Progressivism Essay -- History Essays Progressive Era

Progressivism The age of progressivism was a time where the middle and lower classes joined together to attack the upper crust elites. During the populist movement there was more of a separation of classes; the farmers blamed just about everyone, especially the more cosmopolitan population, for their economic loss at the end of the nineteenth century. Towards the beginning of the twentieth century however, the rich kept getting richer and the poor got poorer. When the Industrial Revolution was at its peak, the railroad owners and developers saw a large increase in their revenue. The gap between the middle class and the upper class very quickly became much larger. Small town community leaders, who were role models for their town, now had to answer to big business, starting the status revolution. The lower and middle classes were worried because democracy is now being threatened by the monopolies that controlled the economic swing of the United States. The classes fought back by t rying to win over some of the â€Å"outsiders† of the country, ie immigrants, Jews, different races. The goal was to win them over by cleaning up some of the slum areas where these populations lived. Religion played a role in which slums would be cleaned up. The Roman Catholics that emigrated from Ireland had the stereotype of being alcoholics; the Jews from Eastern Europe had the stereotype of being money grubbers. The majority of the American population, white, protestant, workers, had a hard time trusting the outsiders of the country. Many different historians compare and contrast the benefits of this time and the repercussions it had left. For some groups, it was a pivotal moment in history for them but for others, laws were mad... ... Different discriminated groups came together to forge a bond to get their voice heard in America; the middle and lower â€Å"wasp† classes teamed with the immigrants against big business and prevailed. These coalitions, helped shape the social scene for the beginning of the twentieth century. The progressive era left its mark in the United States history. Works Cited Paula Baker, â€Å"The Domestication of Politics: Women and American Political Society, 1780-1920,† The American Historical Review 89 (1984): 620-647. Peter Filene, â€Å"An Obituary For ‘The Progressive Movement’,† American Quarterly 22 (1970): 20-34. Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform (New York: Vintage Books, 1955): 16-18. Richard McCormick, â€Å"The Discovery That Big Business Corrupts Politics: A Reappraisal of the Origins of Progressivism,† The American Historical Review 86 (1981): 247-274.