The Progressive Reform

Progressivism is the political orientation of those who want and strive for better conditions in government and society progressivism is a way that people thought would make things better for everyone. As the reform became increasingly popular at the state and eventually at the federal level the relationships between the government and the citizenry became increasingly difficult. The decade of the 1890s was filled with problems that needed attention. The war between capital and labor was filled with so much violence and property damage, a situation that went well into the 20th century. The progressive reformers did not fix everything, because they didn’t have all the resources to do so. Today few Americans would claim that this country …show more content…
For example in our book it states. “stressed the importance of introducing messy housekeepers to the pleasures of a cherry, well-ordered home. Unable to see slum problems from the vantage point of the poor, they failed, for the most part, in their underlying objective: to convert the poor to their own standards of morality and decorum.” (The enduring vision, 1865) That’s why there were a lot of problems between the citizens and the government because the government wanted to change things for the better they wanted to make things better so that the poor would have more ability to have better lives. The citizens thought that the government was betraying them and letting them down and trying to control them they thought they were trying to mold …show more content…
“Protection of the public through such measures as the Pure Food and drug act and the Inspection Act were cornerstones of Roosevelt’s presidential progressivism”. (The enduring vision, 1865) Taft Roosevelt was angry by what he thought was betrayal by his successor so he and his divine supporters formed the “Bull Moose (Progressive)” party in 1912, Republicans were divided and the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson won the election. “TR spelled out what Progressivism might mean for America. Progressivism meant moving beyond the “shopworn” protection of individual rights, especially property rights. Because these rights were grounded in a permanent view of human nature as essentially self-interested, Roosevelt concluded that the whole idea of natural rights was scientifically wrong and morally obsolete. Roosevelt’s goal was to move Americans beyond purely legal justice toward a higher, more “ethical” justice where citizens thought less about their individual rights and more about rights developed in duty.” (Yarbrough, 2012) TR sought to make things better for everyone he was a firm believer in the manly virtues and urged everyone to fight for the