How did Progressives differ from Populists?
American Yawp, Chapter 20: The Progressive Era
- I. Introduction
- II. Mobilizing for Reform
- III. Women’s Movements
- IV. Targeting the Trusts
- V. Progressive Environmentalism
- VI. Jim Crow and African American Life
- VII. Conclusion
- VIII. Primary Sources
- IX. Reference Material
Image Gateway
Female graduates of Dickinson College in 1910
Discussion Questions
- How might some Americans of that era, male or female, perceive this type of parade down Fifth Avenue on a Saturday afternoon to be dangerously provocative?
- Can you put the mobilization of suffrage parades, like this one by Harriot Stanton Blatch in New York City in 1912 into the context of other political rights struggles from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century?
Overview
“Widespread dissatisfaction with new trends in American society spurred the Progressive Era, named for the various progressive movements that attracted various constituencies around various reforms. Americans had many different ideas about how the country’s development should be managed and whose interests required the greatest protection. Reformers sought to clean up politics; Black Americans continued their long struggle for civil rights; women demanded the vote with greater intensity while also demanding a more equal role in society at large; and workers demanded higher wages, safer workplaces, and the union recognition that would guarantee these rights. Whatever their goals, reform became the word of the age, and the sum of their efforts, whatever their ultimate impact or original intentions, gave the era its name.” –Mary Anne Henderson, ed., Chapter 20: The Progressive Era, American Yawp [WEB]
Discussion Question
- How should historians distinguish late 19th-century populists from early 20th-century progressives?
Women’s Movements
Election of 1912
Gifford Pinchot, former head of the US Forest Service, was actually the chief author of the Theodore Roosevelt’s 1910 “New Nationalism” speech, described above by the Wall Street Journal. Ex-president Roosevelt’s startling break with the Republican establishment helped lead to a four-way presidential contest in 1912. It also encouraged other precedents. Roosevelt was the first national candidate to openly endorse women’s suffrage. Jane Addams seconded his nomination at the Bull Moose convention, and over one million American women in six different western states were eligible to participate in this ground-breaking election.
