¶ … Progressivism began as a social movement and evolved into a political movement, according to materials published by George Washington University (www.gwu.edu). Early in the social movement progressives were concerned about poverty, racism, greed and "class warfare," and they believed that those problems could be best addressed through education, a safer environment, and a workplace that was fair and safe (www.gwu.edu). Who were those considered to be progressives? The George Washington University narrative explains that they live "mostly in the cities," they had graduated from colleges and universities, and their beliefs included the belief that "…government could be a tool for change" -- and among the most vocal and visible social reformers / progressives were Jane Addams and journalists Jacob Riis and Ida Tarbel (www.gwu.edu).
Progressive journalists wrote investigative pieces that exposed "the evils of corporate greed" and they presented a balanced view of immigration and ethnicities, all the time "…urging Americans to think hard about what democracy meant" (www.gwu.edu). And the most progressive of U.S. presidents in the progressive era was Theodore Roosevelt (TR), who believed strongly in the value that corporations offered to the nation -- jobs, products, consumer choices -- but he also believed that "corporate behavior must be watched to ensure that corporate greed did not get out of hand" (www.gwu.edu).
Professor and author Burt Folsom writes that the first two progressive presidents were TR and Woodrow Wilson, and he gives the nod to TR and Wilson because, he writes, they both had a "mutual desire to use the state to redistribute wealth" (www.burtFolsom.com, 2011). Digging deeper into the history of the progressive era, Folsom's points appear to be too narrow and focused on an ideology (distribution of wealth) that Folsom disagrees with rather on the reality of that era. Folsom ignored the fact that Wilson was racist, the opposite of being progressive. James Loewen (Lies My Teacher Told Me) writes that as for education in America, Wilson said he wanted "…one class of persons to have a liberal education" (meaning white and affluent people) and "…another class of persons…to...
"Wilson was an outspoken white supremacist who believed black people were inferior" (Loewen, p. 20).
Folsom is right, however, that TR was progressive, but Folsom misses the main points of TR's progressivism. In fact TR launched a campaign in which he prosecuted monopolies under the Sherman Antitrust Act; he also developed the "Square Deal," a progressive program that "…enhanced reform of the American workplace" and concerned his administration with "consumer protection (www.biography.com). Moreover, his "civil rights record is notable," he supported desegregation and women's suffrage" (www.biography.com).
Why did TR advocate reforms and what were his proposals? After he was defeated by William Howard Taft in 1912, TR founded the "National Progressive Party," which viewed America as favoring the rich and powerful and ignoring the needs of the rest of the population. TR advocated the following reforms (according to the book American Progressivism: A Reader): a) to "dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics"; b) probation of child labor, an 8-hour workday, safety and health standards for workers, and minimum wages for women workers; c) establishment of "social insurance" (forerunner of Social Security); and d) protection / conservation of national forests (TR launched the National Parks system) and agricultural lands (Pestritto, Ronald J, and Atto, William, 2008).
What was America like during the Gilded Age? A peer-reviewed article in the International Journal of History and Archaeology reflects that the Gilded Age: a) went through "tremendous growth of the production and consumption of manufactured goods"; b) saw the growth of urban population; c) color and gender lines in labor markets were "hardened"; and d) the telegraph, railways and steamships changed transportation (Paynter, 2012, 776-777). It was also a time of "conspicuous consumption" by the very rich (1% of Americans owned 51% of the wealth) and the new rich became a "cult of ostentatious display" (Paynter, 777). Moreover, the Gilded Age was a time…
