The Progressive Era Of The 19th Century

Many social movements throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries shaped the Progressive Era. Towards the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century the economy was thriving. Industrialization was blooming with new achievements that were being brought to America. However, many problems were also brought. The Progressive Era tackled these problems. The Progressive Era made an immense change on America’s economy and society. This Era was a time of extreme change. Major changes were made in the economic and political levels during the time of this era. Many of the problems were problems of the urbanization and industrialization periods. The Progressive Era had many successes and many failures, however, the successes overshadow the failures. The progressive era was a response to the problems that were caused by the movements after the Civil War, problems of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the era was successful in addressing problems such as public education, the Gilded Age, and living conditions.

During the Progressive Era, pressure from labor, suffrage, and conservation movements profoundly changed the course of American history. Many of the reformers' ideas clashed with the male-dominated, capitalist economic structure present at the turn of the century. Some of the intended reforms opposed the current system, but the level of social unrest necessitated change. Businessmen and activists alike initiated the reforms during the Progressive Era. Government, due to the intention of calming the common man and quieting the seemingly more and more vocal middle class, supported them. In the final analysis, from the year 1900 to 1920, Progressive Era reformers were successful in bringing about reform to the United States.

The Progressive Era was a time period between the years 1900-1920 and it marked a time in American history in which society was bursting with enthusiasm to improve life in the industrial age by making political and social changes through government action that ultimately led to a higher quality of life for American citizens. Progressives were known for their beliefs in limiting the power of big business, strengthening the power of the states, and were advocators against corruption and social injustice. These progressive reformers as well as the Federal Government successfully managed to improve the quality of life and establish a precedent for a move active government, although neither was completely successful in solving significant

At the turn of the century the United States of America was launched into the Progressive Era, which called for massive reform across a variety of areas such as, politics, social life, and economics. Through 1900 and 1920, progressive reformers in the presidency and congress brought about reform from the federal level to the national level.

Taking place in the United States between the 1890s and the 1920s, the Progressive Era was a period characterized by political reform and social activism. Due to the popularity of the Progressive ideals during this time period, American citizens elected for president candidates, such as Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, who subscribed to these ideals. Of the three Progressive presidents, Wilson was the most effective when it came to addressing the major issues of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as many reforms were enacted during his presidency, including reforms related to his “New Freedom” program, despite the controversy surrounding the majority of these reforms.

Daniel Zheng APUSH Wells March 4th, 2016 APUSH DBQ: Evaluate the effectiveness of Progressive Era and the federal government in bringing about reforms at the national level… During the period of 1900-1920, which is now also known as the Progressive Era, the United States witnessed many beneficial changes in hopes of improving the American lifestyle hence labelling the era as progressive. Not only did the reformers and the federal government succeed in major changes such as woman suffrage, they also managed to regain control from corporate powers that had formed monopolies during the Gilded Age. Furthermore, with the influx of immigrants through Angel and Ellis islands, the increase of child labor became one of the most prominent issues within large corporations. Precautions for basic sanitary and safety needs were not met hence not

In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of our felicities.” (Jefferson, 1801) This idea echoed far beyond it’s time and into the minds and hearts of the Populist’s, and became the center and the driving force of the Progressive era. During the gilded age railroads were being built, Industrialization was rising, the population of United States was increasing dramatically; and corporate businesses were becoming extremely

The very famous Theodore Roosevelt once said, “A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy.” From 1900 to 1918 the progressive era took America by storm. This era progresses reform and try to change the social activist way of thinking. We see how this era main goal was to eliminate corruption to make society whole. However, the first closest related factors-industrial, imperialism, and nationalism were being combined for a change in American history. People party was being formed, Wealth became a major issue, and equality was trying to be achieved. These major choices from the progressive era affected the Second Industrial Revolution in more ways than one.

The progressive era from the 1890s to 1900s was the time where changes happened in the government in order to eliminate unfair business practices from big businesses corporations, exploitation of labor, and political corruptions. To begin with, many large businesses were corrupt; resulted in the formations of monopolies and trusts taking obscene amount of money. These businesses worked together to take control of the industry and charged unfair prices due to small quantity of competitions. To balance the economic power of these big businesses, the public demanded the government to take actions; the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in order to “prohibit anti competitive practices and prevent unreasonable concentrations of economic power” (Encyclopedia).

