Editing Progressive Era (section)

==Originators of progressive ideals and efforts==
Certain key groups of thinkers, writers, and activists played key roles in creating or building the movements and ideas that came to define the shape of the Progressive Era.

===Popular democracy: Initiative and referendum===
Inspiration for the initiative movement was based on the Swiss experience. New Jersey labor activist James W. Sullivan visited Switzerland in 1888 and wrote a detailed book that became a template for reformers pushing the idea: ''Direct Legislation by the Citizenship Through the Initiative and Referendum'' (1893).<ref>See [https://archive.org/search.php?query=title%3A%28%22Direct%20legislation%20by%20the%20Citizenship%22%29 online copies]</ref>  He suggested that using the initiative would give political power to the working class and reduce the need for strikes.  Sullivan's book was first widely read on the left, as by labor activists, socialists and populists. William U'Ren was an early convert who used it to build the Oregon reform crusade. By 1900, middle-class "progressive" reformers everywhere were studying it.<ref>Richard J. Ellis, "The Opportunist: James W. Sullivan and the Origins of the Initiative and Referendum in the United States." ''American Political Thought'' 11.1 (2022): 1–47.</ref><ref>Ellis (2002) pp. 28–33.</ref>

===Muckraking: exposing corruption===
{{Further|Muckraker|Mass media and American politics}}
[[File:McClure's Christmas 1903 cover.jpg|thumb|left|Christmas 1903 cover of ''McClure's'' features a muckraking exposé of Rockefeller and Standard Oil by Ida Tarbell.]]

Magazines experienced a boost in popularity in 1900, with some attaining circulations in the hundreds of thousands of subscribers. In the beginning of the age of mass media, the rapid expansion of national advertising led the cover price of popular magazines to fall sharply to about 10 cents, lessening the financial barrier to consume them.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Catherine|last1=Cocks|first2=Peter C.|last2=Holloran|first3=Alan|last3=Lessoff|title=The A to Z of the Progressive Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rt3243E-Wm0C&pg=PA266|year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=266|isbn=978-0810870697}}</ref> Another factor contributing to the dramatic upswing in magazine circulation was the prominent coverage of corruption in politics, local government, and big business, particularly by journalists and writers who became known as [[muckraker]]s''.'' They wrote for popular magazines to expose social and political sins and shortcomings. Relying on their own [[investigative journalism]], muckrakers often worked to expose social ills and corporate and [[Corruption in the United States|political corruption]]. Muckraking magazines, notably ''[[McClure's]]'', took on corporate monopolies and [[political machine]]s while raising public awareness of chronic urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, and [[social issues]] like [[Child labor in the United States|child labor]].<ref>Herbert Shapiro, ed., ''The muckrakers and American society'' (Heath, 1968), contains representative samples as well as academic commentary.</ref> Most of the muckrakers wrote nonfiction, but fictional exposés often had a major impact as well, such as those by [[Upton Sinclair]].<ref>Judson A. Grenier, "Muckraking the muckrakers: Upton Sinclair and his peers." in David R Colburn and Sandra Pozzetta, eds., ''Reform and Reformers in the Progressive Era '' (1983) pp: 71–92.</ref> In his 1906 novel ''[[The Jungle]]'', Sinclair exposed the unsanitary and unsafe working conditions of the meatpacking industry in graphic detail hoping to arouse working class solidarity. He quipped, "I aimed at the public's heart and by accident, I hit it in the stomach," as readers demanded and got the [[Federal Meat Inspection Act|Meat Inspection Act]]<ref>The Meat Inspection Act</ref> and the [[Pure Food and Drug Act]].<ref>Arlene F. Kantor, "Upton Sinclair and the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906.: 'I aimed at the public's heart and by accident, I hit it in the stomach'." ''American Journal of Public Health'' 66.12 (1976): 1202–1205.</ref>

