Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T13:50:55.869Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Progressive Era Assault on Individualism and Property Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

James W. Ely
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University
Ellen Frankel Paul
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Ohio
Jeffrey Paul
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Ohio
Fred D. Miller, Jr
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Ohio
Get access

Summary

Introduction

The Progressive Era of the early twentieth century witnessed sustained condemnation of individualism and individual rights. “The idea of the liberty of the individual,” Washington Gladden (1836–1918) declared in 1905, “is not a sound basis for a democratic government.” Gladden, a Progressive and leader of the Social Gospel movement, was hardly alone in expressing such sentiments. A few years later Herbert Croly (1869–1930), a prominent Progressive theorist, attributed economic ills to “the peculiar freedom which the American tradition and organization have granted to the individual.” Indeed, most Progressives viewed skeptically claims of individual rights, which they associated with property rights. Progressives, in short, moved dramatically away from the classical liberalism of John Locke (1632–1704), which stressed the primacy of the individual over the state. Instead, Progressives invoked concepts such as “public welfare,” “social justice,” and “common good” to justify greater statist control of society.

This essay examines the widespread criticism of individualism and property rights which flourished in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and which would eventually have a profound influence on the polity. The intellectual currents of the Progressive era called into question the individualist values of classical liberalism, and paved the way for the political triumph of the New Deal. The Progressive agenda amounted to a fundamental challenge to the prevailing view of the proper role of government. To this end, Progressives virtually revamped the traditional understanding of the Constitution, rejecting the notion of limited government.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×