A Study Of The National Municipal League In American Progressive Era

After the civil war,the American economy developed rapidly.At the end of the19 th century,the industrial output of the United States jumped to the top in the world,and the United States changed from an agricultural country to an industrial country.Industrialization has promoted the development of urbanization and the urban population has continued to grow.A large number of European immigrants traveled to the United States,and the rural population continued to flood into the cities.The city government is heavily intervened by the state government and its power is very limited.American elites are keen to chase wealth and indifference to urban politics,leading to the rush of professional politicians "City Bosses." The city government under the control of city bosses is prevalent in corruption and cannot adapt to the ever-changing development of cities.The chaotic situation in the municipal sector has attracted widespread attention from the society,and people are eager to change this situation.The United States in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries was in progressive era,and the wave of reforms across the United States was on the rise.In the field of municipal reform,social reformers began to set up the organization to reform the city government.The National Municipal League was an organization dedicated to municipal reform at that time.The National Municipal League advocates cracking down on the power of city bosses,reforming the electoral system,expanding the power of the mayor,and getting the city government out of the state government to obtain urban autonomy and implement the city manager system.A series of measures taken by the National Municipal League have made the American city government clean and efficient,and urban corruption has been fundamentally improved.The National Municipal League still exists today and has a far-reaching impact in promoting the transformation of the city government into a good government.Based on the collections and publications published by the National Municipal League,this paper deeply interprets the original materials and elaborates on the background,process and specific operational mechanism of the establishment of the National Municipal League.The reform measures and reform ideas proposed by the National Municipal League were elaborated.The case study method was used toanalyze the implementation effects of the reform concept of the National Municipal League in New York City and Chicago.This will comprehensively evaluate the role played by the National Municipal League in urban reform.The study of the National Municipal Alliance can provide reference for the urban reform of countries in the transition period.