However, failure in the Missouri Pacific Railroad strike in 1886 and the Haymarket Square Riot of the same year quickly eroded the Knights' influence. ... Most of the social welfare measures advocated by progressives had to wait the New Deal years for passage. ...
Progressive Movement: Middle class influenced by Darwinian revolution, focusing on problems created by expanding industrial world. Realistic, ie took surveys and such. Henry George's Progress and Poverty and Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward set precedent. Believed world in flux, so rebel against f...