Roosevelt and Square Deal
When we are reading about progressive era ideas of it don’t sound so progressive from today's perspective. Social rights, availability of good food, medicine and public education is something that we were born with, rights that we received naturally. However, it wasn't always like this. Despite Civil War white men still owed supremacy.Industrial revolution increased gap between social classes too.Businessmen only thought about increasing their income and the way they would achieve this by lowering workers payments and making them work in harsh conditions. It made some people extremely rich and other very poor with no rights.Ideas of progressive era are well explained by Roosevelt, who incorporated his:” idealistic view of labor, citizenship, parenthood, and Christian ethics” into the phrase square deal.The idea of peaceful coexistence between business and workers was also relatively new.Under Roosevelt USA government for the first time started to successfully resolve problems between large corporations and workers.In United Mine Workers’ strike for example he made both sides to agree and come to consensus. This president also encouraged workers to gather in Unions and gain their rights in peaceful way through legislative system. In general, square deal meant establishing of the new system of interaction between workers and large businesses which involved: “ conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection.”
Sources:
1)Boundless. “The Square Deal.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014. Retrieved 01 Apr. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-progressive-era-1890-1917-22/roosevelt-s-progressivism-171/the-square-deal-935-1243/
2) “Square Deal”, U.S. history, encyclopedia Britannica.
Sources:
1)Boundless. “The Square Deal.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014. Retrieved 01 Apr. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-progressive-era-1890-1917-22/roosevelt-s-progressivism-171/the-square-deal-935-1243/
2) “Square Deal”, U.S. history, encyclopedia Britannica.
Women suffrage movement during progressive era
One of the important aspects of progressive era was women rights movement. Women had less rights than Afro-Americans at that time. However, bright fighters that advocated to Constitution that according to them gave women equal rights. According to the Library of Congress’ article on women suffrage, “Susan B. Anthony, a strong and outspoken advocate of women's rights, demanded that the Fourteenth Amendment include a guarantee of the vote for women as well as for African-American males.” Unfortunately, nobody really thought about women rights at that time. If oppression of Afro-Americans seemed to be something wrong oppression of women seemed to be natural for men and for a lot of women too. According to the same article number of working women from 1880 to 1910 increased from 2.6 to 7.8 million which meant increasing of their role in society. However, with increasing of their role their rights remained the same. Of course, these women wanted rights to have their own money and property. One of the main ways to get freedoms that they wanted was through voting that is why so many women were advocating for the right to vote. This is how Miriam Cohen writes about increasing role of women in society: “By emphasizing traditional traits, female social reformers between 1890 and World War I created new spaces for themselves in local and then national government even before they had the right to vote. “ Women tried to get their rights by striking too. There were a lot of clubs and organizations that often held demonstrations like the one we see on the picture of the members of the National Woman's Party picketing the White House.
Sources:
1) Photo - Members of the National Woman's Party picket the White House,Library of Congress,
2) Women Suffrage in the Progressive Era - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/progress/suffrage/
3) Cohen, Miriam. "Women and the Progressive Movement." Women and the Progressive Movement. Web. 26 Mar. 2015. <https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/politics-reform/essays/women-and-progressive-movement>.
Letter to the Editor supporting progressive reforms
Dear Editor,
Era of industrialization was a huge breakthrough in the American history. Our society was dealing with huge changes. Firstly, let’s figure out what problems we had and why did we need reforms so badly. This is how Britannica encyclopedia describes economy in that period: “the extreme concentration of wealth among a tiny elite and the enormous economic and political power of the giant trusts, which they saw as uncontrolled and irresponsible. “ Result of this was that small amount of people represented by trusts controlled whole economy. They controlled the government using their wealth too. Rights of ordinary Americans were taken away (Britannica encyclopedia): “growing corporate power threatened the freedom of individuals to earn a living. “ We also met with horrible problem of child labor. Lewis Hine and numerous other photographers made series of pictures dedicated to this topic. One of the pictures we see below: girl age of 5-6 works on the factory. Most of these kids were illiterate. It means that new generation of educated people could not be raised and therefore needs of the industrialization cannot be sustained. This is the list of challenges that we faced according to George Washington University: “poverty, violence, greed, racism, class warfare”. Society was in huge depression and we definitely needed progressive reforms. They seemed progressive at that time but right now without them modern civilized world would be just another place. Here are some solutions that progressives suggested: providing good education, a safe environment, and an efficient workplace. We can easily see that the reforms worked in today's society. Workers gained much better working conditions, child labor was prohibited, public education is providing millions of new student to be useful and efficient citizens. Some of other effects are direct election, establishing of Unions and higher wages for workers. This is only a short list of things that we should be thankful to progressive reforms due to which our society is so successful and functional.
Sources:
1) progressivism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 30 мар. 2015
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1948808/progressivism/313424/Goals-of-progressivism>.
2) Hine, Lewis. Child Laborer. 1908. National Archives, n.p.
