AP® U.S. History Crash Course, For the 2020 Exam, Book + Online by Larry Krieger

Author:Larry Krieger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Research & Education Association
Published: 2019-03-08T16:00:00+00:00

Recent APUSH exams have used excerpts from the Populist Party platform and a political cartoon as stimulus sources to generate a number of multiple-choice questions. It is important to remember that the Populist Party was a response to the growth of corporate power over that of agriculture and economic instability in farming. Populists had the most in common with the ideas advanced by the Progressives.

II. THE PROGRESSIVE SPIRIT

A.FROM POPULISM TO PROGRESSIVISM

1.After the collapse of the Populist Party, the reform spirit shifted to the cities where a new generation of middle and upper-middle class reformers focused on a broad range of problems caused by industrialization and urbanization.

2.The term progressivism embraced a widespread, many faceted effort to build a more democratic and just society. The Progressive Era is usually dated from 1900 to America’s entry into World War I in 1917.

B.KEY ELEMENTS OF THE PROGRESSIVE SPIRIT

1.Both the Populists and the Progressives rejected laissez-faire government policies. Instead, they wanted government to play an active role in public life. Progressives believed that complex social problems required a broad range of government responses. “The real heart of the movement,” declared one Progressive reformer, was “to use the government as an agency of human welfare.”

2.Progressives were idealists who rejected the main tenets of Social Darwinism. They believed that conflict and competition would not inevitably improve society. Instead, they optimistically believed that informed citizens could create a just society that would reduce poverty, regulate corporations, protect the environment, and elect honest leaders.

C.THE MUCKRAKERS

1.During the early 1900s, popular magazines such as Collier’s and McClure’s began to hire writers to expose corrupt practices in business and politics. Known as muckrakers, these investigative reporters expressed the new spirit of Progressive reform by uncovering social wrongs.

2.Muckraking magazines published more than 2,000 investigative reports between 1903 and 1912. For example, Ida Tarbell wrote a devastating exposé of the ruthless practices John D. Rockefeller used to eliminate competitors and build the Standard Oil Company into the “Mother of Trusts.” Muckraking articles by Tarbell and others enabled the spirit of Progressive reform to mobilize public opinion to demand and support needed reforms.

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