The Attitude Of Progressivists Towards Eugenics

Progressivism was a popular term around the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, and it was used specifically to refer to the the social or political movement created by well educated people, usually politicians, teachers, and journalists, to make America a better place. One of their main goals was to get the general public more involved and they wanted to expose to them the major issues inside of the United States. (www. enotes. com) These people particularly gained a lot of attention when president Theodore Roosevelt was brought into the White House, and they used their recognition to more accurately fight various problems such as violence, poverty, and racism. (www2. gwu. edu) Another major idea they employed was that of eugenics which in turn created its own controversies and issues in America. It is generally believed that progressivists made changes for the better, but in the case of eugenics it caused America to regress. Progressivists did not appreciate the rising of crime, violence, and diseases such as depression, alcoholism, and numerous mental illnesses.

As a result of these opinions, they turned to and strongly supported eugenics. Eugenics is the concept of using heredity to create a greater population of well bred children in hopes of distinguishing most problems within the human race in terms of disease. (http://www. encyclopedia. com) Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was quite popular during this time and progressivists looked towards his work for backing. They went as far as to suppose that nature could be replaced with the government and they could have ultimate control over who was allowed to reproduce and who was not, “so that inferior genes didn’t pollute the nation’s gene pool” (Harwood). Progressivists worked to locate these subordinates and had ideas of separating them from those with good genes into their own work units in hopes of better regulation by officials. Progressivists were aware that their actions helped few and brought harm to many others, but they continued regardless with confidence of revolutionizing America. (Harwood) They took away the freedom of conception from many individuals because, “Rather, freedom is something achieved…” (Will). Through these actions, progressivists removed the balance of equality and as a result caused more problems in America. The idea of Eugenics created a series of new issues for the people of the United States. For example, some researchers and respected authors used the term “scientific racism” to describe what was happening because of eugenics. Several sources believe that progressivists were working, “to exclude the disabled, blacks, immigrants, the poor, and women…” (www. cnsnews. com).

They wanted to wipe out all lower class individuals or people they thought were unfit for society. Also, many cases in court began uprising after Indiana became the first state to appoint forcible sterilization laws. (Will) One famous court case usually referred to as “Buck versus Bell” took place in Virginia. A woman named Carrie Buck was residing in a mental institution when her young daughter had an illegitimate child, and Carrie’s mother also happened to be located in the same mental asylum. Court officials used the fact that the lower intelligence has been continuous for three generations as evidence and support for the sterilization of mentally handicapped individuals. In this particular situation, Carrie was sterilized under the condition that it would not threaten her general well being. (www. eugenicsarchive. org) After this instance, approximately 60,000 others were also coercively sterilized. (www. cato. org)