The journalists who specialized in exposing waste, corruption, and scandal operated at the state and local level, like [[Ray Stannard Baker]], [[George Creel]], and [[Brand Whitlock]]. Others such as [[Lincoln Steffens]] exposed political corruption in many large cities; [[Ida Tarbell]] is famed for her criticisms of [[John D. Rockefeller]]'s [[Standard Oil Company]]. In 1906, [[David Graham Phillips]] unleashed a blistering indictment of corruption in the US Senate. Roosevelt gave these journalists their nickname when he complained they were not being helpful by raking up too much muck.<ref>Robert Miraldi, ed. ''The Muckrakers: Evangelical Crusaders'' (Praeger, 2000)</ref><ref>Harry H. Stein, "American Muckrakers and Muckraking: The 50-Year Scholarship", ''Journalism Quarterly'', (1979) 56#1 pp. 9–17.</ref>

===Modernization===
{{Further|Efficiency movement}}

The progressives were avid modernizers, with a belief in science and technology as the grand solution to society's flaws. They looked to education as the key to bridging the gap between their present wasteful society and technologically enlightened future society. Characteristics of progressivism included a favorable attitude toward urban–industrial society, belief in mankind's ability to improve the environment and conditions of life, belief in an obligation to intervene in economic and social affairs, a belief in the ability of experts and in the efficiency of government intervention.<ref>John D. Buenker, and Robert M. Crunden. ''Progressivism'' (1986); Maureen Flanagan, ''America Reformed: Progressives and Progressivisms, 1890 – the 1920s'' (2007)</ref><ref>Samuel Haber, ''Efficiency and Uplift Scientific Management in the Progressive Era 1890–1920'' (1964) 656</ref> Scientific management, as promulgated by [[Frederick Winslow Taylor]], became a watchword for industrial efficiency and elimination of waste, with the stopwatch as its symbol.<ref>Daniel Nelson, ''Frederick W. Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management'' (1970).</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=J.-C. Spender|author2=Hugo Kijne|title=Scientific Management: Frederick Winslow Taylor's Gift to the World?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WcLkBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA63|year=2012|publisher=Springer|page=63|isbn=978-1461314219}}</ref>

===Philanthropy===
The number of rich families climbed exponentially, from 100 or so millionaires in the 1870s to 4,000 in 1892 and 16,000 in 1916. Many subscribed to [[Andrew Carnegie]]'s credo outlined in ''[[The Gospel of Wealth]]'' that said they owed a duty to society that called for philanthropic giving to colleges, hospitals, medical research, libraries, museums, religion, and social betterment.<ref>[[Olivier Zunz]], ''Philanthropy in America: A History'' (2012) ch 1 [https://www.amazon.com/Philanthropy-America-History-Politics-Twentieth/dp/0691128367/ excerpt and text search] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417135854/https://www.amazon.com/Philanthropy-America-History-Politics-Twentieth/dp/0691128367/ |date=April 17, 2020 }}</ref>

In the early 20th century, American philanthropy matured, with the development of very large, highly visible private foundations created by [[John D. Rockefeller|Rockefeller]] and Carnegie. The largest foundations fostered modern, efficient, business-oriented operations (as opposed to "charity") designed to better society rather than merely enhance the status of the giver. Close ties were built with the local business community, as in the "community chest" movement.<ref>Nikki Mandell, "Allies or Antagonists? Philanthropic Reformers and Business Reformers in the Progressive Era", ''Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era'' (2012), 11#1 71–117.</ref> The [[American Red Cross]] was reorganized and professionalized.<ref>Branden Little. "Review of Jones, Marian Moser, ''The American Red Cross from Clara Barton to the New Deal''" [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=39722 H-SHGAPE, H-Net Reviews. August 2013, online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502011856/http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=39722 |date=May 2, 2015 }}</ref> Several major foundations aided the blacks in the South and were typically advised by [[Booker T. Washington]]. By contrast, Europe and Asia had few foundations. This allowed both Carnegie and Rockefeller to operate internationally with a powerful effect.<ref>Zunz, p. 42</ref>

===Middle-class values===
[[File:Articles by and photo of Charlotte_Perkins Gilman in 1916.jpg|thumb|[[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]] (pictured) wrote these articles about [[feminism]] for the ''Atlanta Constitution'', published on December 10, 1916.]]