3) "The Progressive Era (1890 - 1920)." The Progressive Era (1890 - 1920). George Washington University, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Era of industrialization was a huge breakthrough in the American history. Our society was dealing with huge changes. Firstly, let’s figure out what problems we had and why did we need reforms so badly. This is how Britannica encyclopedia describes economy in that period: “the extreme concentration of wealth among a tiny elite and the enormous economic and political power of the giant trusts, which they saw as uncontrolled and irresponsible. “ Result of this was that small amount of people represented by trusts controlled whole economy. They controlled the government using their wealth too. Rights of ordinary Americans were taken away (Britannica encyclopedia): “growing corporate power threatened the freedom of individuals to earn a living. “ We also met with horrible problem of child labor. Lewis Hine and numerous other photographers made series of pictures dedicated to this topic. One of the pictures we see below: girl age of 5-6 works on the factory. Most of these kids were illiterate. It means that new generation of educated people could not be raised and therefore needs of the industrialization cannot be sustained. This is the list of challenges that we faced according to George Washington University: “poverty, violence, greed, racism, class warfare”. Society was in huge depression and we definitely needed progressive reforms. They seemed progressive at that time but right now without them modern civilized world would be just another place. Here are some solutions that progressives suggested: providing good education, a safe environment, and an efficient workplace. We can easily see that the reforms worked in today's society. Workers gained much better working conditions, child labor was prohibited, public education is providing millions of new student to be useful and efficient citizens. Some of other effects are direct election, establishing of Unions and higher wages for workers. This is only a short list of things that we should be thankful to progressive reforms due to which our society is so successful and functional.
Sources:
1) progressivism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 30 мар. 2015
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1948808/progressivism/313424/Goals-of-progressivism>.
2) Hine, Lewis. Child Laborer. 1908. National Archives, n.p.
3) "The Progressive Era (1890 - 1920)." The Progressive Era (1890 - 1920). George Washington University, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Letter arguing progressive reforms
Dear Editor,
Progressives used federal government for their needs and ideas. Thanks to progressives federal government started to get involved in everyday lives of people in the USA. There are a lot of good ideas that were established thanks to progressives like public education and Federal Reserve system. However, tools which progressives used lead to increasing of role that federal government plays in our lives. We see that right now government thinks that it has authority to interfere in every social problem. This is how director of American studies constitution in the Heritage center explains it: “ As the Progressive movement developed, it moved away from its first phase and openly advocated centralized bureaucracies as the real answer to political problems. “ Federal involvement lead to increasing of money spend on the government. Number of government workers increasing every one-two years, because of progressive need to deal with more and more problems (see graph below). Definitely Progressive movement is responsible for growing huge government which means more of our taxes go to pay for politics machine.
Sources:
1) Ryan, Paul. "Paul Ryan, Anti-Progressive." Daily Signal. 12 Apr. 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. <http://dailysignal.com/2010/04/12/paul-ryan-anti-progressive/>.
2) Political cartoon demonstrating Progressivism. Digital image. National Archives. N.p., n.d. Web.http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/election-cartoons/activities.html
3) Photo - US Bureau of Census plus author's calculations.
Progressives used federal government for their needs and ideas. Thanks to progressives federal government started to get involved in everyday lives of people in the USA. There are a lot of good ideas that were established thanks to progressives like public education and Federal Reserve system. However, tools which progressives used lead to increasing of role that federal government plays in our lives. We see that right now government thinks that it has authority to interfere in every social problem. This is how director of American studies constitution in the Heritage center explains it: “ As the Progressive movement developed, it moved away from its first phase and openly advocated centralized bureaucracies as the real answer to political problems. “ Federal involvement lead to increasing of money spend on the government. Number of government workers increasing every one-two years, because of progressive need to deal with more and more problems (see graph below). Definitely Progressive movement is responsible for growing huge government which means more of our taxes go to pay for politics machine.
Sources:
1) Ryan, Paul. "Paul Ryan, Anti-Progressive." Daily Signal. 12 Apr. 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. <http://dailysignal.com/2010/04/12/paul-ryan-anti-progressive/>.
2) Political cartoon demonstrating Progressivism. Digital image. National Archives. N.p., n.d. Web.http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/election-cartoons/activities.html
3) Photo - US Bureau of Census plus author's calculations.
Ultimately, what progressive reform do you think had the most impact on America and why?
Of course, all progressive reforms had big impact on US. I think that investing in public education had the biggest impact on America. A quote from John Adams follows: "The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves." It is hard to list all advantages that public education gives us. At first it means equal opportunity for everyone to succeed in life. Public education is free and nowadays if the person willing to learn and work hard it opens up huge opportunities for them no matter their background. Percentage of illiterate people hugely decreased thanks to progressives too. According to National center for education statistics in 1870 20 % of population were illiterate, while it was 3% in 1940. People started to get more knowledge and skills which made them successful in society. Since then US became one of the biggest brain centers on the planet. There are constantly developing new technologies and innovations in numerous of research centers. It made of the biggest impact on the economy, because as we see one of the biggest and richest corporations - are hi-tech companies like Microsoft or Apple (Forbes list) . To support argument that public education is extremely important in economy I will use quote of Bill Gates one of the richest person in the world: “a high-quality education is key to economic prosperity for all of our people -- and for us as a nation.”
Sources: 1) “Chapter 1 of 120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrait (Edited by Tom Snyder, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993)”, National center of education.
2) "The World's Biggest Public Companies." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
3)Gates, Bill. "The U.S. Economy and Public Education." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Sources: 1) “Chapter 1 of 120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrait (Edited by Tom Snyder, National Center for Education Statistics, 1993)”, National center of education.
2) "The World's Biggest Public Companies." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
3)Gates, Bill. "The U.S. Economy and Public Education." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.