The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era was a period of time that most historians agree occurred between

1901 and 1914. Some historians claim that the period ended around America’s entrance into

World War I, however. Despite the conflicts in the assumed length of the era, it is quite easy to

explain what the time period was all about and it affected America; also, one can detail this

further into how Roosevelt and Wilson impacted America during this era.

In American history, the Progressive Era was a period of time that occurred from the year

1901 to 1914. This era stood for the everyman, namely the people of the middle class. The

middle class in America was under stress from the crushing grip that monopolies had on their

lifestyles and from the neglect caused by attention that was paid to the poor. The stress was

vented into a massive political movement that demanded reform on all levels and aspects of

society. Thus, the Progressive Movement was born. Not only did the movement benefit from the

large middle class support, but it also drew energy from the momentum that the largely failed

Populist Movement had created. As a result of this, one could notice some similarities between

the failed Populist Movement and the ever-growing Progressive Movement, such as the focus on

attempting to get what the people wanted accomplished. The cries for reform were soon focused

into a crusade against many things that the majority of the movement’s supporters determined

were great evils and detriments to society. This ‘crusade’ was launched against the limited ability

of the citizens to control the government, the abuse of monopolies, alcohol, and the inequality of

women. The ‘crusade’ soon became the platform of the ideology, a platform that was used by

advocates of the movement and politicians alike.

 The great ‘crusade’ for reform managed to affect America greatly. One of the main

driving points of the movement was the need of the populous to have a greater control over the

federal and state governments. One could assume that part of this want for control was the

byproduct of years of political machines rigging elections. Up until this era, the only branch of

the Congress that was elected directly by the citizens was the House of Representatives. The

Senate members were chosen by the state governments, meaning that the common people could

only affect the Senate by electing certain people. Even after the elections, it still was not a

guarantee that choices in Senators would be what the people wanted/expected. To combat this,

the people pushed for an amendment to the Constitution. The push for the amendment was

strong, and soon enough, the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified and added to the

Constitution. This amendment allowed for the public to directly elect the Senators that would

represent them in Congress. The populous also managed to increase their voting power by

managing to get another level of government added: local. At the expense of the state

governments’ power, city councils, mayors, and school boards all came into existence. This

allowed the public to gain near-maximum control over the affairs of the governments within the

country.

Another force that was driving the movement was the iron grip that monopolies held on

society. The monopolies freely controlled prices and underpaid and overworked their employees.

Being proponents of Social Darwinism, the upper class owners of the monopolies felt that they

could pressure the lower classes as they saw fit because the able would find a way to survive and

the unable would not. The public’s outcry over their treatment was quite loud, and with the help

of the muckrakers, the American people made major use of the Sherman Anti-trust Act and got

the Clayton Anti-trust Act passed. The Sherman Anti-trust Act was passed before the Progressive
Era began, but it was not heavily used until this era. The Sherman Anti-trust Act outlawed trusts,

the outright buying out of competitors, forcing consumers to sign long-term agreements, and

forcing consumers to buy unwanted products in order to buy the item they wanted. The Clayton

Anti-trust Act outlawed price-fixing and interlocking directorates, or boards of directors that

share a common director, where the directorates are competitors. These acts, along with

Progressive administrations, allowed for the public to slowly free themselves from the grip of the

monopolies.

Alcohol also became a target of the Progressive Movement. The beverage was seen as

one of the great evils of society. Poor living and working conditions caused the working man to

turn to alcohol more. This in turn caused him to spend portions, sometimes even all, of his salary

on alcohol. This translated into poor(er) living conditions. Also, the men would spend a lot of

time that was not spent at work in bars and pubs, so that when they did come home they were

drunk. Drunken at home, the men would often take out their frustrations in the form of physical

abuse against their wives and children. The push to ban alcohol was strong and the resistance

was equally as strong. Eventually this push managed to accomplish an amendment to the

Constitution, the Eighteenth Amendment which outlawed the sale and manufacture of alcohol.

Even though the actual amendment fell outside the era, its roots can be found in that time period.

