Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to describe the similarities and differences between chapter 21 “politics: local, state, and national” and chapter 22 “the age of reform.” Secondly this paper also evaluates the important historical events that I consider are key to understanding this period.
Similarities and Differences
I personally believe that the populist and the progressive era seems to completely opposite of each other because in the populist era there was less focus of the government towards the interest of the society hence the farmers were forced to make the farmers alliance. The Populist movement arose primarily in response to the 1890 McKinley Tariff, a very high tariff that particularly hurt western and southern farmers who sold their harvests on unprotected markets but were forced to buy expensive manufactured goods. To protest the tariff, these farmers helped vote Republicans out of the House of Representatives in the 1890 congressional elections. Whereas in the progressive era, by the dawn of the twentieth century, many Americans felt the need to change the relationship between government and society and address the growing social and political problems.
Like the Populists before them, Progressives believed that unregulated capitalism and the urban boom required stronger government supervision and intervention. Specifically, Progressives wanted to regain control of the government from special interests like the railroads and trusts, while further protecting the rights of organized labor, women, blacks, and consumers in general.
Unlike the Populist movement, which rose from America’s minority groups, Progressives came primarily from the middle class and constituted a majority of Americans in the Republican and Democratic parties. As a result, reform dominated the first decade of the new century.
Important events
In my point of view there are few events, which are equally important to understand the context of this era..........
