ipl-logo

The Progressives

690 Words3 Pages

Many people have often wondered how politicians would organize legislative activity if given the chance to start anew and make things the way they want them. The Progressive takeover of governmental activities in California in 1910 presented a unique opportunity to study such a phenomenon in its natural occurring state. The Progressives made it as hard as they could to crush the party system and to keep it from returning. In particular, “they made it nearly impossible for party activists outside government to organize, coordinate actions, keep informed about legislative activities, or, perhaps most importantly, influence party nominations to office.” (Masket 2011, 54) It was under these conditions that Masket says California politicians …show more content…

One of these entities was ruled by Abraham Ruef, also known as Boss Ruef who mainly ruled on the local level in San Francisco. The other, even larger organization was the statewide Southern Pacific Railroad. The purpose of this party was simple, protect the interest of the railroad. This system was very unpopular, but state law at the time required that candidates had to be elected through the party system. This easily corruptible system of electing officials continued until 1910 when Progressives won enough seats to take a majority lead in the legislature after surging forward the last several years. Not only did the Progressives win the legislature, they also won the Gubernatorial election with Hiram Johnson’s victory. In order to fight the corruption of convention system, the Progressives enacted the policies and procedures of the direct primary system. The “sharpest blow to parties was a procedure called cross-filing.” (Masket 2011, …show more content…

Without the power to choose nominees the Bosses of the time were unable to influence who would run for political office. Though this may have been effective in shutting down the corrupt local and railroad bosses, the practice of cross-filling made it possible to take advantage of the system in an entirely new way. From 1914 to 1952, California politicians were able to cross-file in the primary elections. This in turn kept politicians untethered from party politics and free to broker deals with whomever they wanted without having to please party leadership. This lead to a lot of insider back-scratching disguising itself as bipartisanship behavior. This way of business would last until 1952 when the Abolish Cross-Filing movement. At this time, the party of each candidate was required to be beside their name on election ballots. This move would let people know more about the candidate and actually help to establish party government in the state of California for decades to

Show More
Related

Summary Of Don T Back No Losers By Milton Rakove

602 Words | 3 Pages

Milton Rakove’s “Don’t Make No Waves… Don’t Back No Losers,” takes an in-depth look at Chicago’s political structure and claims that Chicago’s political machine is not only a model example of successful politics, but also despite criticism, the “durability of the machine, it’s efficiency, and its ability to survive and prosper, despite the urban crisis, cannot be challenged,” (Rakove 3). Rakove’s title of the book emphasizes the simplistic nature of the machine’s design. As detailed in the text, in order to be successful and preserve the hierarchy chosen for the machine cannot make waves and the political party backing the machine cannot back any losers.

Read More

Summary Of Oklahoma Law Tough On Minority Party

1196 Words | 5 Pages

The article, “Oklahoma Law: Tough on Minority Party and Independent Presidential Candidates”, by Richard Winger seeks to explain how Oklahoma stringent election laws came to be and why having these laws that make it difficult for minor parties to succeed should change. The problem Winger addresses in his article is supported by historical evidence ranging back from 1890 to today, with comparisons made to other states. The case against rigid election laws that Winger presents is supported by over a century of historical evidence he presents. Starting in 1890, when Oklahoma was still a territory, voters were free to create their own ballots. These ballots were typically provided by a voter’s preferred political party and would only carry the

Read More

Party Games Summary

229 Words | 1 Pages

“Party Games: The Art of Stealing Elections in the Late-Nineteenth-Century United States,” written by Mark Wahlgren Summers, discusses the elements of trickery and manipulation utilized by Democrats, Republican, and Populists during the Gilded Age in efforts to get their party’s candidate(s) into office. As the text points out, “the broad range of party tricks obscured the people’s will, occasionally thwarted it, and cast a moral cloud over the winner’s title” (425). All of these political schemes that the parties in the Gilded Age were privy to, basically made a mockery of the democracy in the United States. Instead of being represented by the people, America was represented by a bunch of scoundrels, also known as politicians.

Read More

A Fierce Discontent Summary

693 Words | 3 Pages

A Fierce Discontent McGerr, Michael E. A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870­1920. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print. In “A fierce Discontent”, the main thesis of the book is to give insight to the progressive movement during the 19th century.

Read More

To What Extent Was The Mississippi Constitution Of 1890

4323 Words | 18 Pages

The Mississippi Constitution of 1890 was created fourteen years after the end of Reconstruction in the South and helped usher in the Jim Crow era that would proceed almost a century after. The constitution had many different sections, but a main concern at the time was the uniform poll tax, literacy tests, and the Grandfather clause, which would disfranchise most African Americans and many whites as well. The nation had different ideas on suffrage and who should be able to vote since the end of the war. Certain events would follow that would limit more of the freedoms of African Americans as well.

Read More

Similarities Between Populism And The Progressive Party

586 Words | 3 Pages

The party was formed in 1912 by the urban middle class, who were displeased with all of the corruption in politics. This party was very successful at achieving what the Populists could not. They succeeded at getting laws passed to restrain immigration, set up a postal savings banks, limiting work days to eight-hours, and set up an initiative, referendum, and recall. The Progressives also had several amendments passed, the sixteenth, allowing for the graduated income tax, the seventeen, enforcing the direct primary that was passed by the Populists, the eighteenth, staring the prohibition on alcohol, and the nineteenth, allowing everyone to vote regardless of their gender. Much of the Progressives success was due to muckrakers.

