Greetings History Minions!
I very much enjoyed class discussion this morning! Good work!
We have been wrapping up our Gilded Age work in class, and so let's look forward to our Progressives.
Check out the SparkNotes information about the Populists and Progressive Era:
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/gildedage/section9.rhtml
The Populist Movement
"The
Populist movement arose primarily in response to the
1890 McKinley Tariff, a very high tariff that particularly hurt western and southern farmers who sold their harvests on unprotected markets but were forced to buy expensive manufactured goods. To protest the tariff, these farmers helped vote Republicans out of the House of Representatives in the
1890 congressional elections.
By the time the elections of
1892 rolled around, the
Farmers’ Alliance—a quasi-political party that formed in the late
1880s—merged with other liberal Democrats to form the
Populist Party. Populists nominated former Greenback Party member
James B. Weaver for president and campaigned on a platform of unlimited, cheap silver money pegged at a rate of sixteen ounces of silver to one ounce of gold. Populists also campaigned for government ownership of all railroad and telephone companies, a graduated income tax, direct election of U.S. senators, one-term limits for presidents, immigration restrictions, shorter workdays, and a referendum.
The Progressive Movement
By the dawn of the twentieth century, many Americans felt the need to change the relationship between government and society and address the growing social and political problems. Like the Populists before them,
Progressives believed that unregulated capitalism and the urban boom required stronger government supervision and intervention. Specifically, Progressives wanted to regain control of the government from special interests like the railroads and trusts, while further protecting the rights of organized labor, women, blacks, and consumers in general.
Unlike the Populist movement, which rose from America’s minority groups, Progressives came primarily from the middle class and constituted a majority of Americans in the Republican and Democratic parties. As a result, reform dominated the first decade of the new century."
Prompt:
"How successful were Progressive reforms during the period 1890 to 1915?" Select one of the following and discuss. If you select an individual, then discuss how she or he responded to the economic and social problems created by industrialization during the early twentieth century.
- Industrial conditions
- Urban life
- Politics
- African Americans
- Women
- Immigration
- Labor
- Trusts
- Conservativism
- State and federal government
- Regulation of business
- Jane Addam
- Andrew Carnegie
- Samuel Gompers
- Robert M. La Follette
- Upton Sinclair
- Theodore Roosevelt
As always, be sure to add some NEW FACTS to the discussion and to also reply to a classmate. Happy blogging :D
