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Progressive Movement

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Progressive Movement
Progressive Movement
The Progressive Era began as a social movement but had grown into a political and labor movement as well in the United States, from the 1890s to the 1920s. Their roots went as far back as to the Green Labor party and Populist. Although they were made up of different groups, the Progressives had one common goal: remove all corruption in the government by using the government itself. They sought to regain the power to the hands of the people from those of interest. Through hard work and determination, they created new changes in the government system with new amendments and other laws that gave power to citizens. Not only did they make progress politically but socially as well. Groups like the Muckrakers brought to light
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In the progressive movement vast changes were made politically and socially, however, these changes only went so far, therefore, many reforms were not successful and much had remained the same.
Progressive reformers set out to destroy corruption in the government. To do so, they believed many changes had to be made. They supported the “initiative” because it allowed voters to directly propose new laws. They supported the “referendum” because any law passed by legislature can be approved or vetoed by the people. Furthermore, they supported “recall” where the people could vote to remove an elected official from office if they saw them unfit. This gave much power back to the people because it gave them a voice in the government. It also forced elected officials to become responsible, attend to the needs of the people, and take part in making the government more efficient. Still unsatisfied, the Progressives reformers won the people the power of electing senators after convincing the U.S. congress to pass the 17th amendment in 1913. Before 1913, senators had been
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socially from the start. There were many successful reforms like the 18th and 19th amendment. The 18th amendment of 1919, supported by a large number of women, prohibited the production and selling of alcohol. Supporters believed it was harming Americans health and negatively affecting productivity. They also blamed it to cause criminal activities. After a long struggle, the 19th amendment of 1920 finally granted women suffrage. A group of journalist known as the “Muckrakers” made a large impact on the lives of citizens by bringing to social injustices. One of them was Upton Sinclair who noticed the way meat was being carelessly handled. He had shocked the nation they discovered the gruesome reality of the meat packing industry in Chicago when he published his novel “The Jungle”. As a result, disgusted by what he read, Roosevelt passed the Meat Inspection Act which required meat packing business to have federal meat inspections and be highly sanitary. Another precaution was the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 forbade the production of distribution of falsely labeled or adulterated food and

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