In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of our felicities.” (Jefferson, 1801) This idea echoed far beyond it’s time and into the minds and hearts of the Populist’s, and became the center and the driving force of the Progressive era. During the gilded age railroads were being built, Industrialization was rising, the population of United States was increasing dramatically; and corporate businesses were becoming extremely powerful. The gilded age was known for its corruption and business domination, it wasn’t until the Populist movement when people started to fight back and also not until the Progressive movement when people started changing the government system. During the nineteenth and twentieth century monopolizing corporations reigned over territories, natural resources, and material goods. They dominated banks, railroads, factories, mills, steel, and politics. With companies and industrial giants like Andrew Carnegies’ Steel Company, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company and J.P. Morgan in which he reigned over banks and financing. Carnegie and Rockefeller both used vertical integration meaning they owned everything from the natural resources (mines/oil rigs), transportation of those goods (railroads), making of those goods (factories/mills), and the selling of those goods (stores). This ultimately led to monopolizing of corporations. Although provided vast amount of jobs and goods, also provided ba... ... middle of paper ... ...hey lacked the followers that would enable them to push their ideas further, so in the end the Populists slowly died out but the ideas remained which became a driving force during the progressive era. The Populists can be seen as the stepping stone which it gathered and helped people to realize that a change was needed, without this would the progressive era still have the drive that brought people together? Bibliography Bryan, J. W. (1896). Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech: Mesmerizing the Masses . Foner, E. (2010). The People Party. In E. Foner, Give me Liberty! An American History (pp. 680-682). Canada: W.W Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110. Jefferson, T. ( 1801, March 4). Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address. Retrieved 2008, from The Avalon Project at Yale Law School: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/jefinau1.asp
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Fourth ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 247-316. Print.
During the Gilded Age, several Americans emerged as leaders in many fields such as, railroads, oil drilling, manufacturing and banking. The characterization of these leaders as “robber barons” is, unfortunately, nearly always correct in every instance of business management at this time. Most, if not all, of these leaders had little regard for the public or laborers at all and advocated for the concentration of wealth within tight-knit groups of wealthy business owners.
The Populists and Progressive were form of movement that occurred during the outbreaks of the workers union after the civil war. The populists began during the late 1800s.The progressive began during the 1900s. There are many differences between these two movements, but yet these movements have many things that are similar.
In conclusion, the Gilded Age was a time of corruption and prosperity on both a political and economic scale. The everlasting lust for money and power is what drove the US to become the superpower it is today. Although the US faced many political and social issues during this time it is apparent that they as a nation triumphantly overcame the obstacle of being a small dependent country. With dexterity and perseverance the States became the most powerful industrial force in the world within a few decades.
During the Gilded age, the governments were very small as well as small work force. Everything was becoming controlled by “bosses” who used their “political machines” to run things and was controlled by the government. Nothing every got done because there was a n...
As stated by Henry Adams, the Gilded Age which occurred through years 1870-1895, was the most "thoroughly ordinary" period ever in American politics. It was a time of presidents who made no dramatic changes to the nation, serving more than two consecutive terms, or drafted any major bills. Politicians of that time period worried more about ensuring this own financial success, securing votes by any means, granting jobs or favors in return for votes, and remaining popular. Therefore, the statement that politicians during the Gilded Age made changes for personal benefit, not the good of the community is in fact valid and can be shown through politicians' actions during this period.
The progressive movement, ignited from the depression of 1890, caused a wide gap between the rich and the poor. Progressives sought to aid the poor and believed that the government is to successfully fill its devoted right to “promoting the general welfare.” Their goal was to stop corrupt politicians and ignite the government to be more efficient. From this, the progressive movement formed political reforms in order for the “people” to be heard. They wanted the rise of direct democracy, in which the people would vote for the senators, not the state legislatures. This way the people would be heard, not the legislatures, which ignited the passage of the seventeenth amendment. Although some progressive achievements were fulfilled, others, failed
The populist movement originally started out as an organization called the Grange, which would help farmers. While the Grange helped farmers by opening cooperative stores, and promoting farmer unity, the Populist party did this in a more political way.
The populist movement began with a group of farmers who sought out reform against the government for what they considered unfair treatment. For example, big businesses were allowed to have monopolies during this period, which also hurt the average farmer and better shipping rates were offered by the railroad to these larger companies. Under those circumstances, the farmers decided that they needed their own representation due to the fact that neither the Republican nor Democratic Party catered to their needs. For these reasons the agrarians started the populist movement during the early 19th century.
Foner, Eric. Give me liberty!: an American history. Seagull fourth ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2014. Print.
The Gilded Age was a time period of rampant development in the American Economy with a policy that minimized the intervention of the government in economic matters. In the late 1800’s starting with railroads, small businesses evolved to the point where the nation’s economy was monopolized by wealthy industrialists and financiers.1 With all this control in the hands of few wealthy individuals critics began to point out several inequalities among Americans.
During the late 19th and early 20th century both the Populist Party and Progressive movement wanted to preserve some things, while also addressing the need for reform. Although many of the ideas and goals of these “Third parties” were initially not legislated and considered far-fetched, many of these ideas later became fundamental laws throughout American history. The Populists and Progressives were both grass roots movements, and addressed the needs of the poor and powerless, for the Populists it was farmers and for the Progressives it was urban lower and middle class workers. These two movements attempted to bring the powerless peoples issues to national politics. The Populists and Progressives wanted to preserve some American ideals of the past, such as a sense of community and the ability for farmers and workers to live happily without economic strains. Populists were more oriented to the plight of the farmer while the Progressives included women's rights, and protection of the consumer and labor.
According to Merriam-Webster a populist is “a member of a political party claiming to represent the common people…” The populist movement has been around since the Jacksonian era and since then we have seen populist politicians rise and fall from power. One of the most notable populists in American history is William Jennings Bryan, a young Democrat from Nebraska, ran for President in 1896 against William McKinley a Gilded Age Republican. Jennings campaigned to those who thought the American economy was corrupt and pushing them out of the system. Similarly, Donald Trump told a similar narrative. Trump preached the idea to make “America Great” once again. His goal is to return America to its former glory and to make sure the common man has his
Fundamentally, in the United States there are two parties and ideologies attached to them. The Democrats represent the left: stalwart vanguards of progressivism that put the working-class ahead of the corporate overlords, and defend the minorities from the majority. The Republicans represent the right: traditionalists who cling to the ideals of small government, individualism, and personal liberty. In theory then, it should be easy to place the supporters of these groups at either end of the political spectrum, but as Frank points out in What’s the Matter with Kansas?, “Nearly everyone has a conversion story they can tell: how their dad had been a union steelworker and stalwart Democrat, but how all their
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “A great democracy has got to be progressive or it will soon cease to be great or a democracy.” (“Quotes About Progressivism”). Multiple historians have different interpretations of the social origins of the progressive reform movement. Historians like George Mowry, Joseph Huthmacher, and Robert H. Wiebe all talk about what they think progressivism was.