7) Thursday, February 8. The Progressive Psyche

Story Line: Progressivism is an important moment in the history of liberalism. The Progressives' third party (1912-16) is part of a much larger story. What characterized progressives was their belief in "progress": they had deep Protestant convictions, fought poverty, preached a pragmatic philosophy, and advanced policy proposals towards regulation; they also wanted to insure "progress" by protecting the (white) race. Review Questions for Discussion IV   [Lecture 6] Outline [Lecture 8]

Readings for lecture 7 Document Number: DJ2306200102 John Dewey, My Pedagogical Creed, 1897 Country Life Commission, 1910 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Two Dissenting Opinions, Lochner v. New York, 1904 Abrams v. United States, 1919 Louis Brandeis, The Curse of Bigness, 1915 Edward Ross, Standing Room Only, 1927 Margaret Sanger, My Fight for Birth Control, 1931

Images for lecture 7: Dens of Death, New York City Kneepants-at 45 Cents a Dozen Five Cents a Spot Poverty Map Exposed Plumbing Bottom of Air Shaft

Introduction: What is Progressivism?

• Richard Hofstadter's The Age of Reform

I. The Rise of the Regulatory State or Implementing Countervailing Powers

• ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission), Sherman Antitrust Act
• Upton Sinclair, Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act "rule of reason"
• Clayton act, Federal Trade Commission, Louis Brandeis
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Frederick Winslow Taylor
• cultural pluralism

II. The Wisconsin Idea

• Walter Rauschenbusch, Josiah Strong, Richard Ely
• John R. Commons, Governor La Follette
• American Association for Labor Legislation
• National Civic Federation

III. Local Governments and Science. Housing Reform (pictorial interlude)

• Jacob Riis, Robert DeForest, Lawrence Veiller

IV. Science and Education

• Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
• John Dewey's How We Think (1910)

V. Protecting Workers

• Henry Carter Adams, Lochner v. New York, Oliver Wendell Holmes

VI. Passing Protective Legislation and the Vote for Women

• Muller v. Oregon, Josephine Goldmark, Lester Ward
• Alice Paul's National Woman's Party, 1919
• Ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920

VII. Social Control and Scientific Racialism

• Margaret Sanger, Family Limitation (1914), What Every Mother Should Know (1917)
• Edward Ross, The Old World in the New (1914)

Conclusion: The Progressive Project

• a "via media" between laissez-faire and socialism

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