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The Promise of American Life - by Herbert Croly
From: Digital History ID 3135
"If any one book can be said to offer a manifesto of Progressive beliefs, it was Herbert Croly's The Promise of American Life. Croly (1869-1930), a political theorist and journalist who founded The New Republic, was Progressivism's preeminent philosopher. Published in 1909, his book argued that Americans had to overcome their Jeffersonian heritage, with its emphasis on minimal government, decentralized authority, and the sanctity of individual freedom, in order to deal with the unprecedented problems of an urban and industrial age. Industrialism, he believed, had reduced most workers to a kind of "wage slavery," and only a strong central government could preserve democracy and promote social progress.
Croly, like most Progressives, was convinced that only a public-spirited, disinterested elite, guided by scientific principles, could restore the promise of American life. Thus, he called for the establishment of government regulatory commissions, staffed by independent experts, to protect American democracy from the effects of corporate power. He also believed that human nature "can be raised to a higher level by an improvement in institutions and laws."
Progressivism in Government
According to Croly, the challenge confronting early 20th century America was to respond to the problems that had accompanied the transformation of American society from a rural, agricultural culture into an urban, industrial society. Filled with faith in the power of government, Progressives launched reform in the areas of public health, housing, urban planning and design, parks and recreation, workplace safety, workers' compensation, pensions, insurance, poor relief, and health care."
The entire text is also available online at the link below.
Produced by Sandra Bannatyne and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team, Produced from images provided by the Million Book Project
BY HERBERT CROLY
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1909. Reprinted June, 1910; April, 1911; March, 1912.
Norwood Press
J.S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
Dedicated
TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE
DAVID GOODMAN CROLY
CONTENTS
WHAT IS THE PROMISE OF AMERICAN LIFE?
THE FEDERALISTS AND THE REPUBLICANS
THE DEMOCRATS AND THE WHIGS
SLAVERY AND AMERICAN NATIONALITY
THE CONTEMPORARY SITUATION
REFORM AND THE REFORMERS
RECONSTRUCTION; ITS CONDITIONS AND PURPOSES
NATIONALITY AND DEMOCRACY
THE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AND ITS NATIONAL PRINCIPLES
A NATIONAL FOREIGN POLICY
PROBLEMS OF RECONSTRUCTION—PART I
PROBLEMS OF RECONSTRUCTION—PART II
CONCLUSIONS—THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE NATIONAL PURPOSE
