American industrialization brought unprecedented prosperity and technological innovation. It widened the economic and social gap between the wealthy and the poor. It also led to capital monopoly. While the “Robber Barons” were dominating American railroad, steel, oil and financial industries, farmers lost their lands; industrial workers struggled for their lives with minimum wage, long working hours, uncontrollable inflation and unsafe working condition; African Americans in the South and Chinese Americans in the West were segregated; and American women across the country cried for their suffrage. These unsettled social problems motivated many pioneers to seek reforms. Populists and progressive reformers were born “to bring order to chaos, to bring efficiency to inefficiency, and to bring justice to injustice”.
The industrialization made the rich richer and the poor poorer. Monopolies increased the prices and lower laborers’ wages. Even people worked longer hours, they still couldn’t afford their necessities. The people in poverty had no choice but go on street making their voices to be heard. They were ignored and the country was in turmoil. William Jennings Bryan and Mary K. Lease stood up to the power and advocated for farmers and laborers. Bryan stressed that businessmen were not only the small group of wealthy elites in the cities in the east coast. Everyone was businessman and everyone deserved the share of the prosperity the country earned. He wanted the people to be aware that the money standard shouldn’t be decided by the bankers and it should be decided by the government. Mary K. Lease spoke up and sympathized for the farmers. She criticized the government of merely standing by the Wall Street instead of the people. She pointed out the economic inequality the country were having. On one side, the wealthy said overproduction; on the other side, the poor were starving. The People’s party addressed the problems the country was facing. They pushed the government to make reforms of tax, election and working hours. The Party did not achieve its goals. But the Party helped people’s voices to be heard and made historical political progress.
The progressive reformers grew out of the Populist movement. The triangle fire in 1911 was a turning point for social reforms. In the fire, 71 workers were injured and 146 had died. However, the business owner only got little punishment. 5 The country pushed reforms for gender equality, racial justice, regulated working condition and less working hours. President Roosevelt recognized that not all big Trusts were bad. He played a mediator between the rich and the poor. He used his moral judgement to make regulations of the monopoly corporations. 6 While the workers in the north were fighting for their working conditions, African Americans in the
South were living under the fear of Jim Crow’s law and were racially segregated. Racial violence and lynching happened with minor cause. Ida B. Wells-Barnett launched anti-lynching campaign. Booker T. Washington was pragmatic and he envisioned that African Americans could accomplish economic independence through education and compromise. W.E.B. Du Bois was more confrontational and he encouraged African Americans to achieve full suffrage and equal civil rights. 7 Female activists emerged to fight for their suffrage. Jane Adams became a fame by campaigning for social reforms and women’s rights.
A variety of methods were utilized by populists and progressive reformers to promote their social reforms. Public demonstrations and rallies were organized to put pressure on lawmakers. Media were utilized to raise people’s awareness of the social problems. Women protested silently in front of the white house for their suffrage. The rich was aware of the necessity of reforms. Their voices could not be ignored anymore. The progressive era saw the social progress for the better.
In conclusion, populists and progressive reformers were morally motivated to create a more ordered, more efficient and more just society for people. The economic, social and political inequality created in the Guild Age eroded the democracy America was established on. They utilized a variety of methods to win the democracy back for people. Their legacy greatly influenced American society.
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