Progressive Era in the United States

Republican Party: The Progressive Era

Introduction to Progressive Era

During the 1890s both major parties were hurt by the rise of agrarian protest, but infighting proved most divisive among the Democrats; their collapse at the polls followed in 1896. Beginning in that year, increased voter strength made the Republicans the majority party in the country for a generation. Party factionalism continued. Beginning in the 1890s a group of Republicans known as the progressives sought to balance the party’s commitment to the industrial elite with the use of federal power to correct some of the worst excesses of the monopolies and trusts that dominated the economy. The former Republican president Theodore Roosevelt, who had promoted some progressive measures while in office from 1901 to 1909, later became the presidential candidate of the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party; as a splinter group it aided in the defeat of the Republican presidential candidate William Howard Taft in 1912. The Democrats continued to control the presidency until 1920, when the voters, seeking a return to normalcy after World War I, brought the Republicans back to power under Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.

The Republican Party remained dominant throughout the 1920s, its strength unaffected even by another progressive defection in 1924. Despite opposition from agricultural and progressive Republicans, the party continued to foster industrial economic values in a time of extraordinary prosperity. Herbert Hoover, first as secretary of commerce, then as president from 1929 to 1933, symbolized Republican commitment to unbounded national prosperity rooted in massive industrial expansion.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

• Information about Progressive Era in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Progressive Era