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
McCormick, authors of Progressivism in History, contradict Abrams point of view by concluding that progressivism succeeded. 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. His rebuttals are sensible and seem more accurate than the attempts that Link and McCormick make throughout their own article. McCormick beg to differ with Abrams and defiantly defend their own belief in their article entitled Progressivism in History that the movement was indeed successful. Their efforts in defending the progressives are mediocre when compared to the arguments that Abrams implements in his article. The progressives tried to better the lives of American society by instilling Protestant moral values upon public life and by attempting to assimilate all cultures and ethnic backgrounds to fit into the American way of life. They did not analyze the entire progressive movement as accurately as Abrams. 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. Also, one can tell that Link and McCormick are more biased in that they are writing in the point of view of the reformers. were different solutions among the progressives on the correct remedy to solve this problem. For every piece of reform legislation passed, Abrams counteracts with a logical reasoning for its failure. Also, in the second article, it almost seems as though the authors are losing their own argument because they lack sufficient support to draw the reader in believing their view on the effects of progressivism. " He states that the progressives mainly wanted to instill old moral values upon Americans by attempting to assimilate immigrants by forcing them to accept the American way of life. The new view about race was that ethnic differences had nothing to due with the equality of two human beings. In the second article, Link and McCormick point out all of the negative aspects of progressivism and fail to fully prove how the failures of the progressives truly led to a successful movement.
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