Social
Mukrakers A group of journalists who investigated social conditions and political corruption. they "go to the bottom of society" and stir-up problems. An example of a muckraker was Jacob Riis. This created something to talk about within society and pointed out the flaws that began to be addressed during this time. 19th Ammendment The 19th ammendment was enacted in 1919, and gave females the right to vote. One flaw within society that was looking to be changed was womens rights, more specficially the sufferage movement. This was a huge success for the female population during this time. |
Economic
Conservation During this time period both Taft and Roosevelt started making improvements in conserving lands. Both worked to make forestry private, stop land from being over turned in Alaska, expanding national forests and protecting water power cites. Because laissez-faire was now seen in a bad light, the goverment was able to step in and enact reforms to help the economy. Pure Food and Drug Laws Prior to this era, food administration was not under careful watch and it was a complete free-for-all. Upton Sinclaire's The Jungle was a raw, truthful account of his experience with factory conditions and showed just how disgusting and filthy they were. The laws enacted at this time set checks and regulations for food, and sanitary factory conditions. These improvements set safer, healthier environments for the public's food. |
Political
Election Reform (1973) The problem with elections at this time was that people were not being voted for, yet still appointed. To solve this, (keep in mind women were now allowed to vote) popular vote elected candidates and that was the way which people became appointed. Income Tax A tax levied directly on income. Taxes were chaotic and needed some sort of structure. Taxes weren't being payed, states could tax whatever, and money was being poorly distrubuted if collected. The 16th ammentment was thenput in effect saying that any state had right to collect. This is still around and in effect today. |
How does Progressivism lead to Imperialism?
The progressives asked for change in immigrant life and for the government to step in, and that is exactly what they got. The government completely took over. We expanded, and the ideas of social darwinism and anglo-saxonism erupted and we used that as reasoning to imperialize other countries by bringing them education, religion and using their resources to aid our economy. This was a major time of progress for us, we now had strong footholds in other countries and we were able to strengthen 4 areas: Military, Alliances, Imperialism, and Nationalism. Also regulations were put in place to protect the safety of foods and women's rights were finally acknowledged. Also buisness was looking to expand to other areas at this time- to places where they could benefit from resources other lands had to offer (such as Cuba for their sugar.) I would consider this a period of progess because a lot of things came out of it that were positive for American society. Food regulations were put in place as well as labor reforms, and elections were changed as well. Overall society made improvements and moved forward.
Additional Terms
Upton Sinclaire: (1906) Author of the Jungle a book written to reflect and point out the mistreatment of food and workers within slaughter houses. This made the governement respond with the meat inspection act and pure food and drug laws. Sinclair provided factual evidence that showed consumers there needed to be regulations surrounding food production and the progressives were willing to change that.
United Mine Workers: A group of mine workers whom formed a union that took part of the coal strike in 1902. 15,000 workers were against mine owners and demanded a pay increase, reduced hours and recognition. This is imporant to progressivism because labor laws were coming about and were a topic which progressives looked to improve.
United Mine Workers: A group of mine workers whom formed a union that took part of the coal strike in 1902. 15,000 workers were against mine owners and demanded a pay increase, reduced hours and recognition. This is imporant to progressivism because labor laws were coming about and were a topic which progressives looked to improve.