I.

URBAN CORRUPTION AND PROGRESSIVISM

- The Progressive Movement, said to have stemmed from the earlier Populist Movement, was a reform movement in the
United States which began at the turn of the twentieth century

- PURPOSES OF PROGRESSIVISM
1. Reformers were disturbed by the growth of political corruption and by the tendency of government on all levels to give
special privileges to organised wealth
a. Professing faith in the wisdom of the majority, insisted that the secret to good governance was to make it possible for the
people to make their wishes effective
b. Worked to destroy the invisible government of bosses and machines, impose higher standards of honesty, and make officials
more directly responsible to the electorate
2. They were appalled by the growth of monopoly and by the exploitation of the farmers and the working class
a. Believed that it was the function of the government to ensure that the economic system promoted the general welfare
b. Advocated government regulation of big business and legislation that would give protection to exploited groups
- Argued that the maintenance of old American democratic ideals in the new industrial era required new political techniques
- Strongly emphasised the ethical, humanitarian and religious values rather than attempting to stir up economic resentments
and class hatreds
- PARKES said that Progressivism was, in fact, a movement with predominantly middle-class objectives and viewpoint,
deriving much of its support from small businessmen, farmers and professional people
- The typical Progressive leader was some lawyer, journalist or businessman who, aroused by corruption or misgovernment in
his own community, started a crusade to elect better men to office, and gradually came to the realisation that what was
needed was a reform of the system as well as change of men

- APPROACH
o Like most earlier reformers in the British and American political traditions, the Progressives had a PRAGMATIC
APPROACH
o Whenever they saw an evil, they attempted to deal with it, without adopting any comprehensive theory or formulating
ultimate objectives
o This method of reform meant maximum agreement and prevented conflicts from becoming fanatical or irreconcilable
o Party labels became more meaningless than usual, with Progressives emerging within the Republican and Democratic Party
folds

- ATTITUE TO GOVERNMENT
o PARKES believes they were essentially JEFFERSONIANS
o Yet, they agreed that in order to protect the liberties of the average citizen, it was necessary for the government to assume
broader responsibilities and more positive economic functions than in the past
o Thus, their view of government was in many ways HAMILTONIAN
o In the early days of the Republic, growth of small businesses and farmers was sustained by lack of government interference
and importance of the individual
o Organised wealth was possible only through positive government intervention
o However, as big business grew in America, so too did its beliefs in the principles of Laissez Faire
o Therefore, Progressives and Reformers believed that the only way to correct the system was greater government
involvement, while big business insisted that HAMILTONIAN principles should continue
o In this way, the stances of both groups reversed from their originals

- PROBLEM OF MONOPOLY
o The growth of monopoly in business was a major problem in this period, and all Progressives agreed that the only way to
combat this was for the government to assume greater economic responsibilities
o However, none of the reformers could agree on the approach by which this would be done
o One school of thought (supported by Theodore Roosevelt) argued that growth of big business was inevitable, and rather than
dissolving them the government should regulate them
o Another group (favoured by Woodrow Wilson) laid more emphasis on prohibiting monopoly, protecting small businesses
and enforcing effective competition
o On this fundamental question the Progressive Movement could never quite make up its mind and remained deeply divided
- PRO-ROOSEVELT APPROACH
o The most thorough-going exposition of the Rooseveltian approach was ‘The Promise of American Life’ (1909) written by
journalist Herbert Croly
o Criticising Jefferson and frankly avowing his admiration for Hamilton, Croly argued that economic injustice should be ended
not by dissolving the trusts but by extending the powers of government to control them and also by building a strong trade-
union movement that would counteract the powers of business
o The remedy for the special privileges of the rich, he suggested, was not to abolish them in accordance with the old
Jeffersonian individualism but to give compensatory privileges to other groups in the community

- PRO-WILSON APPROACH
o Perhaps the best representative of the alternative position was the Boston lawyer Louis D. Brandeis whom Wilson appointed
to the Supreme Court in 1916
o Disturbed by what he called the “curse of bigness”, Brandeis believed that when any organisation, whether in business or in
government, became too large, it could no longer be managed efficiently and he suggested that no corporation be allowed to
control more than 30 percent of any industry