A hallmark group of the Progressive Era, the middle class became the driving force behind much of the thought and reform that took place in this time. The middle class was characterized by their rejection of the individualistic philosophy of the [[Upper ten thousand]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=McGerr |first1=Michael |title=A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870–1920 |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |page=65}}</ref> They had a rapidly growing interest in the communication and role between classes, those of which are generally referred to as the upper class, working class, farmers, and themselves.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wiebe |first1=Robert H |title=The Search For Order: 1877–1920 |url=https://archive.org/details/searchfororder1800wieb |url-access=registration |date=1967 |publisher=Hill and Wang |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/searchfororder1800wieb/page/111 111]}}</ref> Along these lines, the founder of [[Hull-House]], [[Jane Addams]], coined the term "association" as a counter to [[Individualism]], with association referring to the search for a relationship between the classes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McGerr |first1=Michael |title=A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870–1920 |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |page=66}}</ref> Additionally, the middle class (most notably women) began to move away from prior [[Victorian era]] domestic values. Divorce rates increased as women preferred to seek education and freedom from the home.<ref>Paul R. Amato, and Shelley Irving, "Historical trends in divorce in the United States." in ''Handbook of divorce and relationship dissolution'' (Psychology Press, 2013) pp. 57–74.</ref>  Victorianism was pushed aside by the rise of progressivism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McGerr |first1=Michael |title=A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870–1920 |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |pages=40–74}}</ref>

===Leaders and activists===

====Politicians====

{{Further|History of the Democratic Party (United States)|History of the Republican Party (United States)}}
[[File:Portrait of Secretary William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska, 1913.jpeg|thumb|left|William Jennings Bryan]]
Congressman [[William Jennings Bryan]] was the Democratic nominee for president in 1896, 1900, and 1908. Bryan selected Woodrow Wilson as the party candidate in 1912 and became secretary of State. The anti-Bryan conservative Democrats did nominate their candidate in 1904, but otherwise Bryan and Bryan's supporters largely dominated the party from 1896 to 1914. Historian [[David Sarasohn]] evaluated the Democratic party in the Bryan era:<blockquote>Democrats [were] an issue-oriented party (tariff and child labor reform, trust regulation, federal income tax, direct election of senators) and an emerging national coalition (southerners, western Progressives, blue-collar ethnic voters, and liberal intellectuals), most of whom shared a grudging but genuine admiration for their titular leader, William Jennings Bryan. Indeed, it is the Commoner  [Bryan] whose spirit, vision, and yes, political sagacity, pervades the narrative.<ref>Quoting Eugene Tobin in ''Journal of American History'' (1990 p 335) reviewing David Sarasohn, ''The Party of Reform: Democrats in the Progressive Era'' (1989). This book is [https://archive.org/details/partyofreformdem00sara online here] See also Robert D. Johnston, “Re-Democratizing the Progressive Era: The Politics of Progressive Era Political Historiography.” ''Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era'' 1#1 (2002), pp. 68–92;  [http://www.jstor.org/stable/25144286 online]
</ref>  </blockquote>

[[Jim Hogg]], who served as governor of Texas from 1891 to 1895, championed the causes of individuals<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nUA_AAAAIBAJ&pg=PA9&dq=governor+Hogg+labor+texas&article_id=5420,4559984&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi0v62VjIqNAxUwRkEAHUgnD3IQ6AF6BAgEEAM#v=onepage&q=governor%20Hogg%20labor%20texas&f=false Wood County Democrat 17 Aug 1988]</ref> and presided over a series of progressive reform measures during his tenure.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Governors_and_the_Progressive_Movement/0ueZDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=As+governor+brough+brought+more+funding+for+education&pg=PA123&printsec=frontcover Governors and the Progressive Movement By David R. Berman, 2019, P.123-126]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.a0001788652&seq=12 General laws of the State of Texas yr.1892]</ref > According to Democrat [[Edward M House]], Texas was "the pioneer of successful progressive legislation," citing Hogg's tenure as the catalyst.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3126585&seq=77&q1=progressive+legislation The intimate papers of Colonel House: behind the political curtain 1912-1915 Arranged as a narrative by Charles Seymour, 1926, P.35]</ref>

