Richard Hofstadter's The Age of Reform In 1955, Richard Hofstadter wrote his Pulitzer Prize winning book The Age of Reform, about the Gilded Age. Hofstadter’s arguments about the Populist and Progressive movements and their origins started debate and renewed scholarship on the Populist and Progressive movements. Many historians did not agree with Hofstadter’s arguments and published their own papers stating their conclusions based on their own research. This scenario occurs all the time in the history field. One historian writes a book or paper and other historians accept or reject his arguments by doing their own research and making their own conclusions. Many historians wrote about the Progressive era after Hofstadter did. Many …show more content…
Filene wrote “An Obituary for “The Progressive Movement”” in direct response to Hofstadter and other historians that there was never a Progressive ‘Movement.’ He argues that most historian are too caught up in defining Progressivism that they do not consider what it means for something to be a movement. He states that a social movement is a group acting to cause change or to stop change. Filene argues that there was never a movement, that society and progressives were too fractured to act as one group. He argues that there are many different types of progressives split on a wide range of issues. He argues that progressives were split ideologically as well as on courses of action. This is in direct opposition of Hofstadter who argues that even though there were differences in action every progressive had similar values. Filene then argues against a geographical model of the progressive movement because the area of the country someone was from did not necessarily point to one’s viewpoint. He also denounces Hofstadter’s “status revolution” argument. He argues that progressive cannot be seen as a middle-class response to a status revolution because progressives came from all class, the wealthy, the poor and the middle class. In the end of his paper, Filene asserts that historians have tried to apply a certain concept to their data, which has caused a mess. He argues that while a progressive era may have occurred that there was no clear movement, …show more content…
When Richard Hofstadter published his book, The Age of Reform, his assumption of their being a Progressive movement was widely accept in the historical world. His controversial claim that a status revolution coupled with nativist fears caused the populist and progressive movements caused a boom in research and scholarship on the Populist and Progressive Movements. In 1977, Peter Filene published his “An Obituary for “The Progressive Movement.”” In it, he explains persuasively that there was no Progressive ‘movement’ because there was not a movement. He argued persuasively against almost all of Hofstadter’s conclusions, showing through the theories of and research of other historians that Hofstadter was very much wrong. In 1981, Richard L. McCormick published, “The Discovery That Business Corrupts Politics: A Reappraisal of the Origins of Progressivism.” In this article, McCormick takes the argument laid down by Filene and revises it to create the most persuasive argument out of the four articles examined in this paper. He argues that there was a movement just that it lasted for a very short period of time, specifically two years. He argues that the realization of the influence that corporations had on the government caused this movement and that the short attention span of the nation led to the rise of a bureaucratic system to regulate it. His argument answers
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.
The Progressive Movement that occurred during the early 20th century was a time of major reform in the United States of America. During this time, there was a group of activists that referred to themselves as the Progressives, and they sought to change society for the people. The way that they intended to do this was change through their ideals of democracy, efficiency, regulation, and social justice. With this movement came the election that changed the course of America’s history “…demonstrating a victory for progressive reforms as both Progressive candidates accounted for 75 percent of all the votes” (Bowles). The candidates in this election were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
In the late 1800’s a group of Americans decided that something needed to be done about the decline of moral and ethical values in most Americans. These people called themselves the progressives and started one of the most comprehensive reform movements in the United States to this day. Progressivism became so widespread that by the end of World War I, anyone who didn’t agree with Progressive ideals was labeled a communist. The Progressives had four major goals that they wished to accomplish. These four goals were to democratize America, to Americanize America, the humanization of capitalism and rationalization of the economy. Each goal dealt with a different aspect of America’s society that the Progressives thought needed help. The way these goals were accomplished was to get laws passed that would reform the practices of many Americans. Progressives held that in order to bring American back to its old time, rural values people would need to attend church more.
