What is your assessment of the progressives what contradictions do you see in the progressive movement. had you lived between 1900 and 1920, would you have s

Abhudhay Dev www. academia-research. com Order 154661 23 February, 2007 What is your assessment of the progressives? What contradictions do you
see in the progressive movement? Had you lived between 1900 and 1920,
would you have supported the progressives?
The progressive movement was based on the concepts of social justice, greater efficiency in government and social control. This movement was basically consisting of the middle class people and urban professionals. The people thought that the government should become more active regarding democratic reforms and in protecting laborers.
Cities were the main attraction of progressive movement. The urban population wanted to develop the cities and make a place to live safer and healthier. Different parts of the society were now becoming active towards their common problem. These changes have to be done to civilize the cities without attracting America’s economy. This was the main aim of progressive movement.
Another class of the society that was affected by the progressive movement was the working class. The working class women and the middle were brought together under one organization to solve social problems in legislative way. The progressive movement was started from the local government and then moved to the upper level government. The work efficiency was also boosted up during this era. A young expert named Fredrick W Taylor introduced new ideas of efficiency at working place which improved the productivity by speeding up the labor activity.

In this progressive era, a young man with great political experience became the president of United States named Theodore Roosevelt. At the age of forty he became the youngest president of United States. The main cause that made him popular was his policies that reflected his personality as an activist and moralist.
His main concern was railroad regulation which ended up with a compromise between the two positions. His greatest achievement was to conserve America’s natural resource. He won a noble peace prize for negotiating an end to Russo-Japanese war and preserving open door policy in China.

Woodrow Wilson was the governor of New Jersey and became the president of United States in 1912. He started the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. This act provided the control of government over banking. He also introduced Federal Trade Commission Act that regulated the trade by taking commission from these trade corporations. He appointed commissioner to regulate these trades affairs. The appointment of these commissioners was not liked by progressives.

The progressivism was exploited mostly by the white men. Women were the victims of progressivism. This resulted in the launch of National Women Party which fought against women suffrage. Black were also the sufferers of progressivism. Rich people were exploiting poor and hampering cultural ethics by making wrong use of progressivism.

But above all its drawbacks progressive reform developed the culture, lifestyle, new trade methods and much more advancements. The government became more responsible towards the economic and social welfare. Middle class people became more conscious towards their right in the society. The banking procedure was changed and got under the control of government. Progressivism preserved the capitalist system. Progressivism introduced many democratic ideas from different parts of the society. This was the end of nineteenth century and progressivism was the major reform of this century.
References;
1) Chapter 21 The American promise, A History Of United States, Volume 2.
http://www. bedfordstmartins. com/history/cap/con_index. htm? 21
2) http://www. digitalhistory. uh. edu/database/article_display. cfm? HHID= 162.