Chapter in Perspective

In many ways, this chapter serves as a key pivot point. Previous chapters have charted changes brought about by industrialization and urbanization that severely strained the political order. It was the wrenching depression of 1893 that galvanized Progressivism, the first national reform movement. In contrast to Populism, Progressivism began in the industrial cities, where the nation's problems were most evident. It was first promoted by middle-class reformers who sought to apply expertise, professionalism, and the force of law to the many problems of the new industrial society. Unlike earlier reformers, they trusted government. In a pattern typical of twentieth-century liberal reform, progressives used government as an instrument of change and an agent of the public interest. The modern liberal state --active and interventionist-- emerged.