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Early American life during the 1800’s and 1900’s wasn’t as glorious to what it is generally assumed. It was much worse and had various social and economic complications. This was how life was like before. However, many reformers pushed for the Progressive Movement in hopes of creating a better way of life in the U.S. Some of these reformers were activists such as W.E.B Du Bois, who expressed that higher education for African-Americans will bring personal stability in his book, “The Talented Tenth”.
To add on, there were also authors such as Jane Addams who believed political rights for women will bring societal improvement, in her book “Why Women Should Vote”. Some of the goals reformers hoped for failed, while others succeeded during this era. Although, this doesn’t mean this movement was a complete failure. However, in texts like “The Failure of Progressivism”, Richard M. Abrams argues that this movement was a total failure. Abrams fails to see some of the great results that came from this movement.
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Many credible authors such as Wynn proves otherwise. Nevertheless, there were many problems before the Progressive Era, some had its setbacks, but some improvised many major social complications. Therefore, this movement didn’t perform the best but it was successful in fixing many issues that were hoped for.
A problem before this movement was a lack of equal rights for African-Americans. There were societal problems that failed to treat blacks the same as others in society. W.E.B Du Bois addresses one of this mistreatment in his book “The Talented Tenth”. He argues the lack of higher education for blacks in this country. He states, “must have for the talented few centers of training where men are not so mystified and befuddled by the hard and necessary toil of earning a living, as to have no aims higher than their bellies, and no God greater than Gold”. He's referring to this largely African-American community that has been recently admitted to society. This large community can not just rely on hard labor but should receive education to stand up for themselves. Unfortunately, the outcomes weren’t in his favor because there weren’t any major reforms that helped fix this problem or even other issues the group was facing. In fact, few progressives made race relation a problem even though the progressivism moment was fighting to build a better society. The lack of any major reforms for the black community comes to show that Progressivism didn’t perform the best.
To add on, before this era there were societal and political implications against women in this society. They were only subject to specific “feminine” roles. Roles which would include cleaning, cooking, and raising children. This limited women to many of the same rights as men. Moreover, it was concluded that they wouldn’t need any rights due to their specific roles. Jane Addams, author of “Why Women Should Vote”, expresses the idea that in order for society to improve, women in this society would need to have the rights to vote. She states, “ she is utterly dependent upon the city administration for the conditions which render decent living possible. Her basement will not be dry, her stairways will not be fireproof”. Addams explains that women know more about certain things than men, such as home safety since one spends most of her time at home. To add on, if she were to protect this housing safety, she would need to have rights to vote for a politician that would best fit the qualifications. Fortunately, this was one of the major successes of this movement. In 1920, women were allowed the rights to vote, and prohibit any state or federal government from denying so. This comes to show that Progressivism was still a success since it was able to fulfill one of its goal of bringing better societal change.
However, there are oppositions to this fact that Progressivism succeeded. Some of such opposers that disagree with this view are people like Richard M. Abrams, author of “The Failure of Progressivism”. In his book, he states, “it failed also to stop the vigorous ascendancy of corporate capitalism, the most conspicuous challenge to conventional values and modes that the society faced at the beginning of the era”. Abram’s refers to Progressivism when he said it failed, arguing its inability to stop corporate capitalism, a problem that dated back from the beginning. Corporate capitalism indeed was a major problem during the beginning, however, it was definitely stopped in ways that didn't exist before all of this. Wynn, author of “From Progressivism to Prosperity” states an example of such, he states, “but the following year Henry Ford created an outcry from his fellow manufacturers and a riot among aspiring workers outside his plant when he introduced the five-dollar day”. One of this example that is stated by Wynn in this excerpt is better wages. Reformers of this movement were able to successfully push corporate capitalist like Henry Ford to pay workers better wages. This was a big improvement because before this movement, at average, workers would be paid $2 dollars, according to the New York Times. This event was unheard of because the average daily pay was three dollars short than what it was after. This act would lead to a bigger push in better social change because it led to other workers to protest. This became a starting point that triggered others businesses to do the same. Therefore, it would be wrong to say that the Progressive Era was a fail, and leave out the success achieved during this period. This era wasn’t a failure because there were many great successes such as labor rights.
In conclusion, the Progressive Era set out to create a better life in the U.S and it was able to carry out this goal. However, it didn’t perform the best due to some failures along the way. For example, W.E.B Du Bois expresses the need for better education for Blacks. Unfortunately, this issue did not have a major reform during this period. Nevertheless, there was success. For example, Jane Abrams expresses the need for women's rights. This in fact was was a major success because women were given the rights to vote in 1920. Therefore, it would be wrong to say that this movement was a total failure. Richard M. Abrams believes otherwise stating that the reason it was a failure because nothing was done to stop the corporate capitalist. Even though corporate capitalist was actually stopped by bringing better wages, it isn't reasonable to call a movement from some failures. To understand if this movement was a success, one needs to ask how things were like before, and how it impacted after. As stated woman received the right to vote, labor rights were introduced, and etc. These reforms didn’t happen before this movement, it all happened after. Ultimately, these changes accomplished the progressive goal of creating a better society.
Did Progressivism Fail or Success?. (2021, Apr 14). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/did-progressivism-fail-or-success-essay
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