Read More

Presidential Campaign Of The Year 1868 Essay

434 Words | 2 Pages

The candidates in the presidential campaign of the year 1868 included two men, Ulysses S. Grant and Horatio Seymour. During these times, there was only two political parties: the Democratic and Republican party. Ulysses S. Grant represented the republican party and Horatio Seymour represented the democrat party. The issues that occurred during the presidential campaign were….

Read More

Rise And Fall Of The Populist Party In Texas

1292 Words | 6 Pages

he Rise and Fall of the Populist Party in Texas Shorty after the turn of the century, the once rural and agricultural America that had existed before the Civil War and shortly after, was dying.   In it’s place a more urban, industrial society was born, dominated by bankers, and industrialists.   While this proved beneficial for much of the country, Texas, being rural and agricultural, was especially hard hit.   As problems mounted, and elected officials proved either unable or unwilling to address them, a third political party emerged.

Read More

Texas Political Culture Research Paper

799 Words | 4 Pages

Texas Political Culture There are multiple classifications for political cultures Moralistic political culture- ones believe that the government should promote the public good and in order to ensure that good the citizens should participate in politics and civic activities Individualistic political culture- ones believe that the government must limit their role when providing to society in order to make the citizens able to pursue their economic interests Traditionalistic political culture- ones believe that the government should controlled by political elites and must be guided by tradition. Changes in Texas

Read More

Republican Party Realignment

1189 Words | 5 Pages

Lastly, prior to the election, the nation was crippled with high unemployment, low profits and violent strikes from the Panic of 1893. The unusual stress on the economy factor during this time ushered the critical election. Surely, all of these factors together created the perfect storm for a critical election, which ultimately became the vehicle for realignment, as the Republicans gained dominance with their newly forged conservative coalition. Eventually, this realignment gave rise to the Fourth Party System

Read More

The Populist Party: The People's Party

154 Words | 1 Pages

The Populist Party otherwise called the People’s Party was founded before the Civil War, the party consists of farmers, laborers, and socialists, where most of the populist came from the South and the West. The party adopted a system to change the debt-stricken way how the farmers, support the laborers and the shortening of workdays for the industrial workers and a few types of reforms, for example the right to referendums, recall and female suffrage, which many farmers and workers believed that the Populist Party was a voice for their anger and a gross for inequality and injustice in the American society. In the meantime, Labor 's efforts to organize and collectively bargain with the trusts were systematically suppressed. All these things

Read More

History Of The Progressive Movement

159 Words | 1 Pages

The Progressive Movement was an effort to cure the many ailments that plagued American society. The frontier had been tamed, great cities and businesses developed, and territories across the globe had been conquered, but not all citizens shared in this new found wealth, prestige, and optimism. With the great spurt of industrial growth in the last quarter of the 19th century, agriculture was not the great driving force it once was for the American economy. This alienated a vast majority of the midwestern towns, which could include Spoon River, whose livelihood would have likely been depended on the cultivation of crops. In an attempt to try and recapture the pureness of simpler times many turned to religion.

Read More

Summary Of A Fierce Discontent

401 Words | 2 Pages

Change takes places everywhere, everyday. If we as humans experience change on a daily basis, it should be no surprise that even “The Land of the Free” must eventually evolve. A Fierce Discontent by Yale alumni Indiana University historian and Michael McGerr documents this change that spread throughout America, which is known as the Progressive Movement. Michael McGerr believed that “the people and struggles of that age of “fierce discontent” a century ago still command our attention” (McGerr, xiii), which sheds a little light as to why he chose to write about the Progressive Era. It was social and political reform and activism that made up the Progressive Era and

Read More

Liberal Reform

1913 Words | 8 Pages

The working class had voted Liberal since enfranchisement, but the formation of Labour caused competition for the votes of the poor as they were founded by Trade Unions, workers and socialist organisations: seemingly a far more relevant party for the working class. This was important as across the country Liberal safe seats became under threat, and they had to fight to retain the working class vote- which meant finally acting for the benefit of the poor. However, in 1903 a secret pact was made between Liberal Chief Whip Herbert Gladstone and the secretary of the Labour Representation Committee, Ramsay MacDonald which agreed that Labour and Liberal MPs would not stand against each other for fear of splitting the vote and instead a Conservative MP getting in. This suggests that the Liberals did not so much see Labour as a threat but a party that could be worked with to oppose the Tories, and therefore did not implement policy so as to win working class votes. A further political motivation was municipal socialism.

Read More

Advantages Of The Two Party System

2506 Words | 11 Pages

INTRODUCTION The United States political structure is one of the most conducive and great political system in the world. One of the most popular aspects of it is the two party system, and the well-known Democratic and Republican parties. There are three major party systems in the world and they are one-party system, two-party system and multi-party system. This essay will analyse the two party system in the United States (U.S.), their structure and the benefits of a two party system in a states.

Read More

More about The Progressives

Related Topics

Open Document