[[File:LaFOLLETTE, ROBERT. SENATOR LOC hec.14955 (3x4 cropped).jpg|thumb|Robert M. La Follette]]
[[Robert M. La Follette]] and [[La Follette family|his family]] were the dominant forces of progressivism in Wisconsin from the late 1890s to the early 1940s.<ref>Nancy C. Unger, ''Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer'' (2003) pp. 1–5.</ref> Starting as a loyal organizational Republican, he broke with the bosses in the late 1890s, built up a network of local organizers loyal to him, and fought for control of the state Republican Party, with mixed success. He failed to win the nomination for governor in 1896 and 1898 before winning the [[1900 Wisconsin gubernatorial election|1900 gubernatorial election]]. As governor of Wisconsin, La Follette compiled a progressive record, implementing primary elections and tax reform. La Follette won re-election in 1902 and 1904. In 1905 the legislature elected him to the United States Senate, where he emerged as a national progressive leader, often clashing with conservatives like Senator [[Nelson Aldrich]]. He initially supported President Taft, but broke with Taft after the latter failed to push a reduction in [[tariffs in United States history|tariff]] rates. He challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination in the [[1912 United States presidential election|1912 presidential election]], but his candidacy was overshadowed by Theodore Roosevelt. La Follette's refusal to support Roosevelt, and especially his suicidal ranting speech before media leaders in February 1912, alienated many progressives. La Follette forfeited his stature as a national leader of progressive Republicans, while remaining a power in Wisconsin.<ref name="auto">Nancy C. Unger, "The 'Political Suicide' of Robert M. La Follette: Public Disaster, Private Catharsis" ''Psychohistory Review'' 21#2 (1993) pp. 187–220 [https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=history online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309192250/https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=history |date=March 9, 2022 }}.</ref> La Follette supported some of President Wilson's policies, but he broke with the president over foreign policy, thereby gaining support from Wisconsin's large German and Scandinavian elements. During World War I, La Follette was the most outspoken opponent of the administration's domestic and international policies.<ref>David P. Thelen, ''Robert M. La Follette and the insurgent spirit'' (1976) pp. 32–144</ref>

With the major parties each nominating conservative candidates in the [[1924 United States presidential election|1924 presidential election]], left-wing groups coalesced behind La Follette's [[third party (United States)|third-party]] candidacy. With the support of the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]], farmer's groups, labor unions, and others, La Follette was strong in Wisconsin, and to a much lesser extent in the West. He called for government ownership of railroads and electric utilities, cheap credit for farmers, stronger laws to help labor unions, and protections for civil liberties. La Follette won 17% of the popular vote and carried only his home state in the face of a Republican landslide. After his death in 1925 his sons, [[Robert M. La Follette Jr.]] and [[Philip La Follette]], succeeded him as progressive leaders in Wisconsin.<ref>Unger, ''Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer'' (2003) pp. 239–304.</ref>