Throughout the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, the United States saw a huge growth both socially and economically. The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era was a time when we saw great industrialization as well the construction of new railroads across the country. However, during the years of 1870-1900, known as the Gilded Era, this period was seen as a time filled with great corruption and uncontrolled politics and capitalism. Well-known author Mark Twain referred to these years of as the “Gilded Age” to reference how on the surface everything looked as though it was perfect or glittering, however beneath it all was corruption. (Mintz, S) Even though this era was known to have a great deal of corruption and scandals, it can also be seen that it was a time for development. A lot was changing and people were transforming from small town producers to urbanized workers. It is also to be considered as a time of economic and political reform. The last few decades of the 19th century will prove to be rough and challenging as people struggle to adapt to the new changes. As the turn of the century came, America entered into a new time known as the Progressive Era. During the early years of the 20th century Americans began to see political, social and economic reforms. There would be stricter laws on child labor, factory regulations were being improved, schools and playgrounds were being built and the corrupted politics were being replaced with more efficient

From the time of 1890- 1920 was the progressive era. In this time the American people experienced a very rapid industrialization in their major cities, where it grew not only with industrializing but economically as well. In this time we adopted many laws about working conditions that we still have today. For example, the government adopted laws about Jacob Riis and the photos he took, child labor, and women's suffrage movements. In the next few paragraphs I will explain to you why these three subjects are some of the most important things that happened in this time period.

The Progressive era was a time in America’s history when people started to call for the government’s help to face the problems industrialization brought. This era was extremely important because it helped the people achieve better conditions and helped the government to make better use of its powers. One of the most potent groups of progressivists were muckrakers; they used journalism to bring forward problems and injustices in society and the work industry (McKeown). The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was one of the most devastating industrial tragedies from the early nineteen-hundreds (McKeown). Over a hundred women died because they were unable to escape the building because of its locked doors and improper conditions (McKeown). Most of the

This time called for the elimination of monopolies, and by doing so, competition increases and the power of the business elite decreases. With a rising middle class living in fear of the controlling and powerful business elite and political machines, the government needed to intervene. Therefore, in the late 1890’s the government passed the Sherman Antitrust Act which banned industrial monopolies that limited competition. The law sought to increase competition in the sale of items and goods, thereby helping the middle and lower classes earn money without fear of dominance of the wealthy elite and trusts. However, the act had little effect because the wording was so vague. Consequently, progressives worked for a stronger law to prevent business abuses. Their answer came in 1914 when Woodrow Wilson and Congress set up the Federal Trade Commission whose goal was to stop illegal business practices. President Woodrow Wilson provided the US with most of its Progressive Era

Back at the 19th century, there was a young family contains parents, grandmother and two girls lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The father of the family get married with his wife when they were young. He was working as a Guard bum for the Air National Guard, and he lived around sixty miles south from Portsmouth with hundreds of men. Both parents allocate five years from their life to move around the country for the sake of the father’s work. However, when his wife got pregnant, he decided that they need to be settled. For this reason, he took his family to live with his mother temporary. The grandmother had more money than her son and his family, therefore, she offered him a piece of land in order to build a house on it. In addition, his wife was neither studying nor working; thus, the only Financial income for the family was the father’s salary which made the family live in difficult situation to accomplish.

The 14th century Renaissance1 was a transformational period in European history during which society experienced a resurgence of classical beliefs which altered Europe’s literature, science, religion, politics, and especially art. The word Renaissance is defined as a revival or rebirth; the period before, known as the Middle Ages, was characterized by feudalism, power of the Catholic Church, and plague. However, as a result of the widespread loss of life caused by the Black Death, there was a rapid growth of commerce, invention, and scholarship. Both men and women returned to classical values and its humanist style of thinking, the appreciation of human capabilities as opposed to the divine or supernatural matters, and ultimately worked towards becoming a “Renaissance man or woman”. Those people who spent their lives expanding their horizons embodied the core values of the period and influenced much of modern day society. Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the greatest of these Renaissance men; his principles and work- the Vitruvian man, cannons, the aerial screw, and the Mona Lisa- shaped the Renaissance in many ways: socially, politically, and theologically, and scientifically. His works not only represented the period, they affected the continuance of the Renaissance.