American Political History The Progressive Movement, The New Deal, and the Great Society

The years 1895-1920 basically encompass what was known as the Progressive Movement in American political history. Changing socio-economic and political trends were responsible for the Movement. Increasing urbanization, industrialization, and immigration created a demographic shift from rural to urban areas. Along with this shift, urban Americans lost a great deal of influence over national politics and the economy. This gave rise to the Progressive Movement, a movement that Burson (2002) argues was "two different power groups, with differing views of what the role of government should be, fighting it out in the political arena" (6).

The progressives, as they were known, associated themselves with reform and traditional American values, mainly Protestant, Northern European values. This group was basically in the minority in many cases, but its members were old-stock, upper and upper-middle class Americans with enormous economic clout. The progressives pitted themselves against the Democrats who were labeled the "Machine", because of their tendency in the eyes of Progressives to spend money where it would manufacture the most votes. The Progressives billed themselves as "Reformers", but in reality the reform was a veiled attack on what they believed was increasing control of the government and economy by immigrants and the lower classes. We can see that progres