THE PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENTS

 Three Presidents who were known to be Progressives took office in this period, i.e. Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft
and Woodrow Wilson
 ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION
o Became President after the assassination of President McKinley in 1901
o According to Parkes, his concrete achievements in domestic affairs were meagre; but there can be no doubt that he
introduced a new spirit into Federal politics
o Shocked by low ethical standard amongst businessmen and their conviction that they were independent of laws and the
government
o Therefore, Roosevelt is remembered as being the first President since the rise of the big corporations to insist on the
principle of government supremacy over business
o More extreme Progressives felt he was actually much less of a reformer than he sounded, often making radical speeches and
then coming to terms with the conservatives
o His first term contained little important legislation, but it saw the initiation of a campaign to enforce the Sherman Act,
intervention in a coal strike to bring about a settlement by negotiation, and strong support for conservatism
o After his re-election he did much more for the cause of progressivism, while Congress responded by strengthening the
Interstate Commerce Commission through the Hepburn Act and passing the Meat Inspection and Pure Food and Drug Act
o Roosevelt called for the enforcement of the Sherman Act in numerous cases with Big Business including the Northern
Securities Company, Standard Oil etc.
o His ‘trust-busting’, however, did not have impressive economic results
o Courts called for the dissolution of trusts into their component parts, but they could not be transferred to different ownership
or compelled to compete with each other
o Community of Interest agreements were taken which did not revive competition
o His ‘trust-busting’ crusades aside, Roosevelt favoured regulation of corporations by the Federal government instead of by
the states, and prohibition of various specific forms of misconduct, but Congress rejected these proposals
o In strengthening the Interstate Commerce Act, Congress passed the Elkins Act which would require railroads to adhere to
their published rates and forbidding them to give rebates
o The Hepburn Act authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to order a reduction of unreasonable rates, though
appeals could be mad by the railroad
o Roosevelt also intervened in the coal strike of 1902 on the side of the miners, ensuring that arbitration on behalf of the
government could be present to ensure a peaceful outcome
o He was into conservation activities, often reclaiming land from corporations to further these measures such as reforestation
o With the passing of the Newlands Act of 1902, superceding the Carey Act of 1894, the Federal government could establish
irrigation projects on arid land, including dams.
o Also ensured greater regulation of medication and marked a break with the strict laissez-faire doctrine.

 THE WILSON ADMINISTRATION

o Woodrow Wilson, in his early academic career, had written extensively about the American government and had criticized
the division of responsibility between executive and legislative authorities and the consequent lack of coherent, clearly
formulated programs
o His remedy had been strong presidential leadership along the lines of the Prime Minister in the British Parliamentary system
o When he took office in 1913, he put those recommendations into practice
o During the early years of his leadership, the American people responded to his rhetoric and his sense of moral purpose
o However, as most scholars note, this lofty note turned to self-righteous obstinacy in his later years

o TARIFF REVISION
 Declared that lower rates would deprive American business of its monopoly of the American market
 In order to compete with foreign business it would have to lower its prices and increase its efficiency
 The Underwood Tariff, which became law in October, 1913, marked the first real reduction since the Civil War
 Duties were abolished on a number of articles, abolished for countless more
 In order to compensate for expected loss of revenue, he instituted a small income tax authorized by the 16th Amendment
 But the effect of tariff reduction the American economy could not be properly assessed since in 1914 international trade was
upset by the outbreak of the First World War

o FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

 The Glass-Owen Federal Reserve Act of December 1913 reformed the monetary system
 The National Bank Act of 1863 had two major weaknesses
o FIRSTLY, since quantity of bank notes in circulation was limited by the quantity of government bonds held by the banks,
the supply of currency had no relation to the need for it. There was no provision for increasing the quantity of notes in
proportion to the increase in the volume of business, so that money was likely to be scarce, especially in the South and West
o SECONDLY, each of the nation’s 30,000 banking institutions was separate and independent, and had to rely solely on its
own resources during times of financial pressure with the result that bankruptcies were distressingly frequent
 Wilson’s administration chose to remain true to Jacksonian principles and ensured that banking was decentralised such that
money would no longer be concentrated in the Northeast
 Control would belong to government not private financiers
 12 Federal Banks were set up in different regions, supervised by a Federal Reserve Board
 Only Federal Reserve notes would be legal tender
 Reserves of all member banks would be deposited in the Federal Reserve banks, making it possible for the country’s banking
capital to be mobilized in order to aid institutions which might be in danger
 It was hoped that this system would check excessive loan expansion and thereby prevent a dangerous credit inflation during
boom periods
 The system proved to be a considerable improvement over previous banking practices, although it did not altogether succeed
in preventing bank failures, as members did not always make good use of their power to check credit inflation

o ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION
 He revised the Sherman Act by passing the Federal Trade Commission Act to replace the ICC and the Clayton Anti-Trust
Act
 The FTC was to police business practices with power to issue “cease and desist” orders against corporations, which could be
appealed
 The Clayton Act specified as illegal a number of practices tending to prevent competition
 The administration continued trust-busting measures like Roosevelt but it hoped that through supervision of the FTC the
problem of monopoly would be solved by prevention rather than cure
o His later years also had a number of progressive legislations such as the La Follette Seaman’s Act (improve labour
conditions on ships); the Adamson Act (eight hour days for employees on interstate railways); Federal Farm Loan Act (make
mortgages available for farmers at relatively low rates of interest)
o However, the outbreak of World War I checked the progress of the reforms
o Attention was turned to economic disturbances caused by the war and on the problems of foreign policy
o WWI marked the real end of the Progressive Movement as a dynamic force in national affairs

