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Social Reform: Article Analysis

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Many historiographers have focused on the progressive reform movement and the origin of the social reforms that came with it. The interpretations of the historians differ between Progressivism: Middle Class Disillusionment, Urban Liberalism and the Age of Reform, and Progressivism Arrives. The questions at hand are: “Who were the Progressives?” and “What type of society and political system were they seeking?” These questions will be evaluated according to the historians of each article and the most persuasive one will be determined. The first article, Progressivism: Middle Class Disillusionment by George Mowry, states that “...the great majority of the reformers came from the ‘solid middle class,’” (Mowry 255). In this article the author …show more content…

The progressives were working class people, especially lower-class workers. The author states that “the urban lower class provided an active, numerically strong, and politically necessary force for reform” (Huthmacher 11). The lower-class workers had just as much as an impact as middle-class workers. They consisted of liberals that wanted to stop corrupt bosses who were obstructing the possibility of a great government system. They knew the harsh realities first hand and wanted to do something about it. The working class living in urban areas fought to raise the standard of living for themselves. The lower-class workers had a more realistic mindset and knew that things could not be perfect. They used voting power to elect people that would “enable them to secure the voice necessary to satisfy their economic and social needs,” (Huthmacher 12). The working class was against big business, corruption, and poor working conditions. They favored politicians that had the same views as them and followed along with their potential policies. The main idea of the article is that the middle and lower class living in cities joined forces to advocate reform for working class …show more content…

The most compelling and persuasive article is Progressivism: Middle Class Disillusionment by George Mowry. Mowry does a very good job at citing his sources and presenting information from many different people. He uses information from seventeen sources to widen his research and knowledge of the subject. He explains progressivism in the most straightforward way and organizes his ideas very neatly. It is the most persuasive because of the ideas he presents. They are widely accepted ideas that are still relevant

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Joseph Huthmacher argued that most of the people driving progressivism were working class citizens, especially immigrants. Many of these members pressed for reforms such as workmen 's compensation along with wage and hour laws for everyone across America. Huthmacher rejected the idea that progressivism was a movement started and controlled by the middle class. He believed that progressivism was more than just that and talked about how the lower class actually played an important role in the movement. He argued throughout his article that the movement was a direct cause of the dilemmas of an industrial society.

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Monica Luangsrinhotha Mrs. Aars AP US History Hour 7 10 March 2017 Social Origins of the Progressive Reform Movement There have been many ideas brought to light about who the progressives were and what their vision on society was. This caused for an increase in disagreements about the progressive reform. The ideas that the three historians had in the readings were quite interesting and they will cause people to rethink who the progressives really were. Joseph Huthmacher presented the idea in Urban Liberalism and the Act of Reform that people of the workforce that demanded for workmen’s compensation and wage laws were behind progressivism.

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A progressive is someone who was a part of the progressive movement during that time period whose main goal was to promote change and better life for all Americans. As we know, Sinclair wanted to change the progressive class by making shorter work hours and earn higher pay by writing his book The Jungle. While he didn’t reach that goal he certainly did fix the quality of consumable items. This surely struck change in the lives of Americans not only in those days but it extends all the way until present

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The common people consisted of middle class, peasants, and artisans who had to work hard to be able to pay the heavy taxes. While these people are working hard to pay the heavy taxes their voice went unheard politically. Middle class people were successful but because they

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1024 Words | 5 Pages

Jane Addams The Progressive Era, 1890-1920, accomplished great change in the Unites States of America. Many reformers and activits demanded for change in education, food and drug policies, and most importantly the govermenet. The goal for the movement was the purify the nation. One of the main activits during this time was Jane Addams. Jane Addams is often refered to as a social and political pioneer.

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Huthmacher conveys that liberalism of Americans made the type of political system they were wanting. He asserted that the government got involved because of how the lower class portrayed their rights and voted for legislation. The low class was looking for improvement for working conditions. He provided job security, better wages and working conditions, and gave some benefits of production to consumers. “As a result, we find urban lower-class representatives introducing a large variety of business regulatory measures on the local and state levels during the Progressive Era”(Huthmacher 13).