[[File:Theodore Roosevelt by the Pach Bros (4x5 cropped).jpg|thumb|Theodore Roosevelt]]
President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] was a leader of the Progressive movement, and he championed his "[[Square Deal]]" domestic policies, promising the average citizen fairness, breaking of trusts, regulation of railroads, and pure food and drugs. He made conservation a top priority and established many new [[List of national parks of the United States|national parks]], [[List of U.S. National Forests|forests]], and [[List of National Monuments of the United States|monuments]] intended to preserve the nation's natural resources. In foreign policy, he [[Roosevelt Corollary|focused on Central America]] where he began construction of the [[Panama Canal]]. He expanded the army and sent the [[Great White Fleet]] on a world tour to project the United States naval power around the globe. His successful efforts to broker the end of the [[Russo-Japanese War]] won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. He avoided controversial tariff and money issues. He was elected to a full term in 1904 and continued to promote progressive policies, some of which were passed in Congress. By 1906 he was moving to the left, advocating some social welfare programs, and criticizing various business practices such as trusts. The leadership of the GOP in Congress moved to the right, as did his protégé President William Howard Taft. Roosevelt broke bitterly with Taft in 1910, and also with Wisconsin's progressive leader [[Robert M. La Follette]]. Taft defeated Roosevelt for the 1912 Republican nomination and Roosevelt set up an entirely new Progressive Party. It called for a "New Nationalism"  with active supervision of corporations, higher taxes, and unemployment and old-age insurance. He supported voting rights for women but was silent on civil rights for blacks, who remained in the regular Republican fold. He lost and his new party collapsed, as conservatism dominated the GOP for decades to come. Biographer William Harbaugh argues:
:: In foreign affairs, Theodore Roosevelt's legacy is judicious support of the national interest and promotion of world stability through the maintenance of a balance of power; creation or strengthening of international agencies, and resort to their use when practicable; and implicit resolve to use military force, if feasible, to foster legitimate American interests. In domestic affairs, it is the use of government to advance the public interest. "If on this new continent", he said, "we merely build another country of great but unjustly divided material prosperity, we shall have done nothing".<ref>William H. Harbaugh, "Roosevelt, Theodore (27 October 1858 – 06 January 1919)" ''American National Biography'' (1999) [https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0600569 online]</ref>

[[File:President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, Harris & Ewing (3x4 cropped b).jpg|thumb|left|Woodrow Wilson]]
[[Woodrow Wilson]] gained a national reputation as governor of New Jersey by defeating the bosses and pushing through a progressive agenda. For a time Wilson identified himself with conservatism, but by the time he became governor of New Jersey Wilson identified himself as a radical.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Folly_of_Empire/nrOVkNLHYz8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=A+By+the+time+he+was+elected+governor+of+New+Jersey+in+November+1910,+he+was+identifying+himself+as+a+radical&pg=PA84&printsec=frontcover The Folly of Empire What George W. Bush Could Learn from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson By John B. Judis, 2010, P84]</ref> As president he introduced a comprehensive program of domestic legislation.<ref>John Milton Cooper, Jr., ''Woodrow Wilson'' (2009) pp. 183–184</ref> He had four major domestic priorities: the [[Conservation movement|conservation]] of natural resources, banking reform, [[tariff in United States history|tariff reduction]], and opening access to raw materials by breaking up Western mining trusts.<ref>Cooper (2009), pp. 186–187</ref> Though foreign affairs would unexpectedly dominate his presidency, Wilson's first two years in office largely focused on the implementation of his New Freedom domestic agenda.<ref>Cooper (2009), pp. 212–213, 274</ref> Wilson presided over the passage of his progressive [[The New Freedom|New Freedom]] domestic agenda. His first major priority was the passage of the [[Revenue Act of 1913]], which lowered [[tariff in United States history|tariffs]] and implemented a federal [[Income Tax in the United States|income tax]]. Later tax acts implemented a federal [[Estate tax in the United States|estate tax]] and raised the top income tax rate to 77 percent. Wilson also presided over the passage of the [[Federal Reserve Act]], which created a central banking system in the form of the [[Federal Reserve System]]. Two major laws, the [[Federal Trade Commission Act]] and the [[Clayton Antitrust Act]], were passed to regulate business and prevent monopolies.  Wilson did not support civil rights and did not object to accelerating [[segregation in the United States|segregate]] of federal employees. In World War I, he made internationalism a key element of the progressive outlook, as expressed in his [[Fourteen Points]] and the [[League of Nations]]—an ideal called [[Wilsonianism]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Lloyd Ambrosius|title=Wilsonianism: Woodrow Wilson and His Legacy in American Foreign Relations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9tlCwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|date= 2002|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US|isbn=978-1-4039-7004-6}}</ref><ref>Tony Smith, ''Why Wilson Matters: The Origin of American Liberal Internationalism and Its Crisis Today'' (2019).</ref>

