Populists and
Progressives
The American Reform Tradition
Main Ideas
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Populists and Progressives were part of
longer tradition of reform
Tradition of association – Tocqueville
Shared belief that humans could understand
and change society for the better
Reform could take many shapes, small “p”
progressive, radical, and right-wing
Different methods and goals of reform efforts
Tradition of Association and
Reform
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Populists and Progressives were part of
much longer tradition of American association
and reform
Tocqueville: Americans associate, form
groups for common interests, more than
Europeans
Previous reform movements: abolition,
women’s rights, utopian settlements, labor,
temperance, socialists
Populists, 1880s and 1890s
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Primarily midwestern and southern farmers
Built on tradition of farmer-labor reform
Built on yeoman tradition, republican beliefs
Previous or overlapping groups formed basis for
local PP support : the Grange, Farmers Alliance,
both worked for farmers’ interests
Like Henry George and Knights of Labor, believed
producers were rightful beneficiaries of economy:
“Wealth belongs to him who creates it” (1892 PPP)
Populists defended the
producers – workers and
farmers against “the
moneyed classes”
They criticized the negative
aspects of the new industrial
economy
They celebrated past
economy of small
producers, people who
maintained independence
Populist Beliefs and Reforms
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Document, People’s Party Platform, 1892:
Problem: Grievances against railroads (unfair rates
for shipping crops, monopoly)
Reform: nationalize railroads, “owned and operated
by the government in the interest of the people”
Problem: Eastern banking interests (controlled govt.
and politcal parties, farmers’ debts to buy farms,
seeds, supplies)
Reform: coin silver money, expand money supply,
cause deflation, make it easier to pay off debts
Reform: graduated income tax; tax wealthy to pay for
projects to benefit producers
William Jennings Bryan –
People’s Party/Democratic
Party Presidential Candidate
“Cross of Gold” speech
(transcript and audio)
Populist Beliefs and Reforms
(continued)
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Problem: Lack of political power to get what they
wanted b/c of corruption and established parties
Reforms: civil service reform, secret ballot, initiative
and referendum to more easily pass popular
legislation, one-term limit for Pres. and VP, election
of Senators, formed own third-party
Problem: low wages and competition for land and
jobs
Reform: support unions, 8-hour day, restrict
immigration, restrict alien ownership of land
Problem: Boom and bust economy, price
fluctuations of crops on world market
Reform: build cooperative or govt. crop storage –
crops could be stored until prices rose
Impact of Populists
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Many of the reforms they advocated eventually
became law
A major factor in local, state, and national politics –
elected representatives on every level
Failed Presidential bids – W.J. Bryan
Political apparatus and ideals co-opted by
Democrats – lost to Republicans in 1896, dooming
Populist Party
Major impact: kept small “r” republican tradition (“the
producers”) alive and strong in American reform
tradition
Both radical and exclusionary aspects – uniters and
dividers
The Progressives, 1900s-1920s
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Many diff. varieties of reform, hard to lump
together
Ranged across political spectrum from left to
right, socialist to nativist
Sometimes overlapping in same individuals
or groups
Tackled some of the biggest problems in
American life: the Labor Question, Big
Business, Immigration, Racial Inequality,
Women’s Rights, Urban problems
Varieties of Reform
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Anti-monopoly: anti-trust laws, T.Roosevelt,
muckraker journalism to expose trusts
Pro-labor: support for unions, workman’s comp.,
safety in workplace
Pro-immigrant: Hull House, unions, pro-citizenship
Anti-immigrant: Immigration Restriction, 1924
Women’s rights: suffrage (19th Amend.), higher
wages for women workers, protecting women
workers – arguments for equality and difference,
deserved protection b/c diff. than men)
Varieties of Reform
(continued)
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African American Civil Rights
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Anti-lynching: Ida B. Wells, journalism, political
pressure
W.E.B. DuBois: talented tenth will lead way, prove
equality
NAACP founded in 1909 – political equality
Booker T. Washington: start with lower-skilled
trades and jobs to earn a living, gain respect,
before fighting for political rights or equality
Varieties of Reform
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Political and government reform
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democratic – referendum, initiative, direct election
of Senators (17th Amend., 1912)
undemocratic – usually based on distrust of
people or racism
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Plessy vs. Ferguson, 1896, upheld Jim Crow,
separate and unequal public accommodations
Successful efforts to take away black vote: poll tax,
literacy tests, grandfather clauses
city managers – experts should run cities (unelected)
Varieties of Reform
(continued)
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Conservation Movement: against waste of natural
resources; national parks; preservation of wild areas
for production of masculine males
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Gifford Pinchot, conservationist: management of federal
lands for “the greatest good of the greatest number in the
long run” – managed use
John Muir, preservationist: preserve wild areas
T.Roosevelt, tended towards conservation, but also added
National Parks and wild areas to fed. lands
All of them were opposed by those who believed that
unused lands were wasted and that fed. govt. shouldn’t
control lands
Long-range Impact of Reform
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Populists and many Progressives called for
increased fed. govt. involvement in economy
WWI needs reaffirmed fed. govt. power
Many Progressive ideas became part of New
Deal
Section, race, class, and gender, divided and
weakened reform movements
Major Events and Issues of
Progressive Era
Video Links
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PBS, American Experience, Triangle Fire
HBO, Triangle: Remembering the Fire, March
21, 2011
YouTube Triangle Fire Documentary
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, NYC,
March 25, 1911
Web
Link
Cornell
Site:
Garment
Work
and
Protest
Before
Fire
146 NYC garment workers, mostly young women, died during fire at the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory
Many women jumped from windows when they could not escape through locked
fire escapes.
NYC morgue was too small to hold all of the victims, so temporary morgue was
set up at a city pier. Family filed past victims to identify them.
Critics and Reformers
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What kind of
problems needed to
be solved?
Workplace safety
Immigrant rights
Women’s rights
Labor rights
Political reform
Economic system
Progressive Reform &
the Triangle Fire
From
To
1909 ILGWU Strikers
Difference?
Post-Fire Investigations
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, 1911
New Deal-era mural commemorating the Triangle Fire and victims –
connection between Progressive and New Deal issues and reform efforts
History of the Needlecraft Industry (1938), by Ernest Feeney, High School of
Fashion and Industry. A mural commissioned by the International Ladies
Garment Workers Union (ILGW)
Videos
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Stephen Colbert, Taco Bell Beef – The
Jungle