In the beginning of the twentieth century, the economy was booming, new technology flourished. The rapid industrialization brought achievement to the United States, however, it also caused several social problems. Wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of a few, and poverty and political corruption were widespread. As people became aware of these problems, a new reform group was created. Unlike populism, which had been a group of farmers grown desperate as the economy submerged into depression, the new reform movement arose from the educated middle class. These people were known as the progressives. The Progressive Movement was a movement that aimed at solving political, economic, and social problems. The Progressives were people from the middle class who had confidence that they could achieve social progress through political reform. The Progressives sought after changes and improvements in the society through laws and other federal actions.
Within the period of 1900-1920, many national reforms were rising to the top as Progressive Era reformers and the federal government heard the voices of the people. The effectiveness of Progressivism is a controversial subject for some, but the future was changed through the events of any actions a president made, the rights of people, and unfair treatment and conditions. This era brings changes to our society that also changes the future of it. These two decades brought forth successful times in bettering America.
LEE, J. (2014, March 20). TED2014: NSA responds to Edward Snowden's video talk . .
Richards, Neil M. "The Dangers Of Surveillance." Harvard Law Review 126.7 (2013): 1934-1965. Academic Search Elite. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.
Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It (New York: Random House Publishing, 1973).
In the past few years the National Security Agency has been all over the news, and not in a good way. Former contractor of the National Security Edward Snowden leaked classified documents to several media outlets on such a scale the world took notice. The day the world learned about the Prism program among others was June, 5, 2013 when Ed Snowden gave the specifics of the programs to The Guardian, and the Washington Post. Ed Snowden turned those secrets over as a member of the NSA but fled the country before the leaks so he would not be imprisoned by the authorities. Immediately after the leaks Ed Snowden became infamous with around the clock watch as to what country would grant his asylum, he currently resides in a Moscow airport pending appeal (Staff, 2013). He claimed he “did not want to live in a society like this” that’s why he decided to turn over states secret for all the world to see (Staff, 2013). Now that you know the man behind the leaks it is time that you find out about the program, and the reach and impact it really had.
The Age of Reform throughout 1825-1850 was a great turning point for American society. The ideas and beliefs throughout the reform movements greatly expanded the democratic ideals. Reform movements in the United States sought to express ideas through religion and education, start movements through abolition and temperance acts, expand beliefs by caring for the insane, and take a stand by speaking up for personal rights .
Greenwald, Glenn, Ewen MacAskill, and Laura Poitras. “Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations.” Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 11 June 2013. Web. 18 May. 2014.
Edward Snowden, the famous “whistleblower”, shocked the world with his revelations about the NSA’s database and the programs which allow the organization to access personal information not only of citizens of other nations, but also of citizens of the U.S. The most shocking revelation of all was not the existence of these programs, but the fact that the Obama administration allowed those programs to exist in direct violation of every U.S. citizen’s right to privacy.
In the 1890s, American women emerged as a major force for social reform. Millions joined civic organizations and extended their roles from domestic duties to concerns about their communities and environments. These years, between 1890 and 1920, were a time of many social changes that later became known as the Progressive Era. In this time era, millions of Americans organized associations to come up with solutions to the many problems that society was facing, and many of these problems were staring American women right in the face.
...dragons with lightning bolts and witches creating great firestorm's that burned and scortched the lands. Now after the fight against the dragons Nito resides in the deepest parts of The Catacombs, in The Tomb of the Giants and is there to lead one of the Covenants, Gravelorders.
Around the 1970s, due to South Africa’s internal contradictions with its economy and people, the Apartheid began its slow demise. Soon the united nation began to take notice of South Africa and began to get involved. With South Africa now in the spot light, Prime Minister P.W Botha left office due to his belief that he had failed to keep order in the country. After the reassignment of P.W Botha, F.W Klerk had taken office. The final stage of the demise of the Apartheid began when Klerk lifted the ban off the ANC and other African political parties. The last blow was the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison. Now that South Africa’s hope was out of prison he continued to ...