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"Progress is merely a modern idea, which is to say, a false idea."

In the United States, the idea seems to date back at least to the early years of independence:

"I accost an American sailor, and I inquire why the ships of his country are built so as to last but for a short time; he answers without hesitation that the art of navigation is every day making such rapid progress, that the finest vessel would become almost useless if it lasted beyond a certain number of years."

Alexis de Toqueville, "Democracy in America," 1840

If you're interested in the history of the idea of progress there is a great journal article, by John Gray (Oxford philosopher), on the history of the idea of progress:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20027925?seq=1#page_scan_tab_co...