Chapter 1:
Brown/APUSH
American History
Chapter 20 p. 551-581
The Progressives
Chapter Summary
Convinced that rapid industrialization and urbanization had created serious problems and disorder, Progressives shared an optimistic vision that organized private and government action could improve society. Progressivism sought to control monopoly, build social cohesion, and promote efficiency. Muckrakers exposed social ills that Social Gospel reformers, settlement house workers, and other Progressives attacked. Meanwhile, increasing standards of training and expertise were creating a new middle class of educated professionals including some women. The Progressives tried to rationalize politics by reducing the influence of political parties in municipal and state affairs. Many of the nation's problems could be solved, some Progressives believed, if alcohol were banned, immigration were restricted, and women were allowed to vote. Educated blacks teamed with sympathetic whites to form the NAACP and began the movement that eventually wiped away Jim Crow. Other Progressives stressed the need for fundamental economic transformation through socialism or through milder forms of antitrust action and regulation.
Theodore Roosevelt became president as a consequence of the assassination of William McKinley, but he quickly moved to make the office his own. In many ways, Roosevelt was the preeminent progressive, yet it sometimes seemed that for him reform was more a style than a dogma. Although Roosevelt clearly envisioned a more activist national government, the shifts and contradictions embodied in his policies toward trusts, labor, and conservation reflected the complexity and diversity of progressivism. Despite being Roosevelt's hand picked successor, President William Howard Taft managed to alienate Roosevelt and other progressive Republicans by his actions regarding tariffs, conservation, foreign policy, trusts, and other matters. In 1912, Roosevelt decided to challenge Taft for the presidency. When he failed to secure the Republican nomination, Roosevelt formed his own Progressive party. With the Republicans divided, Woodrow Wilson won the presidency. In actuality, Wilson's domestic program turned out to be much like the one Roosevelt had advocated.
Chapter Twenty Main Themes
➢ The growth of progressivism as a reaction to the problems caused by the rapid industrialization and urbanization of the United States in the late nineteenth century.
➢ The nature of the progressive impulse, particularly the optimistic vision shared by all progressives that an active government and human intervention could solve problems and create an efficient, ordered society.
➢ The desire of progressives to reduce the influence of party machines on politics and foster instead rule by "experts."
➢ The crusade-like nature of many progressive movements, including prohibition, immigration-restriction, and women's suffrage movements.
➢ The guiding ideology and domestic interests of Theodore Roosevelt's administration.
➢ The troubled succession of William Howard Taft to the presidency, and how it paved the way for the ascension of Woodrow Wilson.
➢ The administration of Woodrow Wilson as both a conservative and progressive leader.
Analytical Journal
lice Paul “Bull Moose” party Eugenics
Gifford Pinchot Hetch Hetchy Hull House
IWW (“Wobblies”) Jane Addams Louis Brandeis
Muckrakers NAACP New Freedom
New Nationalism Prohibition Robert La Follette
Social Gospel Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire W. E. B. Du Bois
Defining the chapter terms in your journals will help you better understand:
• The origins and varieties of the progressive impulse.
• The social justice reforms of the period, and the role of the church in carrying out the Social Gospel.
• The progressive emphasis on scientific expertise, organizational reform, and professionalism.
• The role of women and women's organizations in promoting reform.
• The significance of the women's suffrage movement.
• The desire of the progressives to limit the role of political party organizations, and the measures they advocated to accomplish this goal.
• The temperance movement and its relationship to other progressive reforms.
• The origins of the NAACP and the importance of W. E. B. DuBois.
• The movement to restrict immigration and how restricting immigration was regarded as a reform.
• The alternate approaches to the problems of the trusts: socialism, regulation, or trust busting. The nature and extent of Theodore Roosevelt's "square deal" progressivism.
• The similarities and differences between the domestic progressivism of William Howard Taft and of Roosevelt.
• The conservation issue, and why it triggered the split between Taft and Roosevelt.
• The consequences of the split in the Republican Party in 1912.
• The differences between Roosevelt's New Nationalism and Wilson's New Freedom.
• The differences between Woodrow Wilson's campaign platform and the measures actually implemented during his term.
Long Essay Questions
1. Dr. Brinkley asserts, “Progressives absorbed many more defeats than they won victories, but they left America profoundly changed nevertheless.”. Analyze these victories and defeats, as well as the was in which America was “profoundly changed.”
Possible thesis statement: The reform movements of the Progressive Era resulted in many political, social, and economic victories and defeats. One cannot study this era without examining both. Such an examination will indicate that both the victories and defeats contributed to profound changes in American society.
Discuss
• Victories
• Defeats
Possible conclusion: On the whole, progressive reformers were responsible for wide-ranging victories that changed some political and social traditions. However, little change occurred in the lives of African Americans and other people of color and immigrants. Further, little was done to really limit the power of corporations or to determine the best role for government in regulating business growth. Nonetheless, both the successful and unsuccessful reform efforts of the Progressive Era forever shaped the American character. Thereafter, reform would play a permanent role in the struggle for greater political, social, and economic equality.
Long Essay Exam Tip
Questions from this period often deal with the impulses behind progressive reform. One key idea to consider is whether progressive reform was a grassroots movement with wide spread popular support, especially among the lower classes, or whether it was a movement by middle and upper class Americans to impose a degree of control on an increasingly chaotic industrial economy.
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