Who were the Progressives?: readings 

Machine generated contents note: PART ONE Introduction 1

Responding to the Challenges of the Progressive Era 3

An Overview of the Progressive Era 3

Historians Ask, "Who Were the Progressives?" 18

PART TWO Some Current Questions 25

1. Do we find the roots of Progressivism in the cities

or on the farms? 27

Richard Hofstadter

From The Status Revolution and Progressive Leaders 27

"The ferment of the Progressive era was urban, middle-class,

and nationwide."

Elizabeth Sanders

Agrarian Politics and Parties after 1896 43

"[M] ost of the national legislative fruits of the Progressive Era

had their unmistakable origins in the agrarian movements of

the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s."

2. How much influence did middle-class businessmen

have on the Progressive agenda? 77

Robert H. Wiebe

Progressivism Arrives 77

"The heart of progressivism was the ambition of the new middle

class to fulfill its destiny through bureaucratic means."

Richard L. McCormick

The Discovery That Business Corrupts Politics:

A Reappraisal of the Origins of Progressivism 103

"Actually, progressive reform was not characterized by

remarkable rationality or foresight; nor were the

'organizers' always at the forefront of the movement."

3. How do class and ethnicity complicate our conception

of the Progressives? 141

Shelton Stromquist

The Crucible of Class: Cleveland Politics and the Origins

of Municipal Reform in the Progressive Era 141

"It is my argument that progressive reform at the municipal

level congealed in a crucible of class polarization and conflict."

James J. Connolly

From The Dimensions of Progressivism 169

"[M] any ethnic leaders found in Progressivism and its assault

on city politics a formula with which to pursue their own ends."

4. How did gender affect Progressivism, and which women

became Progressives? 193

Maureen A. Flanagan

Gender and Urban Political Reform: The City Club

and the Woman's City Club of Chicago in the

Progressive Era 193

"Most works on Progressive Era politics and reform concentrate

on men, ignoring women's roles, viewing them only as partners

with their husbands or assigning them to the periphery of

charity and church work."

Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore

Diplomatic Women 221

"Black women fought back after disfranchisement by adapting

progressive programs to their own purposes, even while they

chose tactics that left them invisible in the political process.".