In New York Republican Governor [[Charles Evans Hughes]] was known for exposing the insurance industry. During his time in office he promoted a range of reforms. As presidential candidate in 1916 he lost after alienating progressive California voters. As Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, he often sided with [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.|Oliver Wendell Holmes]] in upholding popular reforms such as the minimum wage, workmen's compensation, and maximum work hours for women and children. He also wrote several opinions upholding the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce under the [[Commerce Clause]]. His majority opinion in the ''Baltimore and Ohio Railroad v. Interstate Commerce Commission'' upheld the right of the federal government to regulate the hours of railroad workers.<ref name="Shoemaker 2004 63–64">{{harvnb|Shoemaker|2004|pp=63–64}}</ref> His majority opinion in the 1914 [[Houston East & West Texas Railway Co. v. United States|Shreveport Rate Case]] upheld a decision by the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] to void discriminatory railroad rates imposed by the [[Railroad Commission of Texas]]. The decision established that the federal government could regulate intrastate commerce when it affected interstate commerce, though Hughes avoided directly overruling the 1895 case of ''[[United States v. E. C. Knight Co.]]''<ref>{{harvnb|Henretta|2006|pp=136–137}}</ref>  As Chief Justice of the Supreme Court he took a moderate middle position and upheld key New Deal laws.<ref>{{harvnb|Henretta|2006|pp=115–171}}</ref>

====Activists and Muckrakers ====
{{Further|Muckraker}}

[[Gifford Pinchot]] was an American forester and political activist who served as the first Chief of the [[United States Forest Service]] from 1905 until 1910 and was the [[List of Governors of Pennsylvania|28th Governor of Pennsylvania]], serving from 1923 to 1927, and again from 1931 to 1935. He was a member of the [[United States Republican Party|Republican Party]] for most of his life, though he also joined the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive Party]] for a brief period. Pinchot is known for reforming the management and development of forests in the United States and for advocating the conservation of the nation's reserves by planned use and renewal.  Pinchot coined the term [[conservation ethic]] as applied to natural resources. Pinchot's main contribution was his leadership in promoting scientific forestry and emphasizing the controlled, profitable use of forests and other natural resources so they would be of maximum benefit to mankind.<ref name="AmExp">{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/burn/ |title=The Big Burn-Transcript |date=February 3, 2015 |website=American Experience |publisher=PBS |access-date=January 23, 2019 |archive-date=October 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006170818/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/burn/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He was the first to demonstrate the practicality and profitability of managing forests for continuous cropping.  His leadership put the conservation of forests high on America's priority list.<ref>Robert Muccigrosso, ed., ''Research Guide to American Historical Biography'' (1988) 3:1238</ref>

[[Herbert Croly]] was an intellectual leader of the movement as an editor, political philosopher and a co-founder of the magazine ''[[The New Republic]]''. His political philosophy influenced many leading progressives including Theodore Roosevelt, [[Adolph Berle]], as well as his close friends Judge [[Learned Hand]] and Supreme Court Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]].<ref name="Levy">{{cite book |author=D. W. Levy |year=1985 |title=Herbert Croly of the New Republic: the Life and Thought of an American Progressive |url=https://archive.org/details/herbertcrolyofne0000levy |url-access=registration |location=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-04725-1}}</ref> Croly's 1909 book ''[[The Promise of American Life]]'' looked to the constitutional liberalism as espoused by [[Alexander Hamilton]], combined with the radical [[Jeffersonian democracy|democracy]] of [[Thomas Jefferson]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Croly |first1=Herbert |title=The Promise of American Life: Updated Edition |date=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=237}}</ref> The book influenced contemporaneous progressive thought, shaping the ideas of many intellectuals and political leaders, including then ex-President Theodore Roosevelt. Calling themselves "The New Nationalists", Croly and [[Walter Weyl]] sought to remedy the relatively weak national institutions with a strong federal government. He promoted a strong army and navy and attacked [[Pacifism|pacifists]] who thought democracy at home and peace abroad was best served by keeping America weak.

