Progressivism
In 1892, farmers fed up with the laissez faire attitude of the Federal Government,the falling prices of the goods they worked so hard to produce, and the hole ofdebt they were digging themselves into, farmers in the Midwest formed thePopulist Party. Their main goals consisted of reducing tariffs, a graduated incometax, public ownership of railroads, popular election of senators, and reform of thenation's currency. Fueled by the depression of the 1890s, the Populist Partygained popularity and in the election of 1896, Populists supported DemocratWilliam Jennings Bryan. Unfortunately, Bryan was defeated by Republican WilliamMcKinley, who supported big business and was in favor of high tariffs. DuringMcKinley's presidency, little was done to better the conditions of people inAmerica. Instead, he focused mostly on expanding into Latin America bysupporting the Spanish-American War and working hard to allow America's bigbusiness into China to have yet another industrial outlet. He supported the bigbusinessmen of the time, and they in turn supported him. Much like the Populists, the Progressives worked to improve the livingconditions of the average American. While the Populists were mostly farmers, the
He also extended ICCjurisdiction so that it covered telephone and telegraph companies. While he was President, a postal savings system wasestablished and the ICC was directed to set railroad rates. The Progressive Era was a time in which the laissez-faire attitude wasthrown out, trust-busting was put into effect, regulation of big business wasimplemented, and labor laws were created. Under Wilson's "MissionaryDiplomacy" he vowed to share the wealth of America's democracy with the rest ofthe world in a peaceful way. Wilson's foreign policy wasdramatically different than the first two Progressives. In the same year, the Bureau of Corporations was formed, which letthe government closely watch big businesses for material to use in itstrust-busting cases. Progressivism arosein response to the large unemployment rate in America, industry's wasteful use ofnatural resources, and the many abuses of corporate power demonstrated byvirtually every business of the time. His plan was called DollarDiplomacy, where Wall Street dollars were supposed to be used to encouragehealthy reform in corrupt governments. With therelease of publications such as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, which exposed thedangers of the meat-packing industry, Progressives gained support and were ableto begin making a difference. Taft's presidency wassignificant because he continued to bust big trusts and monopolies, an idea thatwas started by Roosevelt. Under the third Progressive president, many changes took place veryquickly. He followed through with his reforms and sought to eliminate all trustsand monopolies and did so fairly well. He also passed theElkins Act in 1903, which made it illegal to give preferential treatment to railroadpassengers. While Wilson was in office, theNineteenth Amendment was also passed, which allowed women to vote for thefirst time. He was probably our most significant president in that he didn't cater to bigbusiness, but yet paved the way for presidents of the future to focus on theaverage citizen of the United States.
Common topics in this essay:
American Populists,
Coal Strike,
Nineteenth Amendment,
Income Tax,
Act June,
Progressive Presidents,
Populist Party,
Wall Street,
Trade Commission,
Theodore Roosevelt,
latin america,
trusts monopolies,
election senators,
income tax,
interstate commerce,
direct election senators,
presidents wilson,
teddy roosevelt,
progressive presidents,
natural resources,
gained popularity,
interstate commerce commission,
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Acceptance Essays
