted to do this two ways. Immigrants were considered to be a source
of "bad" traits and support to close America's borders
increased. More disturbing was the passage in some states of
sterilization laws. These laws permitted states to sterilize certain
criminals, individuals in insane asylums, and others with physical or
mental/emotional "defects".
It was also during these
years that the Socialist party gained its most support. Though it never
represented a real threat to the established order, the socialists did gain
some measure of power. Led by their leader and presidential candidate,
Eugene Debs, the socialists stumbled through the Progressive Era without ever
agreeing on a concrete program or method of operation. Some socialists
sought revolution and violent overthrow of the established order, while others
simply sought nationalization (federal ownership) of certain industries like
the railroads. The party fell into decline as World War I approached,
bringing with it a backlash against radicalism.
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