Effects Of The Progressive Era

Through a multitude of significant changes physically, conceptually, economically, and more, the societal reformation of cities in the Progressive Era had set themselves as the foundations of American civilization. The juxtaposition between the rich and poor statuses in these urban areas show the drastic separation within developing cities. Through this division caused a wide variety of living conditions, the majority of which held the overcrowded sections of cities where the population mostly stayed while the higher end communities had more luxurious lives. Through this success of entrepreneurship and economic growth from all aspects in cities, the entire landscape, both physically through innovative architecture and the perspectives outside rural and suburban areas had on them, had transformed for the better in these areas.

As the Gilded Age was ending, and the Progressive Era was emerging, most American families had to live with the harsh realities of sweatshops, slums, child labor, corruption in government and businesses, disease, and racial prejudice. People started to realize that change and reform were needed, that was when muckrakers came in trying to expose and show citizens the corruption in government and business, and also the terrible conditions of the working class Americans. Soon after the muckrakers published numerous articles, books, and photographs, people demanded change. Through individual and group actions, they were able to achieve this and get policies and programs enacted.

The progressive era was a time period during 1890-1913 when the United States was at the tip of changing its lifestyle to something better for everyone, especially the poor. During the 1920s, 105 million immigrants had come to the United States hoping for a better lifestyle, however that brought a drastic change in the demand of products needed in the US, which led businesses to focus on the quantity, rather than the quality. Although this urbanization brought industrialization, most of those immigrants were disgusted by the kind of lifestyle they lived which Muckrakers helped improve. Muckrakers, a term used to call those people who bring awareness to the corruption in our society during that time period and were often journalists. This name

The Progressive Era occurred between the 1890s to the 1920s and included the cleanness of government and tried to expose and undersell political machines. This was also the time of the women's suffrage. The emphasis on female freedom and empowerment encouraged women to exercise their newly won right to vote. (Of the People pg. 674). The main adjustments were to industry, education, and family. Huge improvements took place to update the government and economy. After the wartime presidency with Woodrow Wilson, there had been a number on feuds of the Democratic Party such as the KKK. There spilts resulted in Republican victories. By the end of the decade, the Democratic

1. The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, was a cause for some forms of Progressive-Era legislation, such as the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Jungle depicted a terrible scene of how animals were slaughtered mercilessly. According to the excerpt, "The shriek was followed by another, louder and yet more agonizing — for once started upon that journey, the hog never came back; at the top of the wheel he was shunted off upon a trolley, and went sailing down the room.

The middle and working classes were looked down upon by the wealthy capitalistic upper class. Muckrakers shed light on the shady business dealings the capitalistic upper class dealt in, and the corruption of politics. The society they showed made many Americans felt as though the fundamental principles and promises were violated. This is how progressivism was formed; a way to fix the broken society that many Americans now suffered in.

The era of progressive reform was short, 1900 to about 1917, but much was accomplished and done in this short time span. Evils like child labor and social ills were thought curable by progressive optimists like John Spargo and Upton Sinclair but the main focus was urban America. The progressive reform movement was a period of awareness where people sought to change the injustices of society for example, Anti-Trust laws, recognition of environmental destruction and conservation of national park land, and improving the American way of life through significant areas of reform like women’s suffrage.

The drive to reform the working and living conditions of the poor in American cities heralded the advent of the Progressive Era, in which social and political activism and reform aimed to reconcile issues of Reconstruction. Writers like Upton Sinclair described ghastly conditions in American factories. Their stories caught the nation’s attention, and political as well as labor action followed. Progressive politicians such as Theodore Roosevelt aggressively sought to reign in the excesses of monopolies. They viewed monopolies as using unfair leverage to hurt

The progressive movement was primarily a reform movement. The movement was pivoted to cure many of the problems of the American society that had developed during the great emission of industrial growth in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In this Era, the boundary had been restrained, great nations and businesses developed as well as overseas empire established but all citizens were entitled to share the new wealth, optimism and prestige. Therefore, the main goals of the movement were to eradicate the problems cause by immigration, urbanization, industrialization as well as corruption in the government. The movement was succeeded by several progressives who included politicians, writers as well as social welfare advocates who ensured that society would develop as a result of government action.

