Conservative Progressivism? Michael Cunniff, Federalism, and the Founding of Arizona

Michael Cunniff was one of Arizona’s most influential founders, serving at the 1910 Constitutional Convention and as state senate president in its early legislative sessions. At this high tide of progressivism in both the state and the nation, Cunniff—always described as progressive—sought to build a political society in which an active state government worked for the public good within the framework of American federalism. He sought to bridge direct democracy and constitutionalism, using the former not against the latter but against legislative capture or judicial overreach imposing policy preferred by big business. He was an ally of labor but viewed the movement with suspicion and celebrated free enterprise. In embodying these tensions, Cunniff illustrates a conservative progressivism that did not seek sweeping social, economic, or constitutional change, as many scholars have argued of progressivism, but more modestly sought to readjust institutions to restore them to an earlier balance.