The Social Reforms of 1906
For most of the 19th century the British government did little to help
people who were in need. The dominant political idea of
“laissez-faire” means that the government “left things alone.” There
was also a feeling that poor people were to blame for their situation.
Most help for poor people came from charities not the government.
Before 1906, most of the help available for those in need came from
the “Poor Law” of 1834. There were too many people that needed help
from the government; the old, the sick, the poor, and the unemployed
that the government decided to take action. They looked after them but
they had to raise taxes to get the money to help them. Not many people
agreed with this idea, especially the rich who thought that they
shouldn’t pay for the poor. They claimed that helping the poor would
encourage them to be lazy and not work because they know the
government will pay for them. However by 1906 people began to agree
with the government. They realised that the government could not
ignore the poor any longer. The government introduced workhouses and
outdoor, relief where the poor could go to work and instead of getting
paid they where feed and clothed. If they could not go to the
workhouses because there wasn’t any spaces they government would then
transfer them to outdoor relief where they found them jobs.
The terrible effects of poverty got much publicity towards the end of
the 19th century. Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree set out to make
people more sympathetic towards the poor. They carried out two
studies: Booth in London and Rowntree in York. Booth got evidence from
house-to-house enquires, school records, census returns and interviews
who worked in his areas and wrote a series of books called “life and
labour of the People in London.” he said that being poor was earning
less than £1 a week to feed a family of five. He also said that
poverty, sickness, old age, unemployment, large families and low wages
introducing more tax on goods as they were in need of money due to the
Leonora M. Barry was born in County Cork, Ireland, on August 13th, 1849. She was raised by her parents, John and Honor Granger Kearney (en.wikipedia.org). Leonora lost her mother at an early age and faced many family hardships. But, she persevered and became a school teacher at the age of 15. In 1880, Leonora’s husband died and she was left to raise three children alone. Leonora needed money so she got a job in a factory where she worked for two years. The factory was a miserable place to work with terrible hourly wages. However, she needed the money to support her family. In 1884, Leonora Barry joined the Knights of Labor and campaigned to abolish child labor. Leonora was elected to travel to different factories and record her observations of poor working conditions in factories for women. She traveled to the biggest industrial cities. This task prompted Leonora to write “Organizing Women Workers.” () Leonora was also prompted to write the article by her personal beliefs and views. She had worked in a factory for two years making no more than 65 cents in her first week but she pushed through and stuck with that factory job for two years (www.patheos.com).
family did not make enough money to get better food than that. His family did not have
Presidents of the time didn’t help much on these issues due to the Laissez-Faire mind set they all had when it came to touching the economy and social issues. They all saw it as the people can control the money and each other all by themselves.Due to this set up the rich got richer and the poor got poorer and the injured got left behind.
Sean Lee. Ignoring the institution of slavery, look at the social change between 1815-1860, How did the US change socially and for what reason?
What major political changes did Western Hemisphere nations face in the nineteenth century? (The Earth and Its Peoples, 633)
Technology played an important role in the daily lives of Americans in the 1920s. Many inventions and new developments occurred during this time. A large number of items that are used today were invented by individuals and teams in research laboratories. This technology brought many conveniences such as electrical power and indoor plumbing into the home. Radios gave people access to the news and provided entertainment. Mass culture was also born and the automobile became the largest consumer product of the decade. By 1929, one in five Americans had an automobile on the road. America experienced a decade of economic growth due to the impact of technology in the 1920s.
Richard Hofstadter's The Age of Reform In 1955, Richard Hofstadter wrote his Pulitzer Prize winning book The Age of Reform, about the Gilded Age. Hofstadter’s arguments about the Populist and Progressive movements and their origins started debate and renewed scholarship on the Populist and Progressive movements. Many historians did not agree with Hofstadter’s arguments and published their own papers stating their conclusions based on their own research.
Reform was the goal of the Progressive movement, and with that in mind the reformers had great success. Progressive reformers were made up primarily of middle class men and women whose two main goals were to limit the trusts and to improve conditions of life and labor. These people were part of both political parties at the time, as well as in all regions of the country, and in all levels of the government. They wanted to remove bribed members of the legislature so that just laws and regulations were made that would benefit the people rather than the power-hungry corporations. This major movement altered all aspects of life creating a better living and working environment for people. The Progressive Era reformers and federal government developed the political, social, and economical elements for the better of the country.
The turn of the century, was a time in which politics was in shambles. The corruption in American politics was at an all time high. The so-called "big business" was overrunning a country, which wanted a real democracy, not government in which the people did not have a say. Although immigration was at an all time high, the country was in decline. The basis of the three presidents to come would be a platform for reforms. The reform policies of three presidents had an effect on an era.
Believe it or not, major events occurred in the 1870s. They did not go wild in their cowboy boots and hats riding along on their horses. The American people were expanding west and man was the controversy endless. Come on now, it’s drama, it can be dated back to the B.C. years. Of course the drama was all tied into politics. Politics in the 1870s consisted of changes, first time events, and two elections.
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 Age of Reform throughout 1825-1850 was a great turning point for American society. The ideas and beliefs throughout the reform movements greatly expanded the democratic ideals. Reform movements in the United States sought to express ideas through religion and education, start movements through abolition and temperance acts, expand beliefs by caring for the insane, and take a stand by speaking up for personal rights .
Though placing programs to help those Americans to get back on their feet, the money that was given to these programs was placed on budget cuts that would limit the amount of money given to each family for the month. According to welfareinfo.org, "an average expectation can be placed on a family of 4 receiving up to $900" a month, which may covers most of the expenses for the purchases of food and the renting of an apartment. However, if that family does not have the ability to obtain additional income, then the nine hundred dollars for a whole month will never help his or her family out of poverty. Additionally, for someone that has worked in a grocery store, a cashier can get a sense of average price to feed a family of four, which can be estimated between two-hundred and three-hundred per week. Especially with the cost of rent on top of grocery prices, it can really cause a family a lot of problems. To demonstrate these points, when looking back at Jo Goodwin Parker 's piece, "What is Poverty?", she provides a good idea of why poverty can be so painful: "it was, and is, seven-eight dollars a month for the hour of us; that is all I ever can get. Now you know why there is no soap, no needles and thread, no hot water, no aspirin, no worm medic.... none of these things forever and ever and ever" (Parker
History is an abundance of movements that demonstrate the changes in societal ideals and beliefs, it also conveys the struggle many people had to maintain conservative ideas. The 1920s was a major time frame when many changes occurred and began, it is the epitome of the struggle between a changing nation and the Conservatives who want it all to stay the same. The power struggle between the Conservatives and the rebellious members of society had been going on for years but it was the passing of the Volstead Act, which had kicked started the Prohibition, that created an explosive change throughout the society. Drinking became fashionable, everyone wanted to do it because it was forbidden. With one law being broken people began to break the societal norms; woman drank and smoked in public, blacks were becoming popular in society, and even the accepted religious facts were called into question. This disregard for the norms caused an uproar throughout society and were the main tensions between old and new ideal; the tension stemmed from the ideals about women, blacks and religion.