The Progressive Era's Affect on Modern America

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Recommended: How did women shape the course of the progressive era? To what extent did they benefit from the era’s reforms

Where did some of modern America's issues originate from? The answer to that is the Progressive Era. The Legislation of that era laid all of the groundwork for today, and much of it is still in public debate today. Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, three of the presidents from that era, all played roles in the groundwork. These presidents passed acts, tariffs, and amendments that are still with us, and debated today. The Progressive mind was run by the needs for reform. Reform was run mainly by women, who started feminism; a term meaning freedom for full person development. Women wanted to have the same rights as men. Women wanted the right to vote, and have some decision making within our government, because they felt like they were worth nothing. Moreover, women wanted to make more for their hard labor. Feminists fought for their right to vote, but they were not granted it until later years. Other reforms during this era consisted of a municipal reform which raised taxes in cities in order to get public services, and to help clean up the cities. There were also racial reforms, where blacks pushed to be treated the same as whites, and there was also a political reform started by La Follette to deny bosses the power to choose a political party's candidates. Today women have the right to vote and are treated much more equally to men in the workplace, there are laws in place reducing racism as much as possible, and because of La Follette candidates had to be voted in by a popular vote and this still holds true today. Along with reforms by citizens the presidents of the Progressive era also fought to make things right. President Roosevelt was a war hero, and a great leader of the United States. During his role as... ... middle of paper ... ...urned out to be helpful toward the workers then, and they continues to do so today. All the Progressive presidents helped set up today's economy and social policies. However, Roosevelt and Wilson had the most lasting impact on today. They esablished labor laws still in effect today, and both protected the consumers from high prices set by the Trusts. The Trusts were diminished of their powers during the Progressive era, and a stronger government was put into place. This further eliminated the Trusts' influences over the earlier weak government. Bibliography cook, Lisa. "minimum wage." labor laws 15 july. 2007. 4 oct. 2007 . Jones, Oliver. "clayton antitrust act." history central 17 july. 2000. 4 oct. 2007 . Memiman, James. "E. Coli recalls." USDA 29 sept. 2007. 4 oct. 2007 . No Author. "Pure food and drug act." wikipedia 23 March 2005. 4 oct. 2007 .

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