Croly was one of the founders of [[modern liberalism in the United States]], especially through his books, essays and a highly influential magazine founded in 1914, ''The New Republic''. In his 1914 book ''Progressive Democracy'', Croly rejected the thesis that the liberal tradition in the United States was inhospitable to [[Anti-capitalism|anti-capitalist]] alternatives. He drew from the American past a history of resistance to [[Capitalism|capitalist]] wage relations that was fundamentally liberal, and he reclaimed an idea that progressives had allowed to lapse—that working for wages was a lesser form of liberty. Increasingly skeptical of the capacity of [[Welfare state|social welfare]] legislation to remedy social ills, Croly argued that America's liberal promise could be redeemed only by [[Syndicalism|syndicalist]] reforms involving [[workplace democracy]]. His liberal goals were part of his commitment to [[Republicanism in the United States|American republicanism]].<ref name="O'Leary">{{cite journal |author=Kevin C. O'Leary |year=1994 |title=Herbert Croly and progressive democracy |journal=[[Polity (journal)|Polity]] |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=533–552 |doi=10.2307/3235094 |jstor=3235094|s2cid=147480352 }}</ref>

[[Upton Sinclair]] was an American writer. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]] in 1943. In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic [[Muckraker|muck-raking]] novel ''[[The Jungle]]'', which exposed labor and sanitary conditions in the U.S. [[meatpacking industry]], causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 [[Pure Food and Drug Act]] and the [[Meat Inspection Act]].<ref>{{Citation |title=The Jungle: Upton Sinclair's Roar Is Even Louder to Animal Advocates Today |date=March 10, 2006 |url=http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/the_jungle_roar.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106223608/http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/the_jungle_roar.html |publisher=Humane Society of the United States |access-date=June 10, 2010 |archive-date=January 6, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1919, he published ''[[The Brass Check]]'', a muck-raking [[Exposé (journalism)|exposé]] of American journalism that publicized the issue of [[yellow journalism]] and the limitations of the "free press" in the United States. Four years after publication of ''The Brass Check'', the first [[code of ethics]] for journalists was created.<ref>{{Citation |title=Press in America |url=http://pressinamerica.pbworks.com/w/page/18360241/Upton%20Sinclair |contribution=Upton Sinclair |publisher=PB works |access-date=October 23, 2019 |archive-date=October 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026165911/http://pressinamerica.pbworks.com/w/page/18360241/Upton%2520Sinclair |url-status=live }}.</ref>

[[Ida Tarbell]], a writer and lecturer, was one of the leading [[muckraker]]s and pioneered [[investigative journalism]].  Tarbell is best known for her 1904 book, ''[[The History of the Standard Oil Company]].'' The work helped turn elite public opinion against the [[Standard Oil]] monopoly.<ref>Steve Weinberg, ''Taking on the Trust: How Ida Tarbell Brought Down John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil'' (2008). p. xiv.</ref>

[[Lincoln Steffens]] was another investigative journalist and one of the leading [[muckraker]]s. He launched a series of articles in ''[[McClure's]]'', called ''Tweed Days in St. Louis'',<ref>{{Cite book |title=United States History |last1=Newman |first1=John |last2=Schmalbach |first2=John |date=2015 |publisher=Amsco |isbn=978-0-7891-8904-2  |page=434}}</ref> that would later be published together in a book titled ''[[The Shame of the Cities]]''. He is remembered for investigating corruption in [[local government|municipal government]] in American cities and leftist values.