Equality for women was also something that became a part of the Progressive Movement

as well. Suffrage was the main thing that women strove for equality in during the Progressive

Era. The push for women’s suffrage began at the local levels of government. Since it was not

commonplace for women to be working in this time period, they were the caretakers of the

children. Because they were mainly the only ones taking care of the children, women were

involved in their children’s schools. Only the men could vote, so they were the only ones who
could choose the school board officials. The inability of the women to vote for school board

officials lead to the main argument for women’s suffrage; the same argument that was the

underlying reason for the Nineteenth Amendment, which grants women the right to vote. The

argument was basically: Women send their children to school and are actively involved in the

school setting, but they cannot vote for the people that run the schools while men, who are

largely inactive in school functions, can. So logically, women should be able to vote for school

board officials. Once again, even though the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment fell

outside of the Progressive Era, one can find its roots in the time period.

During the Progressive Era, there were three presidents. Of these three presidents,

Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson had the largest impact on America. Roosevelt was

responsible for the tremendous increase in usage of the Sherman Anti-trust Act, earning him a

reputation as a trust-buster. Continuing with a theme of interventions in business, Roosevelt

struck the Square Deal between the coal companies and the workers. This compromise resulted

in the coal companies giving its striking workers higher salaries and fairer working hours. He

was also responsible for the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. The former

was responsible for the creation of the Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA. Roosevelt

also defended some of America’s imperialistic desires, something which the public was not

bothered with back then.

Woodrow Wilson was the last president of the Progressive Era. While he was not as big a

trust-buster as his predecessors, he did pass the Clayton Anti-trust Act. He was also a driving

force behind the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, which allows for the federal

government to collect income taxes. His reason for supporting the Sixteenth Amendment was

that high tariffs allowed monopolies to flourish and that this amendment would allow him to
lower the tariff. Wilson was able to do just that; he passed the Underwood Tariff which lowered

the tariff dramatically. Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments were also ratified

during his administration.

It is commonly agreed upon by historians that the Progressive Era occurred from 1901-

1914. This era was a period of reform based on the people’s desires. One can explain what the

time period was about, how it affected America, and how Roosevelt and Wilson impacted the

country during this era.

 Shifting Gears

Over the past decades, Progressivism has continued to affect America. Progressivism

itself has changed, however. By looking at the roots of events that have happened over the last

century, one can see that Progressivism has indeed changed and that the new Progressivism can

be both compared and contrasted with the old Progressivism.

One cannot argue that Progressivism is dead as there is a caucus dedicated to it in

Congress. Progressivism has undoubtedly changed since its premier in the year 1901, however. It

is no longer something that is widely accepted by the public. The ideology no longer belongs to

its own political party. When looking at Progressivism during the historically recognized era and

at the modern Progressivism, one would more than likely draw the conclusion that the two are

not related other than that they share a name. The two actually are one in the same, however. It is

not so much that they are separate as much as it is that Progressivism slowly evolved, causing the

changes to go largely unnoticed as the public lost interest in the movement. There are enough

differences between Progressivism then and now to compare and contrast it, however.

Modern Progressivism can be compared with the original Progressivism in a few ways.

One way the two can be compared is that they both have politicians that represent them. Old

Progressivism had Theodore Roosevelt and the self-declared Progressive members of Congress

and Modern Progressivism has a Congressional caucus for Democratic Congressmen. Another

way that the two are similar is that they both got legislation passed that was deemed to be for the

public good. Examples for Old Progressivism would be the Anti-trust Acts, the Pure Food and

Drug Act, and the Meat Inspection Act. Modern Progressivism examples would be the Stimulus

Bill, the Healthcare Bill, and T.A.R.P. Both Old and Modern Progressivism expanded the federal

government. A fourth way that the two are similar is that they both introduced regulatory
agencies. The examples for Old Progressivism and Modern Progressivism are the FDA and the

EPA respectively.

