The liberal revision of American exceptionalism

During the Gilded Age, Americans faced for the first time the possibility of historical change, and the chance that America might turn toward socialism raised the issue of historical change in its most acute form. The major figures of the Gilded Age who remained powerful into the Progressive Era – John Bates Clark, E. R. A. Seligman, Albion Small, and Franklin Giddings – as well as newer voices th…