The 1890s-1920s: US Reform Movements for Political, Economic & Social Change - Essay Sample

Introduction

The years between the 1890s and 1920s in the history of the United States produced a series of reform movements that led to various changes to the country's political, economic, and cultural as well as social institutions. These uprisings were majorly driven by a pervasive sense that the American culture of the rule of law and the democratic promise to the citizens was significantly failing. In fact, during this period in the United States, political corruption was sweeping through all the levels of the government which severely impacted the lives of the ordinary citizens. For instance, as a result of government negligence and corruption, the unchecked capitalist industrial economy continued to exploit helpless workers which threated to develop a consequential class divide. It was obvious that the government at the time safeguarded the rights of business organizations but paid little attention to the labor force. During this time, the mass urbanization grew significantly and changing the traditional rural and agricultural societies to modern industrial and urban setting which brought along poverty among the middles class and the lower class majorities, crime, cultural clash, and diseases. Additionally, government intervention in technological advancements created frightening perceptions that left many feeling they were losing control of their daily lives. Ideally, it is these problems that led to reform movements eras such as the progressive and the great society eras which although had their shortcomings, offered a number of advantages that completely changed the history of the United States.

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Progressive Era

A significant amount of the history of the reform movements developed and shaped progressive thoughts and ideologies throughout the 19th and the 20th centuries. According to Leonard (208), the idea of progressivism was created upon a vocal and a vibrant grassroots foundation that included movements such as the social gospel, women suffrage, antiwar activism, civil rights, and gay rights, as well as labor movements. Indeed, as a reform tradition, the ideals of progressivism have always protested against adverse societal conditions such as inequality, corruption, and injustice. The advocates of this reform movement, in particular, believed deeply in three narratives. First, they called for the crucial empowerment and equality for the commoners and the less fortunate in society. Secondly, they had a belief that it is the primary role of the government to safeguard its citizens from unchecked individuals and commercial corporations. Additionally, they strongly supported the primacy of democracy in American life (Ma). Specifically, they called on the government to abolish its legal injustices and utilize its authority as a crucial tool for establishing human freedom and stability.

As opposed to overturning capitalism, they proposed to reform America's social, political, cultural and economic institutions to effectively address the underlying problems that caused the societal inequalities in the first place. Essentially, they sort to trigger the citizens' promise of democratic justice and equality by slowly putting an end to the excess force exerted by the capitalist extremists, thereby leading the country to a progressive modern future (Ma). Even more, they hoped to eliminate the individualistic and a competitive society with a more democratic and cooperative one.

The Accomplishments of the Progressive Movements

Many scholars describe the accomplishments of the Progressive Era as a critical reconstruction of politics. It is indeed a characterization that applies equally to the various social movements in the 20th century that seek to transform the American politics, along with the country's social order with ideals revolving around equality, liberty, and opportunity for all. For example, the roots of the great civil rights triumph during that era manifested from within progressivism itself. As a matter of fact, the combined struggle and effort of these individual movements, in the end, changed the progressive ideals into a driving force for social tolerance, political rights and also the human equality within the society.

To begin with, each of the social movements in the progressive era successfully opposed the grave injustices in American society which seriously affected a significant segment of the American population. Specifically, these social justice progressive movements pushed for a people's state whose primary objective was to provide for the common citizens. According to Bogotch (141), a real democratic leadership must always operate from a sense of social morality that focuses on improving the lives of all people rather than safeguarding the interests of the wealthy and the powerful minorities. These, for example, would include protecting the American society from the inequality for women, immigrants, gays, and lesbians, as well as the inequality for the African Americans and other people of color.

Secondly, these progressive movements worked independently to check mainstream politics and functioned as a structural-instrumental approach to change the mechanisms for political activities and hence break the hold of political parties. In essence, these progressive movements criticized the patronage politics that had great influence in the administrative offices and promoted corruption not only through solicited bribes for contracts but also by giving service franchise to a friend and private businesses. The Wisconsin view, for example, advocated for state-level reforms to electoral procedures. His main idea was to reduce or totally eliminate the political control of nominations that existed at the time. Even more, he proposed a new reform which gave the voters the power to initiate legislation, recall elected officials and hold referenda.

