The Progressive Movement Analysis

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The early 1900s was an era of development and change throughout the United States. This development was seen throughout multiple avenues such as the following; poor quality of housing, child labor, ride of sickness, maintenance of the cities, and poor working conditions (Zeide, 10/21/16). The Progressive movement was a crusade that was very controversial towards the approach necessary in order to properly attack these movements. By reading the documents by Debs, Du Bois, and Sinclair the reader can achieve a better comprehension towards the broader picture of progressivism, a better understanding towards the reasoning behind Deb’s ideology that socialism was the best approach towards issues at hand, and a comparison between the views of Booker …show more content…
These readings help to provide a broader perspective concerning the difference of opinions shown amongst people with a major political and social stance. Progressivism, by definition, was a response to changes in the U.S society (Zeide, 10/21/16 Lecture). This included areas such as immigration, urbanization, growth of corporate power, and the widening of divisions between social classes (Zeide, 10/21/16). There was a large mixture of social groups that was a part of the progressive movement. With the variety of social groups, came a variety of opinions of right and wrong. This is clearly seen throughout the documents by Debs, Du Bois, and Sinclair. Both sides of the debate, Democratic and Republican, had convincing arguments as to why they were the better political party and ideology for this time and both showed beneficial attributes. The issue amongst each were that the common man’s interest was not seen throughout either …show more content…
Washington. Du Bois felt as though, eventually, all races that were presently inferior would become equivalent to better perceived races. He felt as though Booker T. Washington allusively hinted towards the fact that the black races would inevitably see no signs of progression (W.E.B Du Bois, 1903). Washington believed that the black race should, presently, give up on the ideology of political power, civil rights, and education. He felt that the energy being put towards these issues would be better benefited if put towards issues such as industrial education, wealth, and conciliation of the South (W.E.B Du Bois, 1903). Although he stated the fact the he felt it would be more appropriate to transfer efforts to these areas, Washington was adamant towards speaking out for his race on serious matters such as lynching and other unconstitutional behavior. Du Bois validates a few of Washington’s ideologies, but mainly states his disapproval towards Washington’s stance in terms of ignoring major issues. He felt as though Washington did not thoroughly defend the rights of African Americans, and that Washington was too passive when it came to dealing with