The Progressive Movement, lasting from 1901-1920, was a time of great change in America. Originating as a response to corporate and political corruption at the turn of the century, progressives emphasized improving American society by taming capitalism. However, with this political and economic reform came social injustice. While America made great strides towards new and more efficient business, banking, and politics, the early twentieth century showed conservative approaches to issues like racial, ethnic, and religious equality. Throughout the Progressive Era, the Federal Government passed a great deal of legislation in efforts to ensure a safer and more efficient nation. The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 modified and strengthened previous policies passed in the Sherman …show more content…
Thankfully that did not appeal to a wide enough audience. Not only did immigration scare some conservative progressives, but the fear of Catholics was very prevalent in the early twentieth century. American’s, a mostly protestant population up to this point, feared that if a Catholic were ever to serve as president, the Pope would be able to make decisions for the country, which would violate the separation of church and state. This was caused by the popular belief of Protestant supremacy. Shifting focus from religeon to segregation, the court decision of ‘'separate but equal' in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), had allowed segregation to thrive. The only racial progress made, was by African-Americans themselves, known as accommodationists. The basis of their idea was to advance through work and eventually the white man would come to accept the need for change. Yet, racial tensions were no longer limited to the South. In their attempts to find work in the North, the constant American phobia of job competition led to even greater social
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 fact that multiple reform movements were occurring in this era changing political, economic, and social aspects in society to protect the rights of the common man.
In the beginning of the twentieth century, the economy was booming, new technology flourished. The rapid industrialization brought achievement to the United States, however, it also caused several social problems. Wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of a few, and poverty and political corruption were widespread. As people became aware of these problems, a new reform group was created. Unlike populism, which had been a group of farmers grown desperate as the economy submerged into depression, the new reform movement arose from the educated middle class. These people were known as the progressives. The Progressive Movement was a movement that aimed at solving political, economic, and social problems. The Progressives were people from the middle class who had confidence that they could achieve social progress through political reform. The Progressives sought after changes and improvements in the society through laws and other federal actions.
Within the period of 1900-1920, many national reforms were rising to the top as Progressive Era reformers and the federal government heard the voices of the people. The effectiveness of Progressivism is a controversial subject for some, but the future was changed through the events of any actions a president made, the rights of people, and unfair treatment and conditions. This era brings changes to our society that also changes the future of it. These two decades brought forth successful times in bettering America.
The Progressive Movement The progressive movement of the early 20th century has proved to be an intricately confounded conundrum for American historians. Who participated in this movement? What did it accomplish, or fail to accomplish? Was it a movement at all? These are all significant questions that historians have been grappling with for the last 60 years, thus creating a historical dialogue where in their different interpretations interact with each other.
In order to have a better America, The Progressive Era was a time where activist and reformers from various backgrounds, had various agendas and reacting to challenges which faced the country. These challenges were rapid urban sprawl, immigration, corruption, industrial working conditions, growth of large corporations, women’s rights, surging anti-black violence and white supremacy (KKK) in the South. Some positive results of progressive movement were for women given the right to vote, to remove alcohol from communities and the establishment of the democratic voting process. In addition, Progressive activist took up a cause for legislation to address some of the troubling industries in America such as child labor, anti-trust, big business break ups and health and
In an era of addressing social issues and inequality, many African Americans were segregated and divided; they fought for justice but racial tensions still formed. The Progressive Era: a time of major movements of the American population. During the decades between the 1890s and 1920, Americans were faced with many challenges and in turn, they entered a modern era of change. The states and cities were experiencing a newly diverse and urban society. There were new technological advances and industrial economics were growing rapidly since the Civil War. Although, not all innovations made during this time were beneficial. With the large innovations in society and the progressive mindsets, the lives of African Americans dramatically changed. The
The Progressive Era is defined as the period of social activism and political reform in the United States that took place from the 1890s to the 1920s. Historians George Mowry, Gabriel Kolko, and Joseph Huthmacher all have different opinions and reasons as to whom the most influential Progressives were and what they reformed. Mowry does an excellent job explaining how the “solid middle-class” was the most impactful Progressives and how they reformed in attempt to create a classless society. Kolko expressed some good points as to why the big businesses were the majority Progressives, but only focused on business-government relations and didn’t look into social-justice. Huthmacher thoroughly explained why the urban lower class was the main Progressives and made good points on the “Bread-and-butter” issues.
During the Progressive Era, occurring from 1890 until 1920, progressives attempted to make many changes at a national level and were characterized by support for economic, social, and political reforms. By realizing the rapid industrial growth, poor class, and immigration, progressive’s goals were to relieve these issues and create laws that gave the common people more power. Progressive reformers gave significance to issues of black rights and also to women suffrage, however these issues had proved to be forgotten by Woodrow Wilson, whom of which was the president during this time. Although the reformers were not successful with these two issues, they seemed to be successful in improving much of the other negativity that had occurred during this era including the working conditions of the meat industry, child labor laws, and by changing the competition from large companies. In the end, all of these proved that the reformers turned out to be very successful in bringing reform to a national level. Along with these issues that the progressives tried to stop competition, they also fought many groups that tried to eliminate social classes along the way. Progressives were able to be successful in restoring economic competition, making the government more efficient, and stemming the tide of socialism.
The Progressive movement of the 1900’s was the most important event to occur in the United States during the twentieth century. Progressives at first concentrated on improving the lives of those living in slums and in getting rid of corruption in government. The goal was to make working conditions better for the workers. True reform needed to happen. The workers of America believed this to be the best nation with opportunities for all people. Reform started with industrialization. Workers needed healthy and safe places to work, especially for women and children who were considered vulnerable and weak during that time period. Women and children over 14 worked at meat trimming sausage making and canning. “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair in one example in which the appalling working conditions in the meat-packing industry was exposed. His description of the filth that was so apparent which shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws now known as the Food and Drug Administration. Progressives had started to attack huge corporations like the Armour meat-packing company for their unjust practices such as workers treated as “wage slaves”. Workers earned just pennies on the hour and worked ten hour days, six days a week. The unskilled workers are the ones who made and worked these long laborious hours. Therefore, unskilled immigrant men did the backbreaking and dangerous work, often in dark, unventilated rooms which were hot in summer and cold in with no heat in the winter. Many stood for hours on floors which were covered with blood and scraps of meat.
The progressive era was a time period that opened the eyes of Americans. Rapid growth and industrialization caused huge strains on the labor force and government intervention was needed. There were key moments that pushed the American people into a progressive state and key moments that spoke measures of the success they had. The progressive era was just the beginning of the movement and set the bar for the rest of the twentieth century on what was expected from the government and our presidents. Through the 20th century we have seen presidents that have come from opposite sides of the spectrum
Bounded by the end of the nineteenth century and the American entry into World War I, the Progressive Era brought dramatic changes to the nation’s economic, political, and social sectors. Progressives included both men and women from various ethnic groups, classes, and occupations who challenged traditional attitudes about the American way of life. The roots of Progressivism date back to the mid to late 1800s, when angry farmers and small business owners formed the Grange and later the Populist Party to confront unfair practices of big business. Progressivism appealed to middle and lower-class Americans who felt helpless against industrial giants like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, whose increasing power influenced politicians and the laws and regulations they sanctioned.
After looking closely at all four documents, the Progressive Era ended child labor, improved working conditions, and brought victory to women suffrage. Goals of the movement and people who took part in it have also been highlighted. It is concluded that Progressivism movement was effective and changing American values and lifestyles.
The Progressive Era, dated from about 1900 to 1920, is known for the reformers who brought about change at a national level. For the middle class, reformers were extremely efficient and effective in making progress. For other demographics, like women and African Americans, change did not come so easily. Although the Progressive Era was successful in reforming certain parts of the federal government and American society, like big business and workers’ conditions, there was still a lot of progress to be made with women and other minorities by the time the era came to a close. To a lesser extent, the economy was transformed due to an unprecedented amount of government intervention in the proceedings of large corporations. The Progressive Era was
During the Progressive Era in the United states, congress passed many legislative laws in order to address important social and economic issues. Due to urbanization in the big cities many health issues occurred especially in meat being sold to Two specifc ones are the Sherman Anti Trust and the Meat Inspection act.
The progressives where middle class people that where mostly composed of young people who wanted things to change, they believed that educating people was the best way to overcome a problem. They formed volunteer organizations that people would come to and they would educate them on what they thought the problem was with something. Some of the organizations I found where: (American Bar Association, U.S Chamber of Commerce, National Association for the advancement of Colored People, and many others. I think that they did this to increase the awareness of a problem and try to fight that problem with strength in numbers and educations, both are very strong weapons when tackling a problem.