Progressivism Opposing Viewpoints

A detailed Summary of Progressivism Opposing Viewpoints

At the commencement of the twentieth century, a period referred to as progressivism swept through America. Precisely, this era in American history began soon after the Spanish-American War and lasted until the beginning of World War I. At this point in history, America was in turmoil due to internal problems and was in dire need of social reforms. The progressive era was like a golden age for intellectuals who strived to create a nation where each citizen could be given a chance at success and involvement in the government. In the latter portion of the 1800's, America faced an economic depression and encountered problems with industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. Some progressives demanded that the government should be run directly by its people and that the quality of city life should be ameliorated through sanitation improvements, the abolition of child labor, and regulated working hours. America's utmost problem, however, proved to be the overwhelming power that trusts and big business held in the nation. This factor had a leading role in the development of the era of progressivism. In general, progressives basically agreed that trusts must be destroyed; however, there

On the other hand, Arthur S. Link and Richard L. McCormick, authors of Progressivism in History, contradict Abrams point of view by concluding that progressivism succeeded. They begin by saying that progressivism was not a unified movement and that the words progressives and progressivism are looked upon to have a beneficial, uplifting meaning. However, they believe these words to have a neutral connotation. They basically believe that the progressives were the first group who tried to ameliorate the ills of societies; therefore, their achievements as well as failures should be considered relevant to present day society. Link and McCormick also define the followers of progressivism to have come from some farmers, the old middle class, and businessman, but also believe the main followers came from ethnic groups. They believe that scandalous events made known to the public by muckrakers as well as "antibusiness emotion" allowed the era to flourish. Link and McCormick explain that one must distinguish each reform in the progressive movement and then proceed to examine its purpose, rationale, and results. According to these authors, progressive thinkers wanted to rid the society in the belief of social Darwinism and condemned laissez faire. Progressives believed in intervention to control social and economic affairs and for the most part sought the government's help to enforce reforms. McCormick and Link reveal that "evangelical Protestantism and the natural and social sciences" inspired progressives. Many progressives believed that it was their duty to instill Protestant Christian values upon the corrupt industrialists. Link and McCormick believe the Social Gospel motivated the progressives in this aspect and state that "few of the era's reforms were untouched by the spirit and techniques of Protestant revivalism." Additionally, science impacted the reforms in that the progressives considered methods of reforms by first consulting with new knowledge concerning social science; so, progressives mixed science and religion in order to create a new view of human actions and ways of life as well as to develop reforms. Link and McCormick defend the many failures of the progressive movement by claiming that "the effort to change so many things all at once, and the grandiose claims made for the moral and material betterment which would result, meant that disappointments were bound to occur." They believe that it wasn't necessarily the reformer's fault for the failures because they had tried new methods. They also point out that the progressives published their failures in order for historians to see and comment on. Also, since individual reformers were divided on their views concerning industrialism and big business and since they never recognized the actual conflicts in American society, the progressives seemed to have failed to achieve all their goals. However, a positive note to the progressive movement was that they acknowledged that each cultural and occupational group in America had differing interests, which hindered the cooperation of the society as a whole. McCormick and Link continue to defend the progressives by informing their audience that the progressives believed that science and administration had unlimited possibilities and that they were not radicals, but simply reformers. They admit th

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Approximate Word count = 2249
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics