The Progressive Era movement emerged as a response to the exposed corruption in the federal government in the post-Reconstruction years. Most progressives were middle-class, white Christians who wanted to preserve the morality of the nation as it underwent dynamic changes. From 1900 to 1920, although limited by conservative opposition, Progressive Era reformers and the federal government had considerable success in bringing about democratic and political reform on the national level; moreover, Progressive Era Reformers obtained considerable success in meeting their economic reform goals, despite being limited by a conservative Supreme Court; however not all reforms enjoyed success. Efforts for racial reform by the federal government and Progressives were limited by heavy opposition from conservatives and racist organizations and, thereby, were largely unsuccessful.
Despite being limited by Conservative opposition, the Progressive Era reformers were largely successful in their democratic and political reforms. A 1912 speech by Theodore Roosevelt called for direct election, by the populace, of United States Senators (D). A year later, in 1913, the passage of the 17th amendment established the direct elections Roosevelt had called for, exemplifying a major success in the efforts by the Progressive Era reformers in their crusade for political change and helped curb corruption and partisan politics in the legislative branch. Further reforms were adopted by state governments on the national level. State reforms such as the initiative, the referendum, and the recall were made possible by progressives like Robert La Follete, governor of Wisconsin, and were soon adopted by the rest of the nation. These reforms were major successes for progressives as they gave the people a way to bypass the government and ensure that government laws, practices, and officials were not corrupt. However, there were some progressives, as displayed by Herbert Croley in New Republic, that believed the reforms of the era were inadequate (F); nevertheless, there was an unprecedented amount of success for progressive reformers between 1900 and 1920. This success, however, was still marginally limited. Conservative interest groups such as large corporations and political machines sought to limit the success of Progressive Era.
The most lasting political reform of the federal government during the Progressive Era concerned suffrage. A 1918 photograph of a suffragist demonstrator illustrated that many American women were still without the right to vote. This longing for the right to vote would, in 1920, cease with the passage of the 19th amendment, giving women suffrage and meeting an immense political progressive reform goal (H).
Progressive Era reformers had considerable success in meeting their economic reform goals, although they were limited by the Supreme Court. A Washington Post political cartoon portrayed Theodore Roosevelt as a manager of trusts and economic consolidation, hunting “bad trusts” and leaving “good trusts” alone (A). Roosevelt, one of the most dynamic reformers of the era, also established agencies like the Department of Commerce in 1903 and the Bureau of Corporations to limit to limit the monopolization and consolidation of industry. Roosevelt furthered the success of progressive reform when he broke up the Northern Securities Company in 1902 for monopolizing the railroad industry in the Midwest. Roosevelt’s efforts also represented successes in labor reform. For example, Roosevelt served as an arbitrator in a 1901 Tennessee miner’s-strike--an unprecedented move by a president. Moreover, a modification of the Clayton Antitrust Act made it impossible for the act to be used against labor unions and also sought to put an end to discriminatory prices (E). Although it was not enforced by President Woodrow Wilson (who made progressive through his program “New Freedom”), it nevertheless put the practice into written law and was still a significant success of progressives. Another success for labor reform came as a response to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York, which prompted municipal governments to regulate and improve working conditions. Progressive Era reformers also made significant success in their efforts to reform the service sector of the economy. The Neill-Reynold Report of 1906 uncovered atrocious sanitation conditions in the meatpacking industry. This report, in combination with other works such as Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel, The Jungle, prompted Roosevelt to pass the the Meat Inspection Act in 1907, another major reform success. The success of the progressives and the federal government in reforming the economy were not without limits, however.
The success of the Progressive Era reformers in meeting their economic goals was limited by the Supreme Court. This was most notable in the debate regarding child labor laws. Reformers like Jane Addams, founder of Hull House in Chicago, were outraged at the use of children in the workforce and called for a focus on education for children rather than labor (C). However, many advocated for child labor. In Hammer v. Dagenhart in 1918 the Supreme Court ruled that the regulation of child labor was not a matter of interstate commerce; therefore, the 1916 Keating-Owen Act and Smith-Lever Acts were ruled unconstitutional and child labor could not be regulated by the federal government. As a result regulation fell to state and local governments where often times little as done to regulate or abolish child labor (G). Progressive reformers also were limited in their efforts for racial reform by racist organizations and culture.
Efforts for civil rights and racial reform between 1900 and 1920 by progressives was sharply limited by racist culture, and, as a result, reformers met little success. In his magazine The Crisis, W.E.B DuBois noted that African Americans, who had been discriminated against since they gained citizenship, still faced large prejudice in 1919 form the country they fought and died to protect in their involvement in World War II (I). DuBois and other reformers like Ida B Wells, who led a failed campaign to make lynching a federal crime, wanted to reform the racist culture of the United States. Their effort was sharply limited by racist organizations like the Klu Klux Klan who used terrorism and intimidation tactics to keep African Americans in a subjugated position and racism present in American society.
From 1900 to 1920 Progressive Era reformers and the federal government had considerable success, although limited by conservative opposition, in bringing about democratic reform; moreover, Progressive Era Reformers obtained considerable success in meeting their economic reform goals, but were limited by a conservative Supreme Court; however, efforts for racial reform by the federal government and Progressives obtained little success and were limited by heavy opposition from conservatives and racist organizations.