THE MUCKRAKERS

- A group of journalists who publicised the need for public reform were called the Muckrakers
- They specialised in carefully documented exposes of fraud and graft, with emphasis on the corrupt connections between
business and politics
- The first example of muckraking, and one of the best, was Henry Demarest Lloyd’s denunciation of trusts in ‘Wealth
Against Commonwealth’ (1894)
- Wasn’t until 1902 that writing of this nature became popular and garnered a large audience
- In that year, McClure’s magazine published an analysis of political corruption in St. Louis by Lincoln Steffens and the first
instalments of Ida Tarbell’s ‘A History of the Standard Oil Company’
- Soon, numerous magazines joined in on the effort to expose corruption and institute reform through journalism
- Other well-known muckrakers were Ray Stannard Baker, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Charles E. Russell, Norman Hapgood
and Mark Sullivan
- By 1914, muckraking grew sensational and unreliable, and therefore it lost its audience
- But in its early stages the movement was of great importance in winning popular support for Progressivism
-

HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE PROGRESSIVE PERIOD

- Eugene Leach felt that though Roosevelt created a party called the Progressive Party, and though it was categorized as a
movement, all these give too much of an element of unity than it actually had.
- Nearer the truth would be to characterize it as a collection of loosely related reform movements.
- Among the many progressivisms was:
o A drive to root out corruption in city governments that began in the mid-1890s
o A Populist-tinged midwestern progressivism led by Senator Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin that tenaciously represented the
interests of farmers and workers
o A relatively elitist and conservative eastern progressivism led by the Republican Theodore Roosevelt and the Democrat
Woodrow Wilson that specialized in building the regulatory powers of the federal government; and a ‘‘social justice
progressivism’’ that specialized in safeguarding the welfare of women, children, and other vulnerable groups.
o The name ‘‘progressive’’ denoted one of the few qualities all these shared: a common determination to restore to their
communities, their lives, and their country a direction they could call ‘‘progress.’’

- PROGRESSIVE SCHOLARS
o The first historians of progressivism were members or admirers of the movement.
o In their view the progressives were champions of ‘‘the people’’ in their perennial struggle to defend their freedom against
‘‘the interests.’’
o On one side stood the majority of Americans: holders of small property, eager for opportunity, jealous of their rights.
o On the other stood the forces of predatory privilege: the railroads, manufacturing corporations, banks, and the entrenched
parties that served them.
o The progressives defied the overlords of the new industrial economy.

- BENJAMIN PARKE DE WITT in THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT

o In the first scholarly study, The Progressive Movement (1915), political scientist Benjamin Parke De Witt wrote that ‘‘men
became economic slaves . . . Slowly, Americans realized that they were not free’’ (1968: 14).
o As a principled movement of the whole ‘‘people,’’ progressivism transcended political and social divisions.
o De Witt called it the ‘‘expression of fundamental measures and principles of reform that have been advocated for many years
by all political parties’’

- CHARLES AND MARY BEARD in THE RISE OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

