Big Picture

Questions

1. Why did the Populist movement fail?
2. What are some of the issues over which Progressives waged battles?
3. Did all Progressives share the same reform goals?
4. When did the Progressives officially become a political party?
5. How did race affect the Progressives’ legacy?

Answers

1. There was racism and disunity within its ranks, the membership was disparate and unorganized, and the Democratic Party appropriated its platform in the 1896 election.
2. Economic regulation, the electoral process, female suffrage, temperance, immigration restriction, food and drug inspection, pornography, prostitution, workers’ wages and working conditions.
3. No. Some Progressives supported only one or two reform goals while others cast their lot with them all.
4. 1912.
5. Racism toward African-American and toward immigrants worked to undermine the party’s effectiveness.