Progressive Generation

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Western Generations
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Term Period
Awakening Generation 1701–1723
First Great Awakening 1727–1746
Liberty Generation
Republican Generation
Compromise Generation		 1724–1741
1742–1766
1767–1791
Second Great Awakening 1790–1844
Transcendentalist Generation
Transcendental Generation
Abolitionist Generation
Gilded Generation
Progressive Generation		 1789–1819
1792–1821
1819–1842
1822–1842
1843–1859
Third Great Awakening 1886–1908
Missionary Generation
Lost Generation
Interbellum Generation
G.I. Generation
Greatest Generation		 1860–1882
1883–1900
1900–1910
1900–1924
1911–1924
Jazz Age 1929–1956
Silent Generation
Baby Boomers
Beat Generation
Generation Jones		 1925–1945
1946–1964
1948–1962
1954–1962
Consciousness Revolution 1964–1984
Baby Busters
Generation X
MTV Generation
 1958–1968
1963–1978
1975–1985
Culture Wars 1980s–present
Boomerang Generation
Generation Y
Internet Generation
New Silent Generation		 1977–1986
1979–1999
1988–1999
2000–2020

The Progressive Generation is a name coined by William Strauss and Neil Howe in their book Generations for that generation of Americans born from 1843 to 1859. The Progressives were caught in an odd warp of history, as the American Civil War saeculum did not have a Hero (or Civic) archetype.

The Progressives spent their childhood shell-shocked by sectionalism and the American Civil War. Overawed by older "bloody-shirt" veterans, they came of age cautiously, pursuing refinement and expertise more than power. In the shadow of Reconstruction, they earned their reputation as well-behaved professors and lawyers, calibrators and specialists, civil servants and administrators. In midlife, their mild commitment to social melioration was whipsawed by the passions of youth. They matured into America's genteel yet juvenating Rough Riders in the era of Sigmund Freud's "talking cure" and late-Victorian sentimentality. After busting trusts and achieving progressive procedural reforms, their elders continued to urge tolerance on less conciliatory juniors.

Altogether, there were about 22 million Americans born from 1843 to 1859. 27% of them were immigrants and 9% were slaves at any point in their lives.

The Progressives' typical grandparents were of the Compromise Generation. Their parents were of the Transcendental Generation and Gilded Generation. Their children were of the Missionary Generation and Lost Generation; their typical grandchildren were of the G.I. Generation.

Despite being overshadowed by Reconstruction, the Progressives did retain a powerful civic-minded instinct. Later in life they provide the turn of the century backbone for an era today called Progressive Era America.

[edit] Members

A listing of sample Progressives includes the following, with birth and death dates as this generation is fully ancestral:


The Progressives had four U.S. Presidents:

They held a plurality in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1893 to 1909, a plurality in the U.S. Senate from 1903 to 1917, and a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1911 to 1923.

Sample cultural endowments of the Progressives include the following:

[edit] Foreign Peers

Preceded by:
Gilded Generation
1822 – 1842		 Progressive Generation
1843 – 1859		 Succeeded by:
Missionary Generation
1860 – 1882
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