A Triumph of Conservatism Rather Than a Victory for Liberalism

The Progressive movement was not an overhaul or great change in policy in the United States. Rather, its reformers only adjusted the social, political, and economics aspects in the United States by using the already set ideas of previous movements; this is why the Progressive movement was more conservative than liberal.

Changes in society included reforms on immigration, control of the growing urban populations, and on alcohol and drugs. These reforms were not new changes though; they were just more heavily imposed social standards. Immigration changes were not something new, such legislation had already occurred with such acts like the Chinese exclusion act. These reforms were brought about because of the well-known thought that immigrants "stole" jobs away from Americans. Progressives controlled the new urban population through censorship (which first started in Chicago with the first censorship board). This supported the idea that many upper class members of society had of controlling/monitoring the lower class (which arose in the gilded age). The fight against alcohol started to grow greatly after the 1830's. When the 19th amendment was passed to attempt to deal with the rising populations in cities and crime, the Progressives were just accomplishing the goal of a century ago. Each of these social reforms were built upon the views that many people in society had had since before the civil war.

Reforms in the political sphere were focused on the polls and public offices and were meant to make politics less corrupt and more democratic. First of all the Progressives did not change the government system set in place. The secret ballot arose to prevent corruption and rigging of elections. This greatly changed the way voting had been done, but was not unheard of. The Progressives gave people more power also. The passing of the initiative, referendum and recall policy allowed voters to urge legislature to view a proposed bill, enact bills, or remove public officials form office. The idea of giving the people the power to control parts of the government was an idea of the Founding Fathers. The 17th amendment prevented any spoils system and a more democratic system. The spoils system was something that was fought from the first time it was coined as a phrase in the 1830's.The Pendleton Civil Service