The Roots of Progressivism: Grangers, Mugwumps, and the Indu
The Roots of Progressivism: Grangers, Mugwumps, and the Industrialization/Feminization of American Culture As a kick off, I will use the Grangers to talk about farmers dissatisfaction with railroads and the economic consequences of industrialization and the Mugwumps to discuss dissatisfaction with party politics among the middle class. Then I?ll talk about Ann Douglass?s provocative argument that during the middle half of the nineteenth century a sentimentalized Protestantism propagated by middle class ?ministers and mothers? formed the culture of industrializing America, a culture attuned to patriarchical laissez-faire individualism and cries of horror at the ravages of slavery in the south and at the consequences of urban, industrial America. Progressivism, I will argue, grew out of all of these impulses. The Geography of Progressivism: Regional Progressives and Transatlantic ProgressivesI will contrast agrarian problems (drop in wheat & cotton prices from 187? to 189?, the failure of coops, rural isolation, the Farmer?s Alliances) with urban problems (immigration & migration, factory conditions, housing, water & sewage, Municipal reform
WoodwardAge of Reform and Origins of the New South laid out two of the most influential historical accounts of progressivism. I would also touch upon populist attempts at a farmer-labor coalition. Each are trenchant critics of the reform movements, but Woodward?s account is more sympathetic to Populism and Hofstadter?s is more sympathetic to Progressivism. Here are the figures I would discuss: Tom Watson the quintessential Southern Populist turned Progressive compared to Jane Addams and the Settlement Houses; Hiram Johnson as Governor and Senator in California compared to John Dewey and progressive education, that is urban educational reform; finally, Robert LaFollette and the dramatic reform in Wisconsin compared to the German educated economist and professor at U. These pairs will give me a chance to provide a sense of the regional differe nces of progressivism and a sense of the wide range of reform movements that make up transatlantic progressivism. Using the party platforms of the populists I would point out how some of the goals of populism are accepted as a matter of course (direct election senators, direct legislative reforms, income tax, public highways) while others (nativist fear of immigrant labor, free silver, outright government ownership of railroads, displacement of Indians) seem bizarre or terrible. I would then contrast a group of regional progressives who were mostly state/national political leaders and a group of transatlantic progressives who were mostly municipal/transatlantic figures. Or are they? Based on Woodward?s account of ?Progressivism for Whites Only? and Hofstadter?s account of ?the status revolution? what would you say their attitudes toward Progressivism are and what would account for their differences? How does each represent the regional versus transatlantic split I describe and how does each transcend it?The Periodization of Political Progressivism: Populism to Progressivism Having laid out the geographical differences and then complicated that difference with a discussion of Woodward and Hofstadter, I would then move on to explain the national political development of progressivism. The last discussion of LaFollette and Ely would let me use Wisconsin to complicate my division and discuss the role of state politics as both urban and rural. Interpretive Debate: Hofstadter vs. I would then explain the decision that faced the populists in 1896 and Bryan?s rise to the democratic party leadership, and argue that a free silver Democrat represented an impossible choice for populist party managers.
Common topics in this essay:
Woodward Hofstadter,
Ann Douglasss,
Farmers Alliances,
Debs Wilson,
Pittsburgh Baltimore,
American Culture,
Hofstadter Woodward,
Richard Ely,
Whites Hofstadters,
Transatlantic Progressives,
reform movements,
municipal reform,
regional progressives,
woodwards account,
transatlantic progressivism,
free silver,
transatlantic progressives,
middle class,
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Acceptance Essays
