The
first twenty years of the twentieth century are known in America today as the
progressive era. As Americans sought to bring change to their society, a variety
of reform began to gain momentum, such as the prohibition movement, feminist
movement, and several movements dedicated to diminishing the corruption and
power of large corporations. Both progressive reformers and the federal
government experienced a degree of success in the passage of laws enacting such
reforms – such as prohibition and women’s suffrage- however they were for the
most part unsuccessful in reforming in other areas such as racial equality and
child labor due to the influence of those who opposed them, such as corporations
and prevailing sentiments among whites.
Reformers
saw success as a result of their efforts in many of their campaigns. For instance,
the prohibition movement won ratification of the 18th amendment in 1919,
banning alcohol in all parts of the United States, completely accomplishing
their goal. The feminist movement saw success in their part as well, obtaining
a substantial victory with the passage of the 19th amendment,
winning nationwide women’s suffrage, despite significant resistance from
President Wilson (doc H). Reformers also won victories in the regulation of
food and drug quality with the passage of both the Meat Inspection Act, and the
Pure Food and Drug Act. The movement had gained significant support, including
that of the President, following the Neill-Reynolds Report in 1906, which
depicted the deplorable conditions in which meat was being packed (doc B).
Not
all reformers of the progressive era were successful however, many movements
made very little progressed, and others, despite initially experiencing success,
regressed. The civil rights movement was one of such movements, as can be
observed in the shock of African-American veterans of WWI. These soldiers
expected to return home to a hero’s welcome, instead they were greeted with
disdain as racism in the United States persisted unhampered (doc I). The
hostility experienced by these individuals accurately demonstrates the failure
of the efforts of the civil rights movement in that era, as equality was far
from obtained in American society. Even those movements who experienced success
had setbacks. The feminist movement was unable to accomplish many of their
goals that expanded farther than the 19th amendment. The passage of
this act, despite granting women suffrage, actually caused a decrease in voter
ship in the US, demonstrating its basic ineffectiveness on society at that
time. The prohibition movement too experienced significant defeat with the
repeal of the 18th amendment with the 21st amendment, effectively
nullifying their sufcess.
Many
Americans believed that the Federal Government was the only body who could effectively
instigate reform. Citizens elected President Roosevelt, a progressive, to do
so. Roosevelt acted to eliminate- as Luis Brandeis labeled them in his book- “bad
trusts”, whist acting to protect and stimulate “good trusts”, qualities which
they believed they could distinguish (doc A), by “trust busting”. President Wilson
also engaged in anti-monopoly reform. With his “New Freedom” policy, Wilson
passed the Clayton Anti-trust act in 1914, and strengthened the Sherman
anti-trust act, which had previously been relatively weak. The federal
government also had significant victories over corruption within itself. It instituted
the 17th amendment, requiring the direct election of senators,
reducing the hold of corporations and political “bosses” over the federal
government (doc D).
The
Government, much like the progressives was not completely successful, despite
it’s various achievements. Instances of failure to reform can be observed in
Herbert Croly’s sentiments in The New Republic that President Wilson, despite
presenting himself as a reformer, actually did very little in regards to reform.
The rest of the federal government can be observed in failure to reform as
well, as it did very little to inhibit child labor, and the efforts it did take
were often overturned, such as in Hammer v. Dagenhart (doc G). Efforts that did
not get overturned were often ineffective and under regulated, as the
government made very few efforts to enforce them, due to this, many children
were enlisted into the labor force at very young ages (doc C).
Overall,
during the first two decades of the 20th century, due to efforts of
reformers and the federal government, many various reforms were put into effect,
such as suffrage and prohibition. Neither institution however experienced
complete success, as both were largely (although not completely) unsuccessful in
reforming on behalf of child labor and racial equality. This mixture of success
and failure demonstrates the mixed effectiveness of both institutions.