o In their landmark text, The Rise of American Civilization (1927), Charles and Mary Beard painted in heroic colors the
progressives’ drive ‘‘towards social democracy.’’
o After the reformers had finished with the political economy bequeathed from the Gilded Age, ‘‘it was so battered and
undermined at the base that the men of the age which had constructed it imagined, perhaps with undue fright, that the solid
earth was crumbling beneath their feet’’ (1930: 543).
- JOHN D. HICKS
o A substantially different interpretation was advanced four years later by John D. Hicks who also identified progressivism as
a movement of democratic protest against overweening economic power and corrupt political authority (1931).
o But he held that a particular segment of ‘‘the people’’ – poor farmers – made up the backbone of the movement.
o This agrarian movement was more defined by class interests than the miscellaneous paladins of reform who figured in the
accounts by De Witt and the Beards.
o According to Hicks, progressivism was essentially an expansion of the reform efforts set in motion by the Farmers Alliances
and the Populist Party of the 1880s and 1890s.
o Elizabeth Sanders recently reasserted important elements of Hicks’s interpretation, arguing that the ‘‘roots of reform’’
throughout the period 1877–1917 lay in ‘‘politically mobilized farmers . . . driven to establish public control over a
rampaging capitalism.
o The periphery [of poor agrarians] generated the bulk of the reform agenda and furnished the foot soldiers that saw reform
through the legislature’’ (Sanders 1999: 1, 3).
- POST WWII
o After World War II a group of gifted historians developed a reading of progressivism that in some respects remains the most
persuasive account.
o Though they acknowledged the Populist ‘‘seedbed’’ of many progressive proposals, they characterized progressivism as a
middle-class reaction against Populism.
- MOWRY-HOFSTADTER THESIS
o According to George Mowry, Richard Hofstadter, and Arthur Link, progressivism represented a protest by the safe and sane
middle against alien and dangerous extremes.
o The core progressives were predominantly urban, unlike the agrarians; they were predominantly white collar, unlike the
wage-earners; they were comfortable, in distinction to the sybaritic rich; and they were better educated than any other
segment of the population.
o What most clearly distinguished them, however, was their location between classes that they associated with disorder (the
workers or proletarians) and with despotism (the business moguls or plutocrats).
o ‘‘Nearly all the problems which vex society have their sources above or below the middle-class man,’’ wrote a California
progressive cited by George Mowry.
o ‘‘From above come the problems of predatory wealth . . . From below come the problems of poverty and of pigheaded and
brutish criminality’’ (quoted in Mann 1963: 35).
o Mowry profiled the typical progressive as an individualist who ‘‘became militant when he felt himself hemmed in between
the battening corporation and the rising labor unions’’ (1946: 37).
o Or as the progressive attorney Louis D. Brandeis announced, the movement’s aim was to take up ‘‘a position of
independence between the wealthy and the people, prepared to curb the excesses of either’’ (quoted in Hofstadter 1955:
164).
o But though the progressives readily identified themselves as ‘‘middle class,’’ they resisted defining themselves by their class
position; nor did they admit that they had class-specific interests.
o Instead they thought of themselves as people of the ‘‘middling sort,’’ virtuous and respectable citizens representing the solid
center of society.
o Industrialization, by creating barbarian classes ‘‘above’’ and ‘‘below’’ them, had made this status a position of peculiar
vulnerability. They felt exposed and surrounded.
o They aspired to rise above sordid class conflict, hoping to restore America to its original classlessness.
- JANE ADDAMS
o Representative progressives, according to this reading of the movement, were figures like Jane Addams, who regarded class
conflict as the root of all the country’s evils.
o For her the Pullman strike of 1894 epitomized ‘‘the danger and futility involved in the open warfare of opposing social
forces,’’ which made ‘‘the search for justice and righteousness in industrial relations . . . infinitely more difficult’’ (Addams
1961:158–64).
o Impartial referees, she thought, should separate the combatants and then resolve their private differences in light of the
public interest.
o By deploying the objective and neutral middle against the selfish and irrational extremes, mediation could turn the
progressives’ ‘‘betweenness’’ into a position of strength.
- GABRIEL KOLKO
o With The Triumph of Conservatism (1963), historian Gabriel Kolko challenged the Mowry–Hofstadter thesis of progressive
moderation and middleness, and located the progressives squarely on the side of ‘‘the interests’’ and the governing class.
o Kolko argued that progressives’ campaigns for federal regulation of corporations were ‘‘invariably controlled by leaders of
the regulated industry, and directed toward ends they deemed . . . desirable.’’
o Thus, for example, the 1906 Hepburn Act (giving the Interstate Commerce Commission increased authority to control
railroad rates) and agencies like the Bureau of Corporations (1903) aided the corporations by quieting their critics and
stabilizing markets in their industries.
o Kolko concluded: ‘‘It is business control over politics rather than political regulation of the economy that is the significant
phenomenon of the Progressive Era’’ (1963: 2–3).
o James Weinstein joined Kolko in contending that ‘‘few reforms were enacted without the tacit approval, if not the guidance,
of the large corporate interests.’’
o But instead of considering progressivism ‘‘conservative,’’ Weinstein maintained that it represented ‘‘corporate liberalism,’’
a sophisticated strategy for defending business interests by disarming critics and co–opting opponents (1968: ix–x)

CONCLUSION

 Progressives had not brought about any major transformation of the political and economic system, nor had that been their
intention
 Concentrated on a series of reforms
 POLITICS: Did much to revitalize democracy by making officials more directly responsible to public sentiment
 ECONOMY: Failed to find any solution to the problem of monopoly, but they had extended the power of Federal and state
governments to regulate big business, to check exploitation of labour and to conserve natural resources
 Perhaps most important was the growth of a new attitude, as both political and business leaders became much more
concerned with securing popular approval and support than they had been in the 19th century