The Progressives and Topics for Reform

The time period from the latter parts of the 19th century and into the first couple decades of the 20th century there was a reform movement. This movement was centered on addressing different political, economic, and cultural questions that were brought forth by the rapid ascent in changes that were the product of the Industrial Revolution. Capitalism was also a concern as this experienced a dramatic growth in America that was not seen before. What started out as a social movement, turned into a political movement. This rapid change brought out the best and the worst of people and thoughts of how to fix, or reform the problems in a way that was the most beneficial. According to Theodore Roosevelt describing the Progressive movement and what they embody, “the movement which concerns itself with the rights of all women and men, especially with the welfare of all who toil.” This is what the Progressive movement was all about. There were changes in the culture, makeup, understanding, and direction the country was heading in that was causing alarm and the need for change was being called for.
Who were the Progressives? The Progressives were different collections of reformers that were motivated to improve problems of the late 19th century and early 20th century. These people were very educated professionals from highly populated areas who wanted to impact different problems such as social and political issues. As with any group of people they had many different ideas on what they saw and how to solve the problems. A majority of them were focused on different areas such as reforming government, business regulations, the improvement of working conditions, working for women’s rights to name a few. These groups of people are not much different than how parties of today, such as the Tea Party for example, come about and want to make an impact on what is going on in country and government and how can it be made better. Progressives and what was supported could be found