Populism And The Progressive Movement

The progressive movement from 1900-1920 was an extension of the Populist movement in the late nineteenth century because they not only had success in reforms that the Populists worked on but also extended the Populist reforms to encompass more social reform rather than mainly economical and political. The Populist movement’s main goal was economic reform through better conditions, hours, and pay for workers, regulation of trusts, namely the railroad and communication ones, and a graduated income tax. The progressive movement sought after all of those reforms but also for women's suffrage, African American equality, and better conditions for urban lower class among other reforms. The progressive movement worked towards not only economic and political reforms as the Populist movement did, but also social reforms.
During the late nineteenth century …show more content…
They formed the Populist, or People’s, Party that ran in the election of 1892 and 1896. A few years before the Populist party was formed, a labor Union known as the Knights of Labor published the Declaration of Principles of the Great and Growing Order or Workingmen, which summarized the effect that trusts had on workers and the goals they aimed to achieve such as health and safety measures, a graduated income tax, and an eight hour working day (Doc 1). These goals were also shared with the Populist movement and the progressive movement. During the Progressive Era, the fight for better working conditions continued and people still held strikes and formed unions to try to fix it, such as the Ladies Tailors Pickets who went on strike for better working conditions (Doc 6). Factory and railroad workers worked long days with little pay and unsafe conditions which led to people wanting better quality of work. Trusts and monopolies owned the markets which led to little competition available and no way for small businesses to stay open. A political cartoon by W. R. Hearst depicts