Preview

The Progressive Era

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1003 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Progressive Era
The Progressive Era

Progressivism in the United States took place in the period between the
Spanish-American War and the entry of the United States into the great World War. It was a time for change in America in all walks of life, as well as a time for reform. It was marked by Theodore Roosevelt's 7 and a half years in office, the
Rough Rider put it upon himself to make the first strides towards reform. These reforms included the cracking down on illegal monopolies and so forth. During this era large cities transformed into large metropolises, small towns into large cities and new towns sprang up nearly everywhere. Reforms also included the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth amendments. The progressive era really had significant impact in America's history. The progressive movement had many origins. One of these was the battle against governmental corruption and inability, in other words a struggle for civil services reform. The progressive movement was initiated by liberals in both political parties, the fight for government reform can be traced back to
Liberal Republicans(An Oxymoron, Mr. Jetel?) during the Grant administration and
Mugwumps. Citizens were enraged, with big businesses' growing influence in all branches of government and sought ways to purify it. Big Business was also a target of progressivism. During this time presidents like Roosevelt and William Howard Taft tried to regulate and control big business. Many well educated people of the time, as well as moderately prosperous businessmen and members of other professions(middle class) felt threatened by the increasing power of big business and the tycoons. These people were also disturbed by the Big business' influence in politics, making a mockery of the democratic system. Then with the failure of the interstate commerce act and the Sherman act, made big business look unstoppable. As the middle class in
America began to develop and grow, they gained power. They were the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Progressive Reform Era

    • 504 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the beginning, "The Bungalow craze did not arise in a cultural vacuum, but was one expression of a boarder artistic movement at the turn of the century known as Arts and Crafts" (110). In the nineteenth century, the Progressive reform era promoted simple architectural styles. As the era progressed society changed living styles. But did they keep them conservative or radical? "The Bungalow's appeal was also related to dramatic changes overtaking women in late nineteenth century" (111). The supporters of the Bungalow style of architecture were radical because of the progression or era, and simplicity that proceeded throughout society.…

    • 504 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Progressive Era was a response to the ills done by the Industrial Revolution, both economical and political, which consisted of educated middle and upper class people. Many of their goals were accomplished mainly due to the influence and publicity from “muckrackers” whom depicted the horrors of factories, the abundance of child labor, the appalling conditions in urban slums, among other social problems. Notably this portrayal from the muckrackers displayed the great difference in living conditions between the poor and wealthy hence, prompting the advocacy of national Acts such as the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 which was an attempt to “break up monopolies” (Shultz 2014, 342). Another goal at the time was the fight for woman suffrage…

    • 185 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Progressive Era Activities

    • 1258 Words
    • 6 Pages

    During 1894, through 1915, Americans began to have more leisure time than their predecessors.* The main reason for this was industrial employers decreased working hours, and cut the work time on Saturdays in half.* Vacations began to be offered to workers as a gift from their employers, although most vacations at this time were unpaid. The workers soon became overworked. During the time of shortened work hours, they were made to work harder, and faster; this led to the desire in the worker to have leisure time away from their job and away from the city.*…

    • 1258 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Progressive Agenda

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In reading excerpts of Michael McGerr’s A Fierce Discontent, it appears that the goal of Progressivism was a middle class agenda to transform America to the middle class life style. The middle class appeared to be afraid that they were going to be stuck in the middle of the big corporations that had sprung up and the vast number of new immigrants. It appeared that their goal may have been to turn the immigrants into middle class citizens like themselves. It seems that the Progressive Party of 1912 was made up of a lot of “do good” people, and in a sense it was. There were people like Theodore Roosevelt, Jane Addams, Lillian Wald and Carrie Nation, just to name a few. The platform of the Progressive Party was long and covered a lot of social and industrial justice issues including women’s suffrage, child labor laws and the shorter work day and week. It also covered issues like conservation, administration of justice, and health and the high cost of living. (Progressive Party Platform, 1912) All these issues were important to the party and to the American people. Even though they lost the election of 1912, supporters of the party, no doubt with good intentions tried to individually work at turning America into a middle class society.…

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Industrialization, Immigration and Urban expansion were some elements that characterized the growth of the US. Moreover, great businesses were developed, and also cities. Many Americans were concerned about their future and how their lives where heading. This is when the movement known as progressivism was born.…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    During The Progressive Era

