The Progressive Era

Tags: Philosophy and Methodology, Political Theory, World History

03/01/2004 Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

The Progressive Era covered the turn of the 19th-20th centuries until about WWI. It delivered such delights as the Federal Reserve. Accelerated statism with a philosophical veneer favored experts on boards making economic decisions efficiently. This era birthed the regulatory state.

Executive Orders came into being in 1793 under Washington. They set a bad precedent. Few were created until Theodore Roosevelt issued 1,006. Taft was alarmed at this trend of Executive Orders. Progressives loathed Jefferson, individualism, strict construction of the Constitution, and local government. Progressives want a socially desirable redistribution of wealth.

From the 2001 History of Liberty seminar.

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