Research Paper Speech

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Encouraging public demand for transparent and responsible governance furthered Progressive Era goals. Lincoln Steffens' journalistic pieces emphasized the dangers of civic complacency, particularly in The Shame of the Cities which documents the pervasive bribery and misconduct entrenched across the United States.

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 According to Lincoln Steffens, “We are responsible, not our leaders, since we follow them . . . We let them boss the party and turn our municipal democracies into autocracies and our republican nation into a plutocracy. We cheat our government and we let our leaders loot it, and we let them wheedle and bribe our sovereignty from us” (Steffens).

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 Through his powerful rhetoric, Steffen employed emotionally charged and accusatory language to persuade Americans to confront their own complicity in corruption rather than dismiss it as the isolated misconduct of politicians. By framing corruption as a collective moral failure, Steffens’ deliberate use of shame turns awareness into moral urgency, compelling citizens to demand reform and to act against the political machine of government.

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 As a result, Steffens pushed the public opinion into action, demonstrating that Progressive reform was equally dependent upon government wrongdoing as well as reshaping public values and expectations of government accountability. 

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Accountability in an Age of Corruption

The invention of the mirror allowed people to examine themselves in ways they never had before. Similarly during the Progressive Era, Lincoln Steffens held a mirror up to the United States, revealing a dark underbelly of social and political corruption that the nation had long ignored.

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As industrialization spurred economic growth, and expanded factory production, powerful corporations came to dominate entire markets, while the income gap between the wealthy and working class widened. Politicians and businessmen exploited their positions for personal gain, leading to the corruption of the government and corporate enterprises. Lincoln Steffens wrote about the corruption of cities and the government, leading him to become one of the first muckrakers that exposed the dark underside of society.

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Lincoln Steffens was effective at accomplishing progressive goals by exposing the widespread corruption in municipalities across the United States and by shaping the public opinion in favor of government accountability.

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Lincoln Steffens reputation as a communist sympathizer compromised his ability to advance progressive goals given that his public support for the Russian Revolution was hypocritical due to its own violence, famine, and corruption. However, Steffens exposure of rampant corruption within governments far outweighed Steffens support of radical governments, allowing him to attain Progressive Era reform.

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Lincoln’s muckraking journalism unveiled the systematic abuses of power practiced by politicians. As historian C. Wyatt Evans observed, “The Muckracker’s influence reached its zenith between 1904 and 1908, when the exposés on medical fraud, meat processing, insurance swindles, monopollies, political corruption, and radical violence led to criminal indictment and reform legislation," (Evans).

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This demonstrated that Lincoln Steffens’ writing unmasked government misconduct by publishing his investigations in the widely circulated McClure Magazine. Steffens ensured that the corruption was no longer confined to political insiders, and was visible to ordinary Americans.

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This widespread awareness made it more difficult for unscrupulous officials to operate without scrutiny because public knowledge created pressure for investigation and reform despite Steffens' radical leanings which never materialized in the United States. While recognition alone did not guarantee change, Steffens’ persuasive framing of corruption as a moral failure transformed public awareness into an opinion that demanded to hold the government liable. 

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Through his relentless exposure of municipal corruption and his compelling appeals to citizens on civic responsibility, Lincoln Steffens was instrumental at catalyzing Progressive Era reforms. By publicizing the ubiquitous graft that citizens failed to recognize threatened their government along with motivating Americans to own their moral failures and advocate for change in society.

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 By confronting this reflection, the American people were forced to see their own moral responsibility and take action to fulfill these goals. The mirror served as both a symbol of shame and opportunity; exhibiting that acknowledging faults is the first step towards shaping a more accountable and just government, even today.