Reformers and do–gooders is a reform style of politics that appeared in the United States after the Civil War. This reform gained success under the leadership of Samuel J. Tilden. Tilden ran for president in 1876 but was denied the presidency through the operation of the Electoral College. In this chapter there were four topics I would like to talk about. The first topic is titled, “Social Bases of Reform”. This section basically talked about how the municipal reform movement, they were strongly supported by the upper-class residents of cities who political ethos was different from which the new immigrants brought with them (Dye & MacManus, 2012, p. 326). When they talk about immigrant, they’re referring to the machine. The machine relied on people votes and how business people relied upon the machine for street railway and other utility franchises that had former alliance in the nineteenth century (Dye & MacManus, 2012, p. 326). The upper-class people really fought to recapture the control of the local governments through the municipal reform movement (Dye & MacManus, 2012, p. 326). Machine politicians mainly catered to the ethnic …show more content…
Now days Americans are identifying themselves as independent meaning they have the right to choose their party such as Democratic or Republican. Due to people becoming independent chair committee, ward chairperson, county committee jobs are vacant in different cities and counties. They feel as if the reasons for the decline of machine politics derived from the following factors. The decline in European immigration, federal social welfare programs, rising levels of prosperity, the spread of middle class values, new avenues of upward social mobility, the emergence, and the self-financed candidates. At the end of this section the expressed how today’s local politics might be characterized as less party and more
I commend the authors' overall work in being able to effectively present the aims of the reform movement and its progression over time. I am especially was appreciative of what seemed to be a very critical analysis of the policies that came out of the “reformers” at the time. Yet, I do have some minor issues with how they seem to skim though the topic while forgetting to discuss some others important elements of the topic. For example, I thought it was odd that although the reform movement had some major issues within its ideals of "fixing democracy", they did not seem to focus on heavily on some of the positive benefits of the movement. Therefore, with this paper, I hope to hone into what I personally thought were fascinating elements of the reading, which was how the reform Movement was instrumental in establishing strong elite governmental policies against the typical machine city politics at the time, but also in some major cases discriminated and disenfranchised individuals in lower socioeconomic classes within those newly "reformed" cities.
Some of the evils that the reformers of the period 1820-1860 were attempting to eliminate was the increased alcohol usage in that time period. The temperance movement was important because many people living in the northern United States were operating machinery and factory owners did not want their employees drunk while operating heavy machinery. Another evil that the reformers of the period were trying to eliminate was slavery. Many of the abolitionist came from the northern United States and believed that blacks should have equal rights to whites. Another evil that the reformers were attempting to eliminate was the inequality of women. Similar to slavery, many reformers believed that women should have equal rights to males in terms of pay for work, political rights, and social conventions. Next, the reformers were attempting to reform the education system. The reformers were attempting to make the education more public and with a more comprehensive curriculum. Lastly, another reform was a religious reform in which preachers were attempting to spread Christianity and inspire people to become more involved in Christianity.
The “new” immigrants came over hungry for work and were willing to work for a fraction of what the “old” immigrants would. The “new” immigrants came in unskilled and unaccustomed to American society, took the “old” immigrants jobs and shook up their neighborhoods; this created much tension between the two groups. Riis like others, hated some ethnic groups more than others, and in How the Other Half Lives establishes a general hierarchy placing the “old” immigrants on the top, groups such as Germans, Irish and the English. In the middle Riis ranks the Italians, Jews, and blacks. On the bottom of the ladder Riis places the Chinese.
In early America between the years of 1825-1850, America was rapidly changing and reforming the way people lived. Societal problems and major discrepancies that had previously been overlooked began to rapidly gain awareness. The main idea of the reforms in the United States at this time was the relatively new sense of Democracy. Reform sought to maximize these benefits in light of Democracy and for this reason came up with many changes in which greater good can be found through freedom, justice, and equality of all people.
Party is an inevitable feature of the democracy and it is defined as ‘an autonomous group of citizens having the purpose of making nominations and contesting elections in the hope of gaining control over governmental power through the capture of public offices and the organization of the government’ (Caramani, 2011, p.220). Parties are ubiquitous in modern political systems and they perform a number of functions, they are: coordination, contesting elections, recruitment, and representation (Caramani, 2011). Political parties are the product of the parliamentary and electoral game, and party systems reflect the social oppositions that characterize society when parties first appear (Coxall et al., 2011).