The Progressive Era was a period between 1890-1920, where many social and political reforms were made. Though many reforms were made, not all of them were successful. Theodore Roosevelt, Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson governed during this era. Some of the reforms passed by these Presidents were the 16th amendment which gave Congress the power to pass income taxes and the 18th amendment which was passed due to the Temperance movement, leading to alcohol being prohibited. The 19th amendment was also passed, which gave women the right to vote. Theodore Roosevelt also made a program called the Square Deal, which focused on three aspects: Consumer Protection, Conservation of Natural Resources, and Control of Corporations. Many reforms went under the Square Deal such as the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act. During the Progressive Era, there was a lot of effort to make reforms. Although the government failed to protect workers right and make

The Progressive Era was a thirty year period in which the United States was completely reformed. Actions were taken to improve working conditions for laborers, create a sexually unbiased work system and regulate the economy. President Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson both helped create a more direct democracy in which the people would have a voice. During those thirty years, amendments 16 to 19 were ratified to regulate and reform the country. Muckrakers were writers who worked for the printing companies exposed the public to all of the corruption that was occurring both openly and behind closed doors. By exposing the public to the corruption, American society was enlightened and inspired to reform itself.

The beginning of the twentieth century was a time of great social change and economic growth in the United States. The progressive era was a time in which Americans were innovating in social welfare. In the progressive period the government needed to take action in the role of economy, regulating big business, immigration, and urban growth. Once the great depression happened in which America’s economy faltered people started to panic. For Americans the main issues asked were how to make society work more efficiently. The great society era was a time of optimism after the post-world war II occurred. The creations of new federal programs were developed for those who were in need due to poverty, being disabled or old age.

While Progressives reformers worked for change in many different areas, the improvement of society was one of their most important goals. In terms of society, Progressive reformers wanted to focus on three specific areas. These areas were education, sanitation in tenements or housing, and conservation of the environment (heritage.org). Progressives wanted education to be based on hands on learning, and that experience is the best teacher (Hayes). John Dewey and some others created a form of Progressive education that was based on teaching young kids how to live along with other knowledge (Hayes). Sanitation for many of the crowded tenements in urban areas was lacking (Caswell). Muckraker Jacob Riis looked to change this and with the publishing of his book How the Other Half Lives (1890), New York and some other states began to pass building safety codes such as the New York State Tenement Housing Act (Caswell). The conservation movement that commenced because of the Progressive party would not have been successful without Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt and John Muir together were able to alter the public’s view of American lands (memory.loc.gov). Roosevelt worked together with Congress to pass many acts that preserved America’s beauty such as the American Antiquities Act

In my opinion, the most important reform during the Progressive Era was his antitrust policy. Monopolies and trust, most of the time are very bad for consumers. First, because their is only one company controlling them, they can set any price they choose regardless of the demand, because they know that the consumer has no other choice whatsoever. Considering this, they will raise cost for consumers leading to inflation. Now, one of the many problems caused by this marketing controlling, is that sadly, they have no economic reason to improve or revolutionize their product, which means that as long as they are up, consumers will not have any new product coming from them. Being so, when Teddy Roosevelt created the antitrust act, he immediately

The term Progressivism implies a philosophy that promotes change/reform in the current political, economic, and social aspects of society while conservatism stresses gradual change in society but promotes tradition rather than change. The Progressive movement from 1901 to 1917 worked to improve aspects of society that grew out of problems which occurred during the Industrial Age. The goals of the "Progressives" were to stop monopolies, corruption, inefficiency and social injustices. Both progressive acts and amendments were being passed to deal with social ills, corruption in politics and corporate America. The period from 1901-1917 was more a victory for liberalism, mainly "modern liberalism", than a triumph of conservatism due to the