Lecture Notes: Progressivism

Introduction to Progressivism

• Definition: Progressivism is a movement that transforms the U.S.
• Complexity: Simple in some respects, convoluted in others
• Core Axiom: Society can progress and become better through human action

Historical Context

• Response to:
  • Industrialization
  • Robber barons and the Gilded Age
  • Social Darwinism (complex relationship)
• Philosophy: Human action can improve society
• Modern Relevance: Debates about autonomy and agency

Economic and Social Platforms

• Successful progressive presidents and constitutional amendments
• Differences between early 1900s progressives and modern progressives

Religious and Social Roots

• Emergence: From Protestant concern for society
• Protestantism:
  • Individualized faith
  • Liberal theology attempts to apply rationalism to religious ideas

Liberal Theology and Social Issues

• Liberal Theology:
  • Combats individualistic Protestantism
  • Views social problems as magnified individual moral problems
• Social Justice: Beginnings tied to addressing social issues
• Millennialism: Belief in achieving a perfect society through human action

Telos: Ultimate Aim or Goal

• Telos in Progressivism: What is the ultimate aim?
• Challenges:
  • Defining a perfect society
  • Practical steps and feasibility

Progressivism’s Impact

• Government as a Mechanism: Enacts reforms
• Popularity: Empowering, communal, vague in defining a perfect society
• Diverse Interpretations:
  • Agreement on improving society
  • Different visions of a perfect society

Social and Political Effects

• Organizations: YMCA, Salvation Army
• Coalition:
  • Middle-class reformers
  • Northern laborers
  • Intellectual elites
  • Protestant church
  • Black intellectuals (e.g., W.E.B. DuBois)

Key Progressive Policies

• Prohibition: Ban on alcohol due to social ills
• Social Reforms:
  • Anti-prostitution
  • Immigration controls
  • Anti-abortion policies

Conservationism

• Early form of environmentalism
• Creation of national parks by Theodore Roosevelt

Journalism and Muckraking

• Upton Sinclair’s "The Jungle": Exposed meatpacking industry
• Legislation:
  • Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
  • Federal Trade Commission
  • Trust-busting by Roosevelt

Role of Women

• Significant Influence: Key players in the movement
• Notable Figures: Jane Addams
• Organizations:
  • Women’s Christian Temperance Union
  • Suffrage movements

Conclusion

• First Progressive President: Theodore Roosevelt in 1904
• Significance: Progressivism sought widespread reforms and social betterment