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314 Words | 2 Pages

3. The American people began to embrace the role of government during the progressive era to address poverty, poor health, violence, greed, racism, and class warfare. The American people came to understand that government was best positioned to improve education for regular Americans, protect them from street gangs and mobsters, ensure that that the workplace was safe, and that government was not rampant with corruption. As example, the FDA was created during the progressive era because of horrible things happening in the meat industry during this period in American

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During the first two decades of the twentieth century, a large and diverse number of Americans claimed the political label “Progressive.” Progressives all shared a common fundamental belief of developing methods to counteract against the political and social issues of the time. They thrived in tackling some of the most crucial issues of society, as they were able to improve the conditions of the urban environment, increase the democratic influence of citizens, and sap most corruption out of the government. However, as the Progressive Movement successfully managed to cover those areas, it was limited to solving the issues of only white Americans, failing to represent the minorities, especially African Americans.

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This was, as you read in the first chapter, an especially overt issue during the industrial revolution and the “Gilded Age of America”, which began in the 1870s, and then ended in 1900. According to an article titled, The New Gilded Age”, by Neal Gabler, it was during this time that, “...ordinary citizens thought of Republicans as champions of the wealthy and Democrats as champions of the working man.” Gabler then continues to say that, in today 's modern society, “Where once these labels stirred souls and sparked debates, they now seem relics from another era. Americans just don 't think that way anymore.” All in all, what Gabler is trying to say is that, despite the conspicuous truth that business magnates, or “plutocrats” as he would call them, persistently and furtively manipulate our government into advancing their agendas, Americans still vote for them to lead our country.

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Workers felt unappreciated and that without rising up against their employers, they would be left starving,homeless, or dead. Workers wanted more money, an eight hour workday, safe working conditions, and protection against wage cutting. A couple of reformers during the Progressive Era were Jane Addams and Jacob Riis. Both worked toward helping the immigrants, women, children, and the poor working class. Jane Addams was a reformer who opened a settlement house to help the less fortunate.

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461 Words | 2 Pages

Being they were living in such conditions, the inflation hit them hard. The big businesses had to cut back and not pay as much to their employees. During this time period, even the people in politics came from families were part of the “solid middle class” (Mowry 255), as they had attended college, and were financially

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165 Words | 1 Pages

The Progressive Era was a time in the United States in which advancements and reforms were being made to create a better future for this country. Many reformers, people helping to institute change, focused on areas they wanted to improve and set goals to succeed. These goals included anywhere from improving sanitation in cities to giving the people more voting and political control. While every goal set was not reached, each helped get the United States closer than it had been before. Throughout the Progressive Era, ending child labor, improving sanitation in cities, and gaining women and African rights were all goals set by reformers.

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One of the goals of the progressives was to address the wealth gap and reduce income inequality by transferring power to the people through

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226 Words | 1 Pages

The Progressive era, between the years 1895-1920, involved a group called the Progressives, who were single-cause crusaders, incredibly diverse, middle-class female reformers who wanted a better society. They focused on urban societies who wanted to preserve democracy and a free market. They wanted to “Americanize” the citizens of the United States; they also thought that the political parties were corrupt and were very protective of women and children. What began as a social movement came to be a political movement. Many of the Progressives lived in the cities and believed that the government had some impact on the changes that they want go through.

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997 Words | 4 Pages

Wiebe displays the reforms of the Progressive Era and the changes they were seeking. Wiebe describes the progressive reformers as, “the new middle class” (Robert H. Wiebe 80). Ultimately, this new middle class was looking to reorder the government by themselves. A major reoccurring theme was the focus on the children based on Wiebe’s view of the progressives. This is shown when Wiebe writes, “He united the campaigns for health, education, and a richer city environment, and he dominated much of the interest in labor legislation” (Robert H. Wiebe 82).

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