Progressive Reform Movement
The Social Origins of the Progressive Reform MovementThroughout history many interpretations of the Progressive Movement and its goals and motives have been produced. Historians during different ages have analysisd the different aspects of the progressives and what made them who they where. This paper will classify and analyze each of the assigned historians to fully understand an important time in history. When it comes to the Progressive Movement and it's specific politics many historians provide different causes and influences. Who were the progressives, what did they accomplish? J. Joseph Huthmacher contends that the progressives were mainly lower class citizen's who were part of the ever so growing melting pot of the industrialized America. Huthmacher writes about how the middle class helped the cause, but it was the lower class who had the most bearing on the issue, and who would be the most affected. He points out as he queries "How does one explain the fact that in the legislature of New York and Massachusetts many reform bills received more uniform and consistent support from representatives of urban lower class then they received from the urban middle class or rural representatives."(Huthmacker) It seems logical tha
As a result of the women's push to reform things such as schools better jobs were created for them a well as other class and genders. Basically the Progressives believed that by fighting the people on top they would to have the best results. Scott talks about some of the changes in her historical essay. Living in a time about a century later the envisioned thoughts of Progressives (liberal) and what they were trying to accomplish seems the most logical. The big changes that were originally supposed to happen during the progressive movement never ocurred thus the movement was labeled a "Conservatism Movement" (Kolko). He mentions that the whole cause of the movement in the first place was the middle class society lobbying to preserve its declining position of leadership in the everyday way of living. The lower class occupations of the time included such jobs as steel mill worker, meat factory employees and as train company employees. Kolko agrees with this viewpoint but again standing with his New Left ideals hypothesizes that nothing would ever get accomplished because the reformist belong to the upper class society. Scott sees that women of the time "were able to see things most men simply were not yet observing"(Scott). As times goes on different believes from different historians begin to become more persuasive to what they are taking about. Some of these things eventually did happen. With the formation of numerous types of women's organizations, a middle class backing is presented. In reading the different historians interpretations, the political platform was a major key to whoever would push the issues of reform. O the four historians Mowry that it was "economically secure, well educated, middle class group" who perpetuated the belief that "men are good", one of the common phrases associated with the times (Mowry).
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