Old Progressivism and Modern Progressivism can be contrasted as well. While Old

Progressivism was a product of the people’s voice, Modern Progressivism is not. This can be

seen by looking at the polls showing the support for recent bills, such as the Healthcare Bill. In a

similar manner to the aforementioned contrast, Old Progressivism spawned legislation that was

deemed to be for the public good because the populous claimed it was but Modern Progressivism

spawns legislation that is deemed to be for the public good by politicians and people who speak

for a minority of the citizens. Old Progressivism was largely about big government and people’s

rights while being barely affected by socialism while Modern Progressivism is about big

government, less about people’s rights, and more about socialism. For the loss of people’s rights,

two prime examples are the Healthcare Bill and the Patriot Act. The Healthcare bill fits into this

category because the underlying premise for it was basically that we cannot let people be

uninsured, even if they want to be, it is in the public’s best interest. The premise with the Patriot

Act was that we have to monitor people’s conversations to protect them; it is in the public’s best

interest. Again, there are two decent examples of how Modern Progressivism is more socialist

than Old Progressivism; they are what have happened with the Sixteenth Amendment and

entitlement programs. The Sixteenth Amendment was one of the things that made Old

Progressivism slightly socialist. It was designed so that the income tax was graduated, or that a

larger percentage of the salary was taken from people who made more money. Over the years, as

Progressivism evolved, the number of households not paying the federal income tax has reached

forty-seven percent. That means that the other fifty-three percent have to foot the bill for the

other point: entitlement programs. Once more, entitlement programs were designed for the public
good, but they have only become means of redistribution of wealth. When fifty-three percent of

households pay for the programs but are more than likely not eligible to receive the benefits of

the programs, there is a textbook example of redistribution of wealth.

As with most things, Progressivism has changed. One can see this change by looking at

the roots of events and legislation in American society. Furthermore, one can not only just find

changes, but compare and contrast the Old and Modern types of Progressivism.
 Progressivism and Politics

Since Progressivism was a movement that was based on reforming all aspects of society,

it had an impact on the way that politics was handled. Also, since the Progressive ideology is still

around in the present day, it continues to have an impact on politics in America. One can go into

detail about how Old Progressivism affected politics and how Modern Progressivism is affecting

politics.

Old Progressivism definitely had an effect on the American political system. During that

era, there were four amendments added to the Constitution and many changes to government as a

whole. To add to that, there were also many changes in what the government would or would not

deal with. The Amendments in order were the Sixteenth, or the graduated income tax, the

Seventeenth, or the direct election of Senators, the Eighteenth, or prohibition, and the

Nineteenth, or women’s suffrage. Each of those amendments changed politics in some way. The

Sixteenth Amendment affected politics in that it made a need for an agency to collect the taxes

from the people. The modern day Internal Revenue Service came into existence because of the

Sixteenth Amendment. Modern day is stressed because the Internal Revenue Service had existed

before the amendment, and even a little bit after, but it was nowhere near as structured as it

currently is. The Sixteenth Amendment is responsible for the restructuring of the IRS. It is also

responsible for the creation of the tax code and the numerous changes to it. The Seventeenth

Amendment affected politics because it created a need for more elections, more public

appearances, and it required that some politicians were at the very least a little more open with

their platforms and ideals. The Eighteenth Amendment mainly affected politics in that it affected

candidates’ platforms to join either an anti or pro prohibition stance when running for office and
that it became the only amendment to become repealed. The ramifications of the Nineteenth

Amendment on politics are fairly obvious; it gave women the right to vote so it created another

voting group that candidates had to appeal to.

Old Progressivism also brought changes to government that affected how politics

functioned. With a new, local level of government added, many new positions became available

for people to run for. These new positions meant that more campaigning would occur and that

the State governments would lose some of their power. The loss of power at the state level meant

that now that their needed to be more people to regulate aspects of society, a politician could not

get away with as much. Primary elections also began during this era. This meant that people

gained more control over who they could vote for and that political hopefuls would have to

openly debate and discuss policy.

The politics of what the government would deal with changed in the Progressive Era.

Before the era began, the government would not heavily meddle with the affairs of business.

This changed with the passage of a few pieces of legislation, however. Also, before this era

started the government would not listen to people who wanted to advance women’s rights or ban

alcohol. This changed during the era via a few amendments, though.

