Additionally, the Progressive Era was characterized by loose, multiple, and contradictory goals that impeded the efforts of reformers and often pitted political leaders against one another, most drastically in the Republican Party. For instance, national Progressive leaders such as Roosevelt argued for increased federal regulation to coordinate big business practices while others, such as Wilson, promised to legislate for open competition. At the local, municipal, and state levels, various Progressives advocated for disparate reforms whose concerns ranged as wide as prisons, education, government reorganization, urban improvement, prohibition, female suffrage, birth control, improved working conditions, labor, and child labor.
Although significant advancements were made in social justice and reform on a case-by-case basis, there was little local effort to coordinate reformers on a wide platform of issues. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. The Progressive Era: — Search for:. Conclusion: The Successes and Failures of Progressivism. Conclusion: The Successes and Failures of Progressivism Although the Progressive Era brought reform to government and business and increased political power for many citizens, its benefits were limited to white Americans; African Americans and other minorities continued to experience discrimination and marginalization during this era.
Learning Objectives Summarize the successes and failures of Progressive efforts during this era. Key Takeaways Key Points The Progressive Era saw many far-reaching reform movements whose goals included eliminating government corruption, granting suffrage for women, and passing antitrust legislation. Four constitutional amendments were passed during the time that increased the democratic influence of citizens and outlawed the production and sale of alcohol.
All of the Southern states and Oklahoma used devices to disenfranchise black voters during the Progressive Era. Typically the Progressive elements in the states pushed for disenfranchisement, often fighting against the conservatism of the Black Belt whites. A major reason given was that whites routinely purchased black votes to control elections, and it was easier to disenfranchise blacks than to go after powerful white men.
After the end of the Civil War, with the passage of new constitutions, Southern states adopted provisions that caused disenfranchisement of large portions of their populations by skirting U. While their voter registration requirements applied to all citizens, in practice, they disenfranchised most blacks. The new provisions of the state constitutions eliminated black voting by law. Secondly, the Democratic legislatures passed Jim Crow laws to assert white supremacy, establish racial segregation in public facilities, and treat blacks as second-class citizens.
The landmark court decision in Plessy v. The new constitutions passed numerous Supreme Court challenges. In cases in which a particular restriction was overruled by the Supreme Court in the early twentieth century, states quickly devised new methods of excluding most blacks from voting, such as the white primary.
The only competitive contests in Southern states were reduced to Democratic Party primaries. For the national Democratic Party, the alignment after Reconstruction resulted in a powerful Southern region that was useful for congressional clout.
But, prior to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Solid South inhibited the national party from fulfilling center-left initiatives. Roosevelt, was the first Southerner elected after He benefited from the disenfranchisement of blacks and the crippling of the Republican Party in the South.
These laws stayed in effect throughout the Progressive Era and were not challenged by any of the major reformers. Although racism manifested in many forms throughout the Progressive Era, the American Federation of Labor AFL mounted perhaps one of the most organized and concerted efforts of xenophobic legislation against non-white immigration during this period.
In its first years, the AFL admitted nearly every laboring group without discrimination. Samuel Gompers, founder of the AFL, opened the Federation to radical and socialist workers and to some semiskilled and unskilled workers. Women, African Americans, and immigrants also joined in small numbers. However, in the s, the Federation shifted its policy and began to organize only skilled workers in craft unions, quickly making it an organization of white men. Particularly during World War I, both unions and the government sought cooperation between labor and capital as the best means of rationalizing and increasing American production on behalf of the war effort.
But no admittance to Chinamen. This rise in AFL prominence allowed it to not only strictly regulate its own members, but also to influence the development of anti-immigration policy over the course of the early twentieth century.
While the AFL preached a policy of egalitarianism in regard to African-American workers, by , it was actively discriminating against them.
For instance, the AFL sanctioned the maintenance of segregated locals within its affiliates—particularly in the construction and railroad industries—a practice that often excluded black workers altogether from union membership and thus from employment in organized industries.
Generally the AFL viewed women and black workers as competition, as strikebreakers, or as an unskilled labor reserve that kept wages low. Arthur allowing the U. This period represented a time of economic and social reform. The landscape of America was rapidly changing from an agrarian society to an urban one. This rapid shift of industrialization caused drastic changes in the economy.
Large corporations and trusts quickly arose and amassed significant power and finally controlled much industry. An atmosphere of materialism and greed overwhelmed the market, often resulting in poor living conditions and long hours for working class people. The combination of poor housing, sanitation, healthcare, and exploitation of workers led to a call for immense reform.
The Progressive leaders pushed for an agenda of reform for the broken political and economic system that perpetuated the disenfranchisement of the working people. The drastic rise in economic activity at this time was mainly due to industrialization and the practice of cheap labor led by the predominant big businesses.
This explosive growth in business led to the emergence of large corporations and trusts that controlled their industries by taking over smaller companies and creating a monopoly in the market.
One of the most notable examples of this was the U. Steel Corporation that was controlled by Andrew Carnegie. Between the years of and , a total of nine steel companies were consolidated, and the corporation was able to practice ruthless tactics to monopolize the industry without consequences from the government.
Some people during the Progressive Era called for major social reforms and for an expanded role of the government to regulate business practices.
Previously, the government promoted a free market and held a laissez-faire attitude that meant the government would not become involved in regulating business practices. The old belief was that the market would adjust itself without the help of the government.
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