"Progressive" in the US - Stave One: Age of Enlightenment through Industrial Revolution.
First, the conclusion: IMO, most divisions and labels in this realm are arbitrary. A continuum of left to right always existed in every nation; and, more often than not, the left was on the right side of history and the right was not. For example, abolitionism did not begin with progressives and neither did compassion for the mentally ill or the notion that women should have rights. Moreover, I think the term "progressive" conceals more than it reveals. Now, the first part of the historical background.
The Idea of Progress - Age of Enlightenment-1620s to 1780s
"The Idea of Progress" began in Ancient Greece and revived, as did many classical concepts, during the Age of Enlightenment. In the U.S. the Age of Enlightenment spanned roughly the period from the Mayflower's landing on Plymouth Rock to ratification of the Constitution of the United States.
Mechanical, technological and scientific progress that improved the lot of humankind were a focus. The Hulk definition of The Idea of Progress might be "Advances good," or, as MSNBC put it, "Forward." Adherents included: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and abroad, Locke (a big influence on the Founders), Voltaire, Kant, Adam Ferguson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea_of_Progress
Industrial Revolution
As the Age of Enlightenment ended, the Industrial Revolution began, lasting through the nineteenth century. With industrialization, population was shifting from agrarian and rural to urban. Massive social changes resulted, as did greater impetus for social reform. (During this period, the first twenty-five Presidents of the United States served, from Washington through McKinley.)
In the years before the Civil War, sometimes referred to as the First Reform Era, social activists sought to reform working conditions and humanize the treatment of mentally ill people and prisoners. Others sought to escape society in general by establishing utopian communities. Abolition was a cynosure. During the Second Reform Era, women's rights and temperance were a focus and a farm movement began, a result of the declining importance of rural areas in an increasing industrialized America. With its roots in the Second Reform Era, progressivism held that man (people?) was capable of improving the lot of all within society. As such, it was a rejection of Social Darwinism. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1061.html
Social Darwinists believed that the strong should see their wealth and power increase while the weak should see their wealth and power decrease. Many Social Darwinists focused upon competition between individuals in laissez-faire capitalism. Others supposedly gave rise to ideas of eugenics, racism, imperialism, fascism, Nazism, and struggle between national or racial groups.
In 1883, William Sumner published What Social Classes Owe to Each Other, a very influential pamphlet. Based upon combining based on combining Darwinism and free enterprise capitalism, Sumner posited that the social classes owe each other nothing. According to Sumner, those who feel an obligation to provide assistance to those unequipped or under-equipped to compete for resources, will lead to a country in which the weak and inferior are encouraged to breed more like them, eventually dragging the country down. Sumner also believed that the best equipped to win the struggle for existence was the American businessman, and concluded that taxes and regulations serve as dangers to his survival. (Scholars debate whether or not Sumner embraced Social Darwinism. I don't care.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism
During the late 19th century, some began to think that progress was being stifled by vast economic inequality, largely unregulated capitalism, including monopolies and sometimes violent conflict between workers and capitalists. This form of progressivism influenced various political movements, including modern liberalism and progressive conservatism.
(I)n Germany, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck enacted various progressive social welfare measures out of conservative motivations to distance workers from the socialist movement and as humane ways to assist in maintaining the industrial revolution.[9] Proponents of social democracy have identified themselves as promoting the progressive cause.[10] The Catholic Church encyclical Rerum novarum issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, condemned the exploitation of labour and urged support for labour unions, government regulation of businesses in the interests of social justice, while upholding the rights of private property and criticizing socialism.[11] A Protestant progressive outlook called the Social Gospel emerged in North America that focused on challenging economic exploitation and poverty, and by the mid-1890s the Social Gospel was common in many Protestant theological seminaries in the United States.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism
Another source, however, says that Progressivism rejected the church as the driving force for change and looked instead to politics. Goals included removing corruption and undue influence from government through the taming of bosses and political machines; including more people more directly in the political process' and requiring government to participate in solving social problems and achieving fairness in economic matters. (Spoiler alert: not successful).
I love this:
The success of progressivism owed much to publicity generated by the muckrakers, writers who detailed the horrors of poverty, urban slums, dangerous factory conditions, and child labor, among a host of other ills..
Truthtellers = muckrakers.
Also (supposedly) debuting during this period were "classical liberalism" and "neo-classical liberalism." Classical liberalism is a form of liberalism that advocates civil liberties and political freedom with representative democracy under the rule of law and emphasizes economic freedom.
The term classical liberalism was applied in retrospect to distinguish earlier 19th-century liberalism from the newer social liberalism.[9]The phrase classical liberalism is also sometimes used to refer to all forms of liberalism before the 20th century, and some conservatives and libertarians use the term classical liberalism to describe their belief in the primacy of individual freedom and minimal government. It is not always clear which meaning is intended.[10][11][12]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism
.....
In the late 19th century, classical liberalism developed into neo-classical liberalism, which argued for government to be as small as possible to allow the exercise of individual freedom. In its most extreme form, neo-classical liberalism advocated Social Darwinism.[8] Right-libertarianism is a modern form of neo-classical liberalism.[8]
So, according to the sources cited above, anyway, the late nineteenth century was something of a political and social stew. Next: Progressivism after World War I, esp. Teddy Roosevelt.
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I think most people here want to learn. As much crap as some people give others about "too many blue links" or the absolutely horrible, "tldr," I think most of us want to learn.
Though some of us have to stop reading and take a nap before it's too late 
