Internal Contradictions
Although the Progressive Era was a period of broad reform movements and social progress, it also was characterized by loose, multiple, and contradictory goals that impeded the efforts of reformers and often pitted political leaders against one another, most drastically in the Republican Party.
The cartoon depicts Teddy Roosevelt as a chef. He is mixing ingredients into a bowl labelled "A Teddy Speech" with a question mark in parenthesis. He is mixing the contents of the bowl with one hand and pouring a bottle of liquid labelled "Progressivism" into the bowl with the other hand. A thought bubble next to the bottle says "The more you mix in, the easier to satisfy everyone." Surrounding the bowl are bottles labelled "Any Old View," "Radical Spice" and "Pure Democracy," as well as a bowl full of eggs labelled "Conservative Views."
“The Chemist”: Roosevelt is depicted as “concocting a heady brew in his speeches” in this 1912 political cartoon.
For instance, national Progressive leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt argued for increased federal regulation to coordinate big business practices while others, such as Woodrow Wilson, promised to legislate for open competition. At the local, municipal, and state levels, various Progressives advocated for disparate reforms whose concerns ranged as wide as prisons, education, government reorganization, urban improvement, prohibition, female suffrage, birth control, improved working conditions, labor, and child labor. Although significant advancements were made in social justice and reform on a case-by-case basis, there was little local effort to coordinate reformers on a wide platform of issues. Furthermore, despite the Bull Moose Party’s declaration of a Progressive Party platform, the American public viewed it more as a coalition of fervent Roosevelt supporters, rather than any comprehensive party platform that accounted for the range of Progressive concerns.