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The Rise of Progressivism

The Progressive movement was an attempt to use scientific principles to improve society.

In the early 1900s, as the effects of industrialization and urbanization became apparent, a series of reform efforts transformed American society. These reforms ranged from government reform to social welfare and woman suffrage. Historians refer to this era in Americanhistory—from about 1890 to 1920—as the Progressive Era.

Progressive reform efforts were not limited to women’s voting rights. Progressives came from different backgrounds, focused on a variety of issues, and did not always agree on solutions to solve the nation’s problems.

Who Were the Progressives?
Progressivism was not a tightly organized political movement with a specific set of reforms. Instead,it was a collection of different ideas and activities. Progressives had many different views about how to fix the problems they believed existed in American society. Progressives generally believed that industrialism and urbanization had created many social problems. Most agreed that the government should take a more active role in solving society’s problems. Progressives belonged to both majorpolitical parties and usually were urban, educated middle-class Americans. Many leaders of the Progressive movement worked as journalists, social workers, educators, politicians, and members of the clergy.
Beginnings of Progressivism
Progressivism was partly a reaction against laissez-faire economics and its emphasis on an unregulated market. After seeing the poverty of the working class and thefilth and crime of urban society, these reformers began to doubt the free market’s ability to address those problems. At the same time, they doubted that the government in its present form could fix those problems.
First, they believed the government required reform. They concluded that before the government could be used to fix the problems of society, the government itself must be fixed. Onereason progressives believed people could
improve society was because they had a strong faith in science and technology. The application of scientific knowledge had produced the lightbulb, the telephone, the automobile, and the airplane. It had built skyscrapers and railroads. Science and technology had benefited people; thus progressives believed using scientific principles could also producesolutions for society.

The Muckrakers
Among the first people to articulate Progressive ideas was a group of crusading journalists who investigated social conditions and political corruption. These writers became known as muckrakers after a speech by President Theodore Roosevelt:
By the early 1900s, American publishers were competing to expose the most corruption and scandal. A group ofaggressive 10¢ and 15¢ magazines grew in popularity at this time, including McClure’s, Collier’s, and Munsey’s.
Muckrakers uncovered corruption in many areas. Some concentrated on what they considered the unfair practices of large American corporations. In McClure’s, for example, Ida Tarbell published a series of articles critical of the Standard Oil Company. In Everybody’s Magazine, Charles EdwardRussell attacked the beef industry. Other muckrakers targeted government. David Graham Philips described how money influenced the Senate, while Lincoln Steffens, another McClure’s reporter, reported on vote stealing and other corrupt practices of urban political machines. These were later collected into a book, The Shame of the Cities. Still other muckrakers concentrated on social problems. In hisinfluential book How the Other Half Lives, published in 1890, Jacob Riis described the poverty, disease, and crime that afflicted many immigrant neighborhoods in New York City. The muckrakers’ articles led to a general public debate on social and economic problems and put pressure on politicians to introduce reforms.

Making Government Efficient
One form of progressivism focused on ways to...