Changes During the Progressive Reform Movement

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The progressive reform movement was a large movement that started in the nineteenth century. According to Knott and Miller, the progressive reform movement was a “finely honed machine for meeting the needs of a variety of constituencies: corporations seeking franchises, tariffs, or other favors; immigrants seeking housing, information, or a sense of ethnic identity in a new world; local newspapers seeking support through public advertisements; the municipal work force seeking jobs through political patronage (pg. 33).” All of these made it the large progressive reform movement, which allowed for a connection between the party and organizations. The progressive reform movement has some constituencies for reform. Two groups that supported the reform were the populists and the civil service reformers. Both of these groups served as an important ally to the core groups in the Progressive movement. The populists was a group that consisted of farmers and small merchants that had been destroyed by other groups that were much larger such as railroads, bankers, and the other economic forces. The civil service reformers were a small but growing number of people that “saw the problem of patronage primarily in moralistic terms” (pg. 34) according to Knott and Miller. The difference between the populists and the civil service reformers was that the populists usually weren’t educated and had less money while the civil service reformers made it their goal to put forth their best men, those with money and generally upper class, professional men. Progressives felt that to simply vote the best man in like the civil service reformers wasn’t going to cut it, they needed to study the government institutions and the rules needed to be changed. Now bo... ... middle of paper ... ... as simple and clear-cut responsibilities for those in government. The tactics that were used by the progressive party varied and there were many. Using party competition, fighting the party system with party tactics, attacking the party system, starting with the grassroots, reform through executive leadership, and eliminating politics were all a part of the tactics used (pg. 43- 53). This movement and the changes continued into the future. According to Knott and Miller, (pg. 67), “Professionalism in policing, as in medicine, education, and social work, became identified with a bureaucratic structure of professionals over non-professionals.” Professionalism became a huge part of the medical, education, social work, law enforcement, and military fields. Groups of professionals began to join national and state associations such as the American Medical Association.

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