Historians writing during the progressive era depicted progressivism as progressives themselves did: and idealistic, democratic crusade of the "good people" against the "bad interests" to curb big business, fight political corruption, and promote social justice. A later generation of historians, examining individual progressives, concluded that their motives were far less idealistic. They found progressives to be a small group of once-powerful, upper-middle-class families of merchants, clergy, and landholders anxious to regain the status and power they had lost to rising industrialists, corporate executives, and urban political bosses.

To explain the often strong support of business for many progressive reforms, historians of the New Left have portrayed progressivism as the triumph of conservatism, whose aim it was to protect corporations from stricter regulation and competition. Still others have looked at progressivism as a widespread effort by the new middle class of professionals, business leaders, and others to secure their power by bringing order and efficiency to the new industrial economy.

Historians with interests in women, consumers, and African Americans have all found in progressivism an opportunity for these groups to advance their separate, sometimes conflicting goals. Perhaps the most useful interpretation comes from those historians who see progressivism as part of the broad process of adjustment to the new industrial order. They emphasize the weakening of political parties and the growing influence of interest groups of workers, industrialists, consumers, and others who campaigned for the reforms they wanted.

1			Scholars have had a very difficult time defining Progressivism. For example, many scholars have depicted both Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson as Progressives. Read these speeches from both men. Do they reveal any common ideological ground between these leaders? Are their significant differences between their ideals and/or their proposed methods for achieving their goals? If possible, delineate a definition of Progressivism that incorporates both men's ideologies. http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/31.htm http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/ww28/speeches/wilson1.htm The uncertainty about the definition of progressivism has led many contemporary Americans to adopt the term for different ideological purposes. Read these two articles and explain how the authors define progressivism. Does their understanding of progressivism match the definition you created above? Why might the issue of identifying who exactly the "progressives" were at the beginning of the twentieth century remain so politically charged today? http://www.buzzflash.com/carpenter/03/04/21.html http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0610-11.htm