Social Activism In The 1920's

In contrast of the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era was a response to the problems that were created by the Gilded Age. Unlike the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era did not support laissez-faire and rejected the idea of Social Darwinism. Thus in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt was elected president and came into office with his Square Deal policy. Included in this policy were Roosevelt’s three C’s - control

The Progressive Era from 1890-1920, was the response to the issues and injustices created by industrialization and modernization. The country had made sweeping advancements in the previous years, yet neglected to address the downfalls of the time period. However, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the United States as a whole, worked together towards achieving effective reform. Two of the main goals were restoring economic competition and making the government more effective and democratic. Although a lot of reform efforts were enacted, a large portion of those efforts fell short of fully achieving their purpose. Overall, the progressives did not effectively achieve their goals in regard to the economy and government.

The Progressive Era was an influential time period that helped shape America into the present day country. During this time period, businesses were expanding rapidly and a new set of political, cultural, social, and environmental reforms were emerging under progressive ideals. Although different people associated and supported with different reforms, all progressives during this period were working for the advancement of American society. Despite the ineffectiveness of progressive reforms from 1900-1920 in creating an influential political platform to transform national politics, reformers were very successful in gaining the federal government the power to regulate trusts and industries.

In the early 1900s in the United States, there was a time of reform at the national level. During the Progressive Era, specifically the years 1900 through 1920, the nation was going through many changes, especially with the different presidents: Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, and the limitations of labor and citizen life as a whole.

The Progressive Era that took place in the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s. This was a era in which the U.S. wanted to change the problems that they faced everyday. Social standings of many people were a vital part of this time, but many other problems that concerned the country were addressed. Some issues that this era covered were women’s rights and racism. Both still occur today and are huge problems. Though it has been roughly 100 years, the political issues have not made a drastic change.

The Progressive reform movement grew from the exposes of muckraking journalists who brought to the attention of the public many issues of society and government that people felt strongly about. All of the presidents of the time period, from Roosevelt to Wilson helped bring about reform, especially at the national level. Progressive Era reformers were moderately successful on the national level. Many bills were passed to help society, however, success was often limited by the fact that most reformers had little first hand experience at working in factories or felt no connection to certain causes because most reformers were middle class men and women. However, the success that they did achieve paved the way for future reform and helped to change the roles of the American people in the politics of their country.

Upon the arrival of the Progressive Era, America shared several common characteristics of the industrialized countries: drastically increased population, overcrowded cities, poor working conditions, and significant economic disparity. Three presidents - Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson - during the Progressive Era made essential domestic reforms and launched new foreign policies in order to construct America into a more prosperous country and a leading power around the globe.

The Progressive Era, lasting from the 1890s until the 1920s, was a chapter in American history that was characterized by social activism and countless reform movements. Political and social reforms were just two of the numerous movements that occurred during this time period. Although many political and social changes were introduced to America during the Progressive Era, there were also many continuities that transpired. The 17th, 18th, and 19th amendments are all examples of social and political changes that took place, but corruption and civil rights for African Americans continued to remain defective throughout and even after the Progressive Era.

The Progressive Era was a time of social reforms. Many people that lived during the Progressive Era joined these reforms and wanted a better lifestyle. The Progressive Era gave people a chance for their voice to be heard in their community. History should remember the Progressive Era as a time where people (African Americans) fought for civil rights, where workers created unions to fight for better working conditions, and where people wanted to have an opinion in how the government should be run. The Progressive Era should also be remembered for how women fought for their voting rights and employment opportunities. The Progressive Era was also a time that Theodore Roosevelt was President, and made was known for his “trust-busting” and responses to the health concerns of the people.

The Progressive Era was a time period of social activism and political reform that flourished throughout the United States. President, Theodore Roosevelt supported progressivism, he focused on increasing government control of economic affairs to stop businesses from gaining too much power by creating monopolies or by charging unfair prices for interstate commerce. After his presidency Roosevelt hand-picked William Howard Taft to take office and continue making progressive reforms. Taft continued to break up trusts, he broke up about 99 trusts but Roosevelt decided to run in the 1912 election because he believed Taft betrayed the reforms he proposed during his presidency. The successes and limitations created had an effect people’s lives such

American historians commonly refer to the period between the 1890s and the end of the First World War as the Progressive Era (Cocks, Holloran, & Lessoff, 2009, vii). The Progressive Era is mostly associated with the presidencies of Republican heads of state Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09) and William Howard Taft (1909-1913) but also, with Democrat Woodrow Wilson (1913-21). It is generally remembered as a time of political reforms and of governmental desire to tackle social evils and inequality.

Between 1890 and 1920 Americans were living in the era or period called “Progressive Era.” Progressive Era was a period of political reform, economic growth, and social activism in the United States. During the Progressive Era the industrialization increased, divorce rates increased and emigrates from rural region to urban region increased. There was a lot going on during this period; a great many things happened and bad to America societies. Progressivism movements also happened throughout Progressive Era. The simple definition of progressive Era can be the growth of America’s economy and the increase of problems in different societies, Problems like poverty, corruption, child labor, racism, greed, class warfare, high rate of divorce, safety

In 1908 the Supreme Court case Muller v. Oregano brought changes to the lives of women by passing a law that determined the numbers of hour woman is required to work. (Goldfield et al., 2013. This enabled women to spend more time home with their children. Children were also used and misused by being forced to work at very young ages in very dangerous conditions. Many children as young as six years of age were employed in garment factories, mines, and even on farms. The progressives fought for justice for these children. The National Child Labor Committee was formed in 1907 that abolishes child labor at both the state and nationals level (Goldfield et al., 2013). Flanagan (2007), noted that there were other factors affecting children from attending schools which included lack of parent’s ability to provide educational materials for their children. By 1914 almost all states have enacted the law that put a minimum age for a child to work, and further guaranteed that children who are age appropriate must work under safe

The 1920’s was a decade that was different from all the others. People and companies moved away from large cities to smaller towns because of the automobile. The economy was booming and American’s bought things like crazy. There was an increase in productivity because of electricity and things like cars, radios, phones, and washing machines were introduced. Movies became the most popular pastime during this decade. Prohibition did not work in this decade and crime went unnoticed. This decade showed a mass amount of political and social change which caused it to be much different than any other.

In United States, the progressive era was a period of extensive social reform, the time, which extended formally between 1900 and 1918. In the progressive era, Americans saw the campaign against child labour, the fight for work day, growth of suffrage movement of women and uses of cartooning and journalism in order to expose big business corruption. In addition, the early reformers who were involved in recovering rather than punishing children, in the beginning of 1899, it took noted by individual state of the issue of youth incarceration.