McGerr

Progressive reformers attempted to reshape American society in the new-made Nineteenth into the Twentieth Centuries. Three distinct beas, the Temperance cause, the Food and Drug Laws and the Child Labor Laws atomic number 18 contrasting but characteristic examples of the struggles, successes and failures that Progressives faced during this period. As with all complex movements consisting of disparate groups with at quantify contrasting points of view, it is difficult to generalize regarding this attempt at reconstruction. But the Progressives, for better or worse, did capture a profound effect upon American society that is still being felt today.McGerr mainly considers the actions of the middle social class as no other group advocated the full range of reformist positions as much as the middle class did (McGerr, 2005). This was n unity more than the case than within the Temperance movement. The temperance movement had quite a simple aim in mind. It sought to greatly reduce the amount of alcoholic beverage consumed, or, as was increasingly its aim, to ban alcohol entirely. The Movement started, at least during this period, with the Womens Christian Temperance Union, which accomplished the Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction in some schools and colleges throughout the country.There was a strictly rational and calculating method behind this attempt to convince young people of the evils of alcohol. Mary function (the National Superintendent) stated that people must first be convinced that alcohol and kindred narcotics are by nature outlaws, before they will outlaw them. The temperance movement was linked to the overall progressive movement through the fact that some(prenominal) drunken husbands beat their wives and families. Domestic violence was an example of the call out of womens rights, and so it was sensible for the progressive movement to support the temperance movement, even if some of the more religious and purely moralistic rea soning behind some temperance advocates were alien to them.The temperance movement was, at least temporarily highly successful. It is linked closely to the eventual passage of the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, which banned alcohol within America. The advocacy of temperance regarding alcohol had led to the prohibition of alcohol practiced as Hunt had forecast. The temperance movement is an excellent example of how idealism combined with a favourable degree of shrewd political pragmatism could bring about change.The fact that the 18th Amendment was short-lived and that alcohol consumption was merely drive underground rather than being stopped somewhat dampens any plead for long-lasting success for the movement however. Prohibition also led to the rise of organized crime in many cities, again not exactly on the Progressive agenda. Most of all, the United States consisted of people who generally did not want to ban alcohol consumption, however they had been temporarily pers uaded otherwise.In contrast to the temperance movement, one cause of the progressive movement, that of introducing stricter food and drug laws to the United States, has survived and even expanded into the modern day. As McGerr suggests, a single books such as Upton Sinclairs exposure of the disgusting, unsanitary practices at Chicago meat-packing plants led at least in part to the enactment of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the meat reassessment Act in 1906. These Acts were an example of how the progressive movement could call a purely capitalist clay to task and show that at least some degree of government intervention, oversight and even restrain was needed.A similar situation was seen within the babe labor laws, that were brought about after progressives exposed the loathly conditions that even very young children worked in. Exposing these conditions through written descriptions by excellent writers and, most powerfully, through sex act photographs of children at work, galva nized public support for changes in the law. Lewis Hines produced unforgettable pictures of children at work. They were unforgettable because they were so sad, and brought guilt to some all Americans who saw them.This element within the Progressive Movement unapologetically used emotion to achieve what McGerr states they were looking for, namely to change other people to end class conflict to control big trade. The Child Labor laws that were introduced were in part an attempt to alleviate the terrible conditions experienced by many children and also, in the long run, to give them a chance at gaining the education that would allow them to rise supra their low origins.Child Labor laws were thus part of the attempt bridge social gaps between the affluent and the poor through enabling the poor to rise and by punishing the rich for their more exploitatory practices. Essentially, they may be seen as part of the progressive agenda to make everyone middle class. Yet at a time again the re was a very practical element to the method that these groups used. The National Consumers League was organise in 1899 and the National Child Labor Committee in 1904, both stemming from the work of the Working Womens Societies.As with many progressive causes, movement towards actual change was at first slow and met with many failures before it finally succeeded. Federal regulations were declared unconstitutional in 1916, failed to become law in 1924 and ab initio in 1937. Finally, in 1938 the federal regulation of child labor was gained through the Fair Labor Standards Act. This come in a minimum age for employment and set maximum hours that children were to work within federal law. It took more than thirty years since the first societies were initially set up for the movement to succeed.However, child labor laws have been strengthened ever since this time and have now become an unchallenged part of the American landscape. In this sense the Progressive movement was ahead of its time, pushing American to live out its promises to its most conquerable citizens children. Once again, pragmatism mixed with idealism succeeded, and unlike the temperance movement, its results were permanent rather than temporary.To conclude, McGerr ends his book by saying that the basic lesson is that reformers should not try too much. Perhaps this can be adapt to say that reformers should pick their causes carefully and then try as much as possible. Having too wide of the mark a range of objectives may be self- frustrationing. But picking a cause, such as child labor, that most rational human beings would consider the progressives possess the correct ethical stance on, is a modal value of advancing the agenda successfully. At times, as is evidenced by the First World War and the defeat for the idea of government regulation that came from it, the progressive movement (as are all political movements) is influenced by matters beyond its control. The best laid plans may well come awry because of unforeseen or unpredictable circumstances. working CitedMcGerr, Michael. A Fierce Discontent The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920. Oxford University Press, London 2005.