Triangle By David Von Drehle: Summary

The progressive movement was carried on the backs of middle-class citizens. These were people who were white-collar professionals, usually women deeply rooted in Christianity. The Progressive movement supported things like: scientific efficiency, political and economic reform, and social/civil justice for the working class. In his book, Triangle, David Von Drehle walks the reader through a detailed journey of New York City in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Conveniently, it is not long before we begin to see how the progressive movement in New York was formed. Once the pieces begin to be laid out, we can really grasp the idea that the political “machine” was the catalyst that inadvertently paved the way for the rise of progressivism. When we look at the rise of progressivism in New York City, we will notice the “machine’s” abuse of the working-class, progressives forming to salvage what ethics America had left, and the politicians eventual cave to the demands of progressivism. The political “machine” in New York, otherwise known as Tammany Hall, was known for being pervert, and doing whatever they thought necessary in order to get what they wanted while keeping all of the power. It was largely comprised of business …show more content…
They became too powerful for themselves and refused to aid their hurting working class, and this gave the people and the progressives something to relate over. It gave the fuel to fight. If business owners had taken even the slightest care in their workers, we may have not seen the progressive movement till a long time later. In the end, the “machine” still held a lot of power, but it was at the expense of much of its pride and decision making ability. The Progressive movement was the first time in the Industrial Era that we begin to see major representation and power from the people. It is to thank for many of the constitutional freedoms we have