5-8 Paragraph Assignment (Standifer) Hist

Essay Question:

What assumptions and goals characterized progressivism as a philosophy, and how did it

influence American society and politics domestically and internationally? How did progressive

reformers confront the social, political, economic, and moral problems of their age, and to what

extent were they successful?

Considerations:

 broad areas of progressive reform: social justice, government efficiency and activism,

inclusive democracy, regulation of big business

 the influence of middle-class values and assumptions in progressive thought

 tensions and contradictions within progressivism

 the goal of exporting American conceptions of democracy and freedom to the world