What is progressive era? ?

Nanigan

Consider it the US's *government's* version of the enlightenment. it was a socialistic spirit that shifted the US away from its traditional practice of having little influence over its citizen's lives to having an increased sense of responsibility. the industrial revolution and the spanish american war are huge factors in america's recognizition that the country deeply needed policy changes, and teddy roosevelt was a huge force in making this happen.

around the turn of the century america became more receptive to reform measures that were intended to improve social, labor, and business conditions that spiraled out of control after the industrial revolution boom. businesses were exploiting factory workers and child laborers, and there were little safety or health regulations in industries that manufactured products like canned food. Because of the spanish-american war around 1898, which the US claimed to be involved in for humanistic reasons (spain was treating its colonies in the bahamas like dog poop), people were wanting a similar humanistic treatment AT HOME. they thought, well, if the government is telling us that the war is being fought to spread democracy (sound familiar? bush was not the first to use this to fight a war), shouldn't we focus on those ideals at home? the way the US did *not* extend the basic elements of democracy to its own people--like the right to vote for women--but spent millions to "save" the "helpless" ppl in puerto rico, pissed a lot of people off because the US, up until that point, did not involve itself with other countries. it was all about isolation. i think this event added fuel to the flame and pushed the public toward being more tolerant to reform. things were a changing, and the US has always had a sense of entitlement, that "why not me too? i deserve the best" personality.

in 1906 a book was published called *the jungle* that highlighted the TERRIBLE, mostly unregulated labor and health conditions of america (people would sweep debris into canned food, for ex). teddy roosevelt read this book and immidately created the FDA. other muckrackers (journalists who unearthed the gritty, *real* truths about working/living in america) lit a fire under the gov't **** and exposed some other shocking conditions about the US.

the progressive era is really about providing america structure and guidelines. big businesses were very corrupt...look into trust cases. basically, monopolies were rampant and several companies conducted shady management practices in order to make an insane amount of money. you could argue that it was capitalism at its most decadent, if you think about how the income tax didn't kick in until a decade or two later and that their profits were untaxed. the gov't didn't feel it was their place to step into these matters, but they realized they had to for the sake of fairness. especially in this respect, the progressive era is important for redefining the traditional role of our government by diluting its emphasis on limited federal control and authority.

It's not surprising that there are a lot of communist writings during this time when you consider that america, widely known for its design as a classless society, had this huge, aching gap between its workers, a lot of them immigrants--who worked 16 hour days for very little--and the fat cat railroad millionaires. Dissent and intellectuals really started to bubble.

a lot of people during this time rallied around imporvements for certain social situations. insane aslylms (sp?) and jails were in need of some serious changes, and women rights and conservation were the center of many reform efforts. i would suggest checking into NWA and charrolette perkins gilman. victorian values were starting to erode during this time as well, a lot it to do with the modernization and increased involvement from the government.

i would say that the progressive era started to mold an socialistic ideology that america would really adopt in the 1930s and is significant for setting the stage for the america we're familiar with today.

sorry if this is crappy. it's 4:06 AM, afterall. can't sleep.

diwiyapuraz

The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of reform which lasted from the 1890s to the 1920s.
Responding to the vast changes brought about by industrialization, the Progressives advocated a wide range of economic, political, social, and moral reforms.[3] Initially the movement was successful at local level, and then it progressed to state and gradually national. Both the reformers and their opponents were predominantly members of the middle class.

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