This means that while some of today’s elite may not be prejudiced towards immigrants, as long as they are not in the same class they will suffer from the brunt of the elite’s actions when they push forward their agenda. It is in this way that doctrinaire liberals who are a part of the narrow elite and live around the Big Four can affect American culture and the media, in which they fight against racism but can still covertly push programs that would disadvantage immigrants and other
A Democratic Party long ruled by moderates and conservatives succeeded in stunting what seemed like the natural growth of a successful Republican Party until the 1990s. Since then, various forces have contributed to the growth of the Republicans, and in the end, to an altering of the core membership of each party. Most recently, the state has seen the development of a dominant Republican Party that doesn't yet hold quite the dominion the Democrats enjoyed through most of the twentieth century. The Republican Party has certainly benefited from the defection of former Democrats, the arrival of Republicans and independents from out of state, and organizational difficulties in the Democratic Party. Thus, Republican officials dominate state government, and Democrats find themselves reduced, for the present, to the status of an embattled minority party seeking to recreate themselves among their voting and financial constituencies. This is showing that the newfound Republican dominance can be the beginning of a new strong party system, or if we are in a state of transition in which the terms of political competition are still in change. If it is a new party system, I don’t think it will be very durable or last too long for that matter. Now, it seems that Republican dominance of state government will
Daniel, Roger is a highly respected author and professor who has majored in the study of immigration in history and more specifically the progressive ear. He’s written remarkable works over the history of immigration in America, in his book Not like Us he opens a lenses about the hostile and violent conditions immigrants faced in the 1890’s through the 1924’s. Emphasizing that during the progressive area many immigrants felt as they were living in a regressing period of their life. While diversity of ethnicity and race gradually grew during this time it also sparked as a trigger for whites creating the flare up of nativism. Daniel’s underlines the different types of racial and ethnical discrimination that was given to individual immigrant
The political machine was supported by continuing immigration from 1800 to 1920, when more than eighteen million European immigrants flooded into the Untied States in search of economic opportunity and political and religious freedom. At first they came from Northern and Central Europe and then largely from Eastern and Southern Europe. (New Colossus , Pg. 1) New York alone reported that by June 30, 1899 immigrant arrivals from the Russian Empire were around 90,787. Arrivals, from the same year, from all countries of persons of German race were 29,682 and Hebrew arrivals were 60,764. (Changing the Character of Immigration, Pg. 1) Unfortunately, with such a large influx in population during a short amount of time and other variables such as immigrants being unable to speak English, inadequate affordable urban housing, and insufficient jobs a large amount of immigrants ended up in growing slums without the feeling of security or knowledge of how to find help, if there was any, from an unrepresentative government. These factors transformed incoming immigrants into easy prey for patronage from the political machine and sustained it by giving their votes. In the 1930’s mass immigration had stopped and representative government had begun, leading to a decline in patronage needed by then integrated immigrants and a decline in votes for the machine.
Walters describes the focus of his book as seeking an understanding of reform movements in terms of how the messages and efforts of these movements resonated with the social and cultural factors of American society. Walters defines reform movements as arising from people declaring something to be problem, envisioning a goal for remedying it, and establishing an organized effort to achieve their intended change. He describes reform activity as one of multiple choices for people in the 19th century to react to the conditions and changes within American society, which part of the population embraced, due to the appeal of the ideas to them and social conditions enabling them to afford to follow through on the matter. Walters approaches Antebellum reform by covering the United States of America overall. He also claims that the reformism of the Antebellum period was distinct and had little connection with the reform movements of the Progressive era, and that periods of war segmented periods of reform in the United States. Thus, he treats the reform movements of 1815-1860, as an interconnected element within the systems of
Perea, Juan. Immigrants Out! The New Nativism and the Anti-Immigrant Impulse in the United States. New York or London: New York University Press, 1997. Print.
In the U.S.A. today, political campaigns and elections are accepted as normal. Almost every new year brings regulations, politicians, or some other form of legislature to be voted on by the people, both on the national and local levels. Today, the idea of universal suffrage is often thought of as an obligation or even a burden. This mindset which American’s have today completely contrasts with the mindset of American’s in the past, specifically in the early 1800’s. Between 1815 and 1840, participation in political campaigns and elections in the United States changed greatly. This time period of transition immediately followed the highly controversial War of 1812. “First-generation politicians” had begun to appear, including well-known, popular
During the Antebellum period, approximately one-hundred reform communities were established (Foner, 443). Reformers believed it was important to impose order on the universe to create the perfect utopian society and even to the extent of controlling the actions of others. The conflicting opinions between the people of the United States caused a domino effect of reform movements during the early to mid-1800’s. The reform communities set out to solve the many detrimental effects of major social problems relating to alcoholism, mental illness, and lack of education.
Throughout the first half of the 19th century, and especially after the War of 1812, America has taken on yet another revolution. In this time period, the country saw a rapid expansion in territory and economics, as well as the extension of democratic politics; the spread of evangelical revivalism; the rise of the nation’s first labor and reform movements; the growth of cities and industrial ways of life; a rise in abolitionism and reduction in the power of slavery; and radical shifts in the roles and status of women.
‘Reform movements in the United States sought to expand democratic ideals. Assess the validity of this statement with specific reference to the years 1825-1850.’