    • 2287 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Starting into the 20th century the people knew that the Gov’t had to take more responsibility and they could’t have any more laissez-fare officers…

    • 2287 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    America is a country that lets in thousands, nearly millions, of immigrants each year. In fact, approximately 3,687,564 foreigners arrived in our country between the years 1891 and 1900. The United States’ biggest cities, including New York City and Los Angeles, have grown from international ports to diverse metropolises that hold hundreds of cultures. There have been several acts put in place by the government to control the influx of immigrants. People looking forward to coming to the United States to escape religious prosecution or to start a new life are being stopped by the government. Are we stopping brilliant minds from making inventions to institutionalize the world by not letting them through our borders? Or, is the government limiting the immigration of people to save jobs to American citizens?…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    when one era was ending in America and another was beginning. We felt it then, in the many ways our…

    • 164806 Words
    • 660 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Reform: look at what went wrong, change bills and laws FDR's vision of government – willing to try anything, throw out acts if they don't work.…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Progressive Reformers

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Progressive movement has had a tremendous impact on society and preserving the doctrine of a democratic nation. The Progressive Era, which initiated between the years 1890 through 1920, was instituted because progressives who wanted to rid politics of corruption and inefficiency. Progressives wanted to curtail the power of the business trusts, and protect the general welfare of the public. The Progressive name derived from forward-thinking or "progressive" goals that its supporters sought to advance.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Nirvana’s” hit song “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Cobain pokes fun at the idea of revolution in lines such as, “Load up on guns, bring your friends It's fun to lose and to pretend.” This sarcasm however, actually epitomizes the mindset of those who lived in The Nineties (Smells 1). Although the 1990’s are often generalized as decade comprised of cheesy TV sitcoms and delicious Dunk-a-roos, upon digging deeper into the ethos of the era’s youth we can determine that the 90’s played a crucial role in the development of The United States today. Numerous elements contribute to the progressive mentality of the 1990’s such as cutting-edge technology, a vogue and self-conscious youth, readily available media, and a longing for social justice and equality…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Progressivism was a movement in the early 20th century characterized by a combination of political and social ideologies that covered a wide spectrum of social aspects including civil rights social justice and also political movements such as liberalism and social democracy. The common denominator linking all these ideologies was the desire to curb capitalistic excesses, rapid urbanization and dynamic industrialization characteristic of the early 20th century (Ruiz, 1989). The progressive movement gained root in America in the early twentieth century and was characterized by political attitudes which increasingly reflected the need for progressive social and economic reforms. Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt were the main faces of the progressive movement at that time and were also the main front runners in the dramatic presidential election of 1912. Both men championed for progressive reforms but each adopted a different approach towards achieving the same.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Progressivism started as a social movement and grew into a political movement from the 1890’s to the 1920’s. The early progressives rejected social Darwinism. During the Progressive Era, American society was struggling with the growing pains of fast transformations. Not only did the Industrial Revolution change American society, but this also happened right after the United States succeeded in removing it from a long and bloody Civil War. Workers started to hate shopping management, so they argued that it led to the speedup. Which then came to the conclusion of pushing workers more in less time, for less pay. But plenty progressives made the increased productivity of Taylor’s system. The politicians who became premier progressives did not lead.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    progressive era

    • 683 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the Gilded age the people of the united state started to grow industries, the production was iron and steel and it grow dramatically then a wave of immigrants came to America and started working. But this immigrants didn’t had the right’s to be free in the streets because they were controlled by the police powers this people from the government that want this immigrant to work hard and to work for hours instead of just 5 hours , they had to work days and night no stop and some of this immigrants started dyeing. The mole immigrants started working on the western resources some of this resources were lumber, gold, and silver and they increased the demand for improved transportation. Then the immigrants that worked on the industry’s had come from Europe some of his immigrants brought their kids and wife’s the kids had to work on the factories because of their small hands and the women’s had to work there to ,then for the men had to work on the railroad and on the making of steel.…

    • 683 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Following Reconstruction in the war torn South, and the Sioux Wars in the West, America was enjoying an industrialization period unlike any other. Nearly gone was the frontier, industries coming in, with men gaining unheard of wealth, and having leverage in many affairs. With the Robber Barons in control over the nation's economy, and men like Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller, what occurred is that corruption and graft greatly influenced American industry and business between 1860 to 1900. However, labor organizations such as the Knights of Labor and AFL made steps in labor reforms and other government laws attempted to limit monopolies.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays