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The progressive movement, ignited from the depression of 1890, caused a wide gap between the rich and the poor. Progressives sought to aid the poor and believed that the government is to successfully fill its devoted right to “promoting the general welfare.” Their goal was to stop corrupt politicians and ignite the government to be more efficient. From this, the progressive movement formed political reforms in order for the “people” to be heard. They wanted the rise of direct democracy, in which the people would vote for the senators, not the state legislatures. This way the people would be heard, not the legislatures, which ignited the passage of the seventeenth amendment. Although some progressive achievements were fulfilled, others, failed
The first of the Progressive amendments is the 16th Amendment. Approved by the Senate in 1909, it introduced the graduated income tax where a person’s taxes increase relative to his or her income. Specifically, the tax charged 1 percent of incomes over $20,000 and a maximum of 7 percent on incomes over $500,000 (Walter Nugent, p.86). It was brought about after the 2 percent tax on incomes over $4,000 tariff in 1894, and was supported by President Taft, Southern and Western farmers, and the Progressives (Foner, p. 718). They believed respectively that the government should wean off obtaining money from tariffs, and that the income tax should fairly correlate to a person’s income. Moreover, it was believed that the amendment would ameliorate the drastic income disparity, and that it would provide the government with more revenue for its increasing state budgets.
Without the populists, the progressive movement would have never been able to complete so many accomplishments. Progressive party did not last but its goals, similar to the populist goals, become influential in the future. The progressive movement was overall a more overcoming movement. It took the populist ideals and influenced them in order to become successful during the progressive movement rather than in the populist. If the populist had an expanded argument rather than just based on farmers, then they could have been more successful in setting out their goals.
All of these amendments drastically reformed the United States on a national level. This was done for the betterment of the nation, and the lives of the citizens of the United States were changed forever. From the year 1900 to 1920, Progressive Era reformers were successful in bringing about reform to the United States in many ways. With the addition of various acts and laws to the United States, the reformers successfully improved the lives of the workingman. Not only that, they also made the United States more technologically advanced.
The Progressive Movement that occurred during the early 20th century was a time of major reform in the United States of America. During this time, there was a group of activists that referred to themselves as the Progressives, and they sought to change society for the people. The way that they intended to do this was change through their ideals of democracy, efficiency, regulation, and social justice. With this movement came the election that changed the course of America’s history “…demonstrating a victory for progressive reforms as both Progressive candidates accounted for 75 percent of all the votes” (Bowles). The candidates in this election were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
Cities and industry grew in growth on the first of January in 1900 which created an influx of the high classes. Andrew Carnegie is a factory owner who was about to sell his steel company, but ended up becoming one of the richest man in the world. However, there was an underside of this whole excitement to earn money and the hope of the American dream. Average earnings were less than $500 a year, but in the unskilled southern workers earned an average of $300 a year. The work hours were 60 hours a week, wages were strained, and horrible child labor. The question is what was the most important problems in America during the early 1900s that needed to be addressed by The Progressive Movement. There are three main reasons: the struggling child labor, women’s voting rights, and
In the late 1800’s a group of Americans decided that something needed to be done about the decline of moral and ethical values in most Americans. These people called themselves the progressives and started one of the most comprehensive reform movements in the United States to this day. Progressivism became so widespread that by the end of World War I, anyone who didn’t agree with Progressive ideals was labeled a communist. The Progressives had four major goals that they wished to accomplish. These four goals were to democratize America, to Americanize America, the humanization of capitalism and rationalization of the economy. Each goal dealt with a different aspect of America’s society that the Progressives thought needed help. The way these goals were accomplished was to get laws passed that would reform the practices of many Americans. Progressives held that in order to bring American back to its old time, rural values people would need to attend church more.
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 era was a time of enormous changes that flourished in the United States. Activists demanded a reform in education, technology, science, and Democracy. Purification of government was the main goal, and it was during this time that progressives made “scientific” the social sciences, especially history, economics and political sciences (http://www.iep.utm.edu). It was also during this era (1890’s-1920’s) that the Federal Reserve System was founded. The 16th through 19th amendments, the Food and Drug Act, and Federal Trade Commission were also put into play. It wasn’t until World War I that such drastic change started to slow. Amidst all this change existed an amazing woman by the name of Jane Addams; a political activist and pragmatist whom made enormous social and economic changes to the United States. It wasn’t until the late 20th century however that she was properly recognized as one of the most influential philosophers and sociologists of her time (http://americanhistory.unomaha.edu).
The progressive era was a period of social activism and political reform in the United States. The political climate was ripe for reform and America was seeking leaders who could provide a new, more beneficial direction. Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were two of the most renowned presidents of this era. One kindred goal of both of these presidents was to monitor and rectify large trusts and monopolies in the U.S. Despite the fact that Wilson and Roosevelt’s domestic policies were correlative of each other, their foreign policies were very different from one another.
The Progressive Era was a period of social and political reform beginning in the post Gilded Age 19th century and lasting through WWI. Industrial and urban growth of early 19th century America while representative of opportunity and future advancement simultaneously posed many difficulties for working class citizens. Prior concerns over the conditions of working class citizens were multiplied and magnified by overpopulated and impoverished urban communities. During this era many new Progressive agendas were introduced with the goal of reforming dated and unregulated policies, the most prominent of these, the birth control movement. The documents from chapter six of Constructing the American Past show that at its core, the birth control debate was a multifaceted social dispute with, religious political and racial influences.
Filene wrote “An Obituary for “The Progressive Movement”” in direct response to Hofstadter and other historians that there was never a Progressive ‘Movement.’ He argues that most historian are too caught up in defining Progressivism that they do not consider what it means for something to be a movement. He states that a social movement is a group acting to cause change or to stop change. Filene argues that there was never a movement, that society and progressives were too fractured to act as one group.
Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, former presidents of the United States in the early 1900s, have impacted America deeply with their domestic policies. These two presidents had some similar views; however, the vision that these two presidents had were executed differently. Theodore Roosevelt, a progressive and conservationist, believed in creating a powerful nation and assisting the employees in businesses. Woodrow Wilson, a progressive and idealist, believed in trying to make the world a peaceful place. After Roosevelt’s term, William Howard Taft was president for one term. After that term in the Election of 1912, the Republican party split into the Progressive party and the Republican Party due to both, Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft respectively, wanting to run for office. Due to this party split, the Republicans lost the election to the Democrats (Doc E). This led to Woodrow Wilson winning the Election of 1912. These men had great aspirations for their nation, and their domestic policies on Progressive reform helped affect the government’s role in American lives.
Thesis The Progressive Era and the New Deal Era had a significant amount of similarities with policies and programs to reform the American society and improve lives and fight poverty in America. Although the Progressive and New Deal Era had many similarities, there were still differences between them. Both the Progressive and the New Deal Era’s main goal was to improve American society. Both of the Progressive and New Deal’s accomplishments were rooted in the economic depression and the need for change before the era, the Guilded age in the 19th century for the Progressive era, and the Great Depression for the New Deal era. As the Guilded Age was ending, and the Progressive Era was emerging, most American families had to live with the harsh reality of sweatshops, slums, child labor, corruption in government and businesses, disease, and racial prejudice.
By 1891 the movement had gained sufficient strength to warrant a national political party. The alliances joined with the Knights of Labor and other groups to form the People's Party, whose members were called Populists. The principal objectives of the Populists were the free coinage of silver and the issuance of large amounts of paper currency; such inflationary measures tended to raise farm prices and enable the farmers to pay off their debts, most of which had been contracted during the period of inflation following the American Civil War. The party adherents of the progressive movement (called progressives whether their party affiliation was Democratic or Republican) endeavored to make government organization and processes on the federal, state, and local levels more democratic and to foster legislation that would directly benefit the people economically and socially.