The Wave
Profusely Progressive
Samuel Solomon Sanders
By
About the Writing
Look around you. Progressive thought permeates every person you come across, whether man or woman, white or black. For such a widespread and lasting movement exists an even grander origin, begun only a century and a half ago.
The Writing
Samuel Solomon Sanders
Philosophy 10
Mr. Concilio
Friday, Apr 1, 2024
Prompt -> “To what extent were Prog. Era activists and the fed. Gov. effective in bringing about reform at the national level?”
Profusely Progressive
An essay on the origins of Progressive thought.
*The documents in this essay are part of the prompting assignment. The reader will need to find most of the referenced sources externally.
From the outset of the Progressive Era in 1896, activists took the lead in civil, political, and economic action instigated by years of injustice. After complacency with public and corporate officials, the public's sentiment teetered into anger and agitation. Significant issues of contention, such as child labor, systemic sexism, racial justice, and corporate monopoly, forced many average citizens to action as they targeted branches of injustice.
Progressively-minded activists and government officials brought about radical changes in early 20th-century America, including recognition of class disparities, citizen involvement in politics, and restrictions on wealthy companies. What exactly, however, were the defining causes of these significant shifts in American society?
The progressive era encouraged liberals and conservatives alike to take action to prevent the racial, gendered, and class disparities previously accepted as insignificant. Due to the 1870 ratification of the 14th Amendment, African Americans were legally given the right to vote by the federal government. At the same time, however, federal and state officials suppressed the reach of that Amendment to the point of political insignificance. During the Progressive Era, slights such as these were suddenly recognized and acted upon nationally by the affected sub-populations - women, immigrants, children, and African Americans, among others.
Jane Addams, a social reformer and progressivist, furiously wrote of the atrocities of child labor. "The city youth will enter factory life at an early age, as early as the state law will permit. Are the educators, like the rest of us, so caught in admiration of the astonishing achievements of modern industry that they forget the children themselves?" (Doc. C - Jane Addams, The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets, 1909).
Specifically, the Progressive Era and its constituents ignited the fight for women's suffrage. The New York Times portrayed the growing sentiment perfectly: "Let there be no mistake as to the import of this argument. It is not in the remotest manner… that woman is man's inferior, either intellectually or in any other way." (Doc. N - New York Times Editorial February 7th, 1915).
The ethical considerations of child labor only started to vigorously develop in the public's mind during the Progressive Era. Indeed, had there been no great awakening of public discontent with civil treatment, the women's suffrage movement's arguments of intellectual and moral equivalence to men might have fallen on deaf ears. While the Progressivists may have brought about action against classist, racist, and gendered inequalities among Americans, an authentic catalyzing movement would require political action by American citizens.
Progressivist ideals encouraged the American population to take political action and bring civil change. Preceding the Progressive Era, the politics that governed average Americans swayed due to corruption, bribery, and ulterior motives. Indeed, the Sherman Act, a bill that created a commission to regulate trade commerce, created a close relationship between railroad executives and federal officials and lenient trade regulation. The people's interest was different from the government's.
As decried Herbert Croly, an exasperated citizen who took to the pen, "How many sincere progressives follow [the government] in believing that this legislation has made the future clear and bright with the promise of best things? The fundamental wrongs of modern society can be easily and quickly righted as a consequence of a few laws." (Doc. F - Herbert Croly, New Republic, November 21st, 1914)
Even immigrants, disparaged by both American citizens and the government, took to political action. "Teenage activist and women's rights supporter Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, a 16-year-old immigrant from China, helps to lead the New York suffrage parade on horseback. She supports suffrage despite being unable to benefit from it under the Chinese Exclusion Act." (Doc. P - Chinese Girl Wants Vote, Mabel Lee, 1912)
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee and Herbert Croly are only two of hundreds of thousands of political activists who took action against the corrupt policies of the United States government. This political opposition by civilians resulted in harsher industry regulations and legal protections for workers, women, and immigrants. While government officials may have felt increasing political pressure from citizens for proper regulations, wealthy companies most felt the heat of the progressive flame.
The extent to which Progressive campaigns affected wealthy companies and enterprises caused the de-monopolization of corporations that exploited workers and customers. For decades, wealthy corporations such as the American Tobacco Company had monopolized the market of those to whom they sold. However, the social and political agitation caused by the Progressive movement soon brought legislation that limited or even erased the profits of the most prominent tycoons.
In 1903, Congress created a Bureau of Corporations to monitor big businesses. Indeed, multiple corporations fell victim to this new system of government oversight. "When the Standard Oil Company refused to turn over its records, Roosevelt launched an anti-trust suit that led to the breakup of the powerful company in 1911." (Progressivism under Roosevelt and Taft, Page 981)
These economically limiting actions against wealthy corporations were further encouraged by Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States, who "approved about twenty-five anti-trust suits against oversized corporations." Under his supervision, "The Supreme Court also ordered the American Tobacco Company dismantled because it had monopolized the cigarette industry." (Progressivism under Roosevelt and Taft, Page 981)
The liquidation and regulation of the Standard Oil Company and American Tobacco Company provided corporations a testament to Progressive power. The civil action taken by progressivists bled into the political regulation of company commerce and, as a result, severely limited the flow of corporate blood money.
Progressivist thought stopped the exploitation that filled the coffers of wealthy individuals. Once citizens turned their heads up, they saw the pain and suffering they had needlessly endured under the guise of profit. As a result, strict corporate regulations and citizen protections resulted.
In early 20th-century America, Progressive activists and government officials succeeded in recognizing class disparities, increasing citizen involvement in politics, and imposing restrictions on wealthy companies.
Without Progressivism, citizens may not have taken issue with the injustices surrounding them. They might never have joined politics to sway the corrupt minds of the federal government. Indeed, the pockets of the wealthy would have heaved and sagged but never broken.
How, exactly, does this great movement relate to present-day struggles? In many ways, more than ever. Corruption in our Supreme Courts, polarization of profits, and emerging hate for immigrants have turned modern-day America into a mirrored past. Citizens of the United States cannot and should grow complacent with injustice as it lies, no matter their relevance to it or the time in which they live. Progressivism must live on in the soul of the citizen.