Throughout its existence America has been called a country of Equality, Liberty, Rights for All, Democracy and of course Opportunity. In our infancy people of all origins flocked to America in hopes of obtaining these ideals stated in our declaration. Even today, many still hope to relocate in order to have their chance at a slice of the American dream. However, those siding with the Progressive movement of the early 20th century disagreed and thought that America still had plenty of room for improvement before these ideals could be fully lived up to. I have to agree with many of the progressives’ views when considering this point in history. If you look to the racial divide, political corruption, and wealth inequality present in America from
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Many who were involved in crafting and signing the declaration had great hopes for a democracy truly and equally run by the people. However, instead of being a fair representation of the people, politics turned into a business. During the start of the 20th century bribery of public officials was a commonplace occurrence. If you wanted to be a teacher in Philadelphia you would end up paying the political machine $120 of the first $141 you earned just to secure the position (“The Progressives Respond” 224). As muckraker David Graham Phillips said during the early 1900s “the senators are not elected by the people, they are elected by the “interests””. Big businesses would fund political candidate’s election and in return the candidate would vote in the businesses favor instead of the people 's. For most of America’s earliest political history each party would print ballots in their own color which made the voters’ choice apparent to all. It wasn’t until progressives pushed for reform that the secret ballot was introduced providing more privacy and safety to voters. Looking at the way politics were run it’s hard to say America was truly living up to its’ ideal of
Many who were involved in crafting and signing the declaration had great hopes for a democracy truly and equally run by the people. However, instead of being a fair representation of the people, politics turned into a business. During the start of the 20th century bribery of public officials was a commonplace occurrence. If you wanted to be a teacher in Philadelphia you would end up paying the political machine $120 of the first $141 you earned just to secure the position (“The Progressives Respond” 224). As muckraker David Graham Phillips said during the early 1900s “the senators are not elected by the people, they are elected by the “interests””. Big businesses would fund political candidate’s election and in return the candidate would vote in the businesses favor instead of the people 's. For most of America’s earliest political history each party would print ballots in their own color which made the voters’ choice apparent to all. It wasn’t until progressives pushed for reform that the secret ballot was introduced providing more privacy and safety to voters. Looking at the way politics were run it’s hard to say America was truly living up to its’ ideal of