Just as Old Progressivism has affected politics, Modern Progressivism is affecting

politics. It has become commonplace for bills to be rushed through in Congress now, even

though the bills may exceed two-thousand pages. The main proponents of these bills have been

the self-proclaimed Progressives. These large bills have also been used to get other things done,

even though they might be unrelated to the actual bill. The best example of this would be the

federal takeover of student loans that happened via the Healthcare Bill. Also, Modern

Progressives have attempted to use either new procedure to pass bills, or to apply old procedures
to a different purpose. An example of the former would be the attempted use of the Slaughter

Rule, which would deem a bill passed without an actual vote. An example of the latter would be

the attempted us of the Nuclear Option on the Healthcare Bill. The Nuclear Option was

traditionally used to pass budget adjustments, but the Healthcare Bill was a law and not an

adjustment to the federal budget.

Progressivism as a whole has affected politics in America. It also continues to affect the

country today. One could go into great detail to explain how both Old and Modern Progressivism

have affected American politics.

 American Society and Progressive Ideology

Since its introduction into America in 1901, Progressivism has been affecting American

society. Since Progressivism did, or at least attempted to, reform all aspects of America, one can

see how society would also be affected. One can even go into detail about how Old

Progressivism affected society, and how Modern Progressivism is affecting society.

American society was greatly affected by the Progressive Era. During this era, many

more people than usual became politically active. Old Progressivism also helped fuel the

movement for complete women’s rights with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. That

era also inadvertently created a counter-culture as well. When the Eighteenth Amendment was

ratified, an entire way of life was taken away from some people. To add to that, alcohol is a

substance that creates dependency, so one cannot be taken off of it overnight. Since people there

were still people who wanted or believed that they needed alcohol, other people started

manufacturing illegal liquor. The people that manufactured the alcohol eventually organized into

groups and started trying to do away with competition, which gave way to organized crime.

Aside from the organized crime and the larger number of people participating in politics, the

Progressive Era also affected society by allowing for people to start getting out from under the

grip of monopolies and start becoming wealthy.

Modern Progressivism is having an effect on American society as well. Modern

Progressivism has introduced several new programs into society. These programs are entitlement

programs such as Welfare, Medicare, and Social Security. Welfare was designed to help the less

fortunate, Medicare was designed to help the elderly get health coverage, and Social Security

was designed to provide a retirement fund for people. Problems have been caused by these
programs, however. More and more doctors have started refusing to accept Medicare. Also,

Medicare is the insurer that denies the most claims at 6.85 percent, even though it was designed

to help people. Social Security is going to start paying out more money than it takes in later in

2010 due to the number of people retiring early. Welfare may provide support for families out of

work, but it does not actually provide an incentive to get back to work other than running out of

the time that one can be on it. That incentive is not even much of a problem, as the length of time

has been extended twice in the past two years. These entitlement programs have also created a

sense of dependency on the government, creating a welfare state of sorts. One can see this

dependency when they look at the August 11th riot in Atlanta, Georgia over government

subsidized housing applications. A crowd of some thirty-thousand people broke into violence

while waiting in line for their applications. When the government has society in such a way that

they start riots over getting handouts, they can manipulate that public into a voting bloc by

saying that X candidate will try to take Y program away but I will make sure that Y gets more

funding.

Both Modern and Old Progressivism have had an effect on society. This effect can be

seen continuing from where the Progressive Era ended all the way up to the present day. One can

explore in detail how Old and Modern Progressivism have affected society as well.
 The Economy and the Ideas of Progressivism

The ideology of Progressivism has affected American politics, society, and even

American economics. The ideas and legislation that have been spawned from Progressivism

have continued to influence the economic practices in America. One can go into depth on how

Old Progressivism and New Progressivism have affected the American economy.

Old Progressivism impacted the American economic system in a few ways. One of the

more noticeable ways that Old Progressivism affected the economy was with the Sherman Anti-

trust Act and the Clayton Anti-trust Act. These two acts, which were explained in the first essay,

were used to advance one of the Progressive Movement’s goals of regulating big business. The

Sherman Anti-trust Act was used extensively by Theodore Roosevelt, so much so that it earned

him a reputation as a trust-buster. While Wilson did not make nearly as much use of the Sherman

Anti-trust Act as predecessors of the era, he was still responsible for signing the Clayton Anti-

trust Act into law. The combined use of these acts was responsible for a beginning in the

regulation of big business and they resulted in the breakup of major companies like US Oil and

US Steel.

Another noticeable way that Old Progressivism affected the economic practices of

America was through the Underwood Tariff and the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment.

Before this era, America traditionally had a high tariff rate. Woodrow Wilson argued that these

high tariffs a significant factor in why monopolies had come to flourish in America. His response

to the tariff problem was to pass into law the Underwood Tariff, which drastically reduced the

tariff rates. His rationale behind the new tariff was that the revenue being taken in from the

Sixteenth Amendment was enough to compensate for the loss of revenue that was being
accumulated through the tariffs. The Sixteenth Amendment, or the graduated income tax, was

ratified shortly after Wilson took office. It is called a ‘graduated’ income tax because the amount

of money that the government collected from an individual depended on the amount of money

they made in a year. The higher their yearly pay, the larger a percent they would pay. While the

concept of an income tax was not foreign to America, there had never been an income tax that

had lasted permanently before this amendment.

Franklin Roosevelt also had a major impact on the American economy. While he

technically falls outside of the period of time that the Progressive Era is placed in, his

administration was too long ago to be considered ‘modern’ so his presidency will be considered

to be part of Old Progressivism. More than enough of his policies have roots in the Progressive

Movement, but many of his policies can be analyzed as fitting under the description of Modern

Progressivism. Essentially, his administration can be marked as the transition between the two

styles of Progressivism. To continue with his effect on the economy, Franklin Roosevelt’s

presidency occurred during the Great Depression. In an attempt to bring about an end to the

Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt signed into law pieces of legislation that were based

around relief, recovery, and reform. The relief, recovery, and reform were what made up his

domestic policy, the New Deal. The legislation provided short term jobs for the unemployed.

Many regulatory agencies were created to prevent the depression from happening over again.

There were also subsidies provided for the farmers, who were particularly struggling during the

depression. All of the pieces of legislation that were passed as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New

Deal were designed to affect the economy, and affect the economy they did. The exact affect that

the legislation had on the economy is debated, however. One side claims that the New Deal had

its desired affect and that it eventually brought about the end of the Great Depression. The other
side claims that the New Deal did not end the Great Depression. They claim that the policy of

putting unemployed people to work at short term jobs actually lengthened the Great Depression

because as soon as the jobs were finished, the people were unemployed again. They argue that

the cycle of hiring to unemployment to hiring to unemployment and so on only created

temporary and artificial boosts in the economy and that World War II ended the Great

Depression because it created a need for jobs manufacturing weapons, vehicles, and for jobs in

the military. Despite all the ambiguity about the actual effects of the New Deal policies, one can

tie them into present day economics and Modern Progressivism because one could notice

similarities between the New Deal and the Stimulus Bill.

Modern Progressivism is affecting American Economics, too. One way that it is doing

this is through entitlement programs. These programs provide the less fortunate with monetary

aid to help them survive in society. The money that is used to pay for these programs largely

comes from the income tax that is collected via the Sixteenth Amendment.

A second way that Modern Progressivism is affecting politics is through bailout programs

like T.A.R.P and the Stimulus Bill. T.A.R.P loaned money to banks that were either failing or in

danger of failing. The Stimulus Bill provides money for businesses, states, agencies, and people

that are having a hard time due to the current economic conditions. The Stimulus Bill also

provides funding for short term jobs to put people to work, much like the New Deal did.

Thirdly, Modern Progressivism is causing economic problems that are largely the result

of the aforementioned affects. Only fifty-three percent of households pay the income tax, which

is dangerously close to creating an imbalance in the number of people paying the tax and the

number of people receiving support. An already large deficit was increased more than two times

to pay for the Healthcare and Stimulus Bills. The latter of those two bills has not even paid out
all the money that was provided for it to use. The T.A.R.P bill has not distributed all of the

allotted funds either. The Stimulus Bill also has not fixed the economy. All it has done so far is

prevented the economy from collapsing farther; there has not been any significant drop in

unemployment or significant growth in the economy either.

The economy, as well as politics and society, has been affected by Progressivism. One

can explore how Old and Modern Progressivism have affected the country in depth. Even though

some ambiguity about the true effects of some of the actions exists, there is no doubt that

Progressivism has impacted the economy.

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