Progressivism In The 1890s-1920's

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The period between the 1890s and 1920s is known in the United States as the Progressive Era. Progressivism was a reform movement that aimed to improve society and political life through the social and technological advances achieved during modernization. The years after Reconstruction, known with a touch of irony such as the Gilded Age, was the period of the second industrial revolution and the one with the highest economic growth experienced by the United State. until then. In the political aspect, the progressives promoted parties such as the Populist or the Bull Moose Party of Theodore Roosevelt that, in 1912, proposed, among other