Additionally, in terms of shared value, many of these progressive movements and in particular the progressive economic movements pushed for the implementation of anti-trust legislation which prohibited monopolies (Leonard 220). Ideally, they viewed the unregulated corporate monopolists as the root cause of the American troubles. Therefore proposed a new regulatory state that effectively managed the banking and the currency system, the monopoly capitalism, the property relations and measures of antimonopoly legislation. For example, the antimonopoly movement demanded a change in the relationship between the ruling government and businesses, and developing legislation that ensured businesses are well protected. This was a way of minimizing the collusion between the government and corporate capitalism and thereby preventing the perceived class warfare.

Shortcoming and Failures

Even though progressive movements brought about more equal playing fields for people and businesses and general efficiency in government institutions, the progressive era failed significantly when it came to inclusivity. According to Johnson (66), the period of the progressive movements completely ignored the Jim Crow era which promoted intense discrimination and segregation against the African American people. The transformations, particularly within the judicial system and the push for equality for all, did not include the fight for the same treatment for all races within the America society. Plessy versus Ferguson case of 1896 for example allowed for school segregation which became a norm and a tradition among the Southerners. In their argument, every person was eligible to the same public services but separately depending on one's race.

Great Society Era

After taking the oath of office, Lyndon Johnson brought to his presidency a vision of a Great Society in which liberty and justice for all would be paramount. He vowed to the citizens of the United States to fulfill the promises of his predecessor John F. Kennedy which was to improve the role of the federal government in promoting civil rights and equality for all and fostering the economic opportunities for everyone irrespective of race or gender. Indeed with the help of his supporters and the Congress, Johnson's reforms which focused on eliminating poverty and racial discrimination completely changed the history of the United States.

The Accomplishment of the Great Society Era

Although some of the Great Society era programs were more successful than others, no sane and reasonable observer can doubt their crucial impacts. Johnson's system, for instance, improved education significantly within the United States by establishing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The supporters of the Great society era including President Johnson came to the conclusion that lack of a comprehensive education system was the root cause of all the social problems including poverty within the United States. Therefore, to Johnson, education reform was a primary objective of the society he hoped to realize. As Thomas, Janet, and Brady (57) claim, Elementary and Secondary act provided increased funding to schools across the United States and included $1 billion budget for books and library materials. This act also established special educational programs directed toward disadvantaged children and students with disabilities.

Similarly, President Johnson turned his attention towards the consumer protection laws which not only improved the safety of all the consumer products but also instructed manufacturers to place warning labels on harmful but legal products. These laws also required vehicle manufacturers companies to introduce safety standards for all their products used within the United States. Essentially, Johnson's government enacted laws that protected the interests of the common citizens from the unscrupulous activities of the profit-driven manufactures. For example, laws were created to protect the environment by preserving air and water quality, controlling companies' disposal methods, and protecting the wilderness and the endangered species. Some legislations were established to provide funding for artists and scholars to improve the arts and humanities.

In addition, despite enacting laws that improved safety within the society, the main focus of Johnson's Great Society ideals was the complete eradication of poverty from the United States. He believed that the problem of penury must be combated from several fronts, therefore promoted government acts that were specifically directed towards poverty eradication. To begin with, Johnson's government established the Housing and Urban Development Act which focused primarily on providing improved housing and subsidized rents for the middle and the lower class citizens. Secondly, the Economic Opportunity Act was established specifically to coordinate programs that provided job training and work experience for homeless individuals and the disadvantaged (Zarefsky). This included programs such as Volunteers in Service to America which employed people purposely for helping in educational programs and other community services in poor areas of the United States. The Act also reduced rural poverty by availing low-interest loans to those individuals who wanted to improve their farms and businesses. Even more, the government at the time realized that the aging population suffered the most through poverty, therefore passed the Social Security Act which provided services such as Medicare to the elderly.

Shortcoming and Failures

While the Great Society ideals had bipartisan support from the President and in Congress and impacted immediate cultural and economic change, their failures were evident as the citizens slowly began to reject the government and its programs intended to solve great social issues. As a matter of fact, some believed that the government had declared war on poverty, but poverty won (Mead 111). The approaches that were directed towards eradicating poverty all...