The Progressive Movement and the Reforming of the United States of America, from 1890 to 1921.

Abstract

This thesis concerns the way to achieve economic prosperity, social development, and political integrity and efficiency in any society through intellectual stature, strong sense of patriotism, and altruism of the political class that favour the interests of the country rather than those of the political parties and individuals. Several questions in this problematic arose in the study of the Progressive Movement in the USA as regards the reasons why did the Progressives start thinking that their country needed reforms? Who were they? What were their objectives? What were their programmes? How did they achieve their objectives? Therefore, the study of the Progressive Movement in this research paper takes the form of a political, economic, and social audit that reveals the failures and successes of the American society in its evolution. The aim of this study is to understand through socio-economic and political examples why it was a successful movement, and in which domains it failed. Such examples in turn indicate the domains in which the Americans were mostly interested to reform, which would be a kind of plan to be followed in the realisation of a reform project. Therefore, this research paper contributes in re-discovering the Progressive Movement in the USA as an evolutionary reform movement that enabled the country to be a civilised one, and paved the way for it to become a world power and leader. This research also contributes in providing an example that shows that the political leaders in a given country can develop their country by taking the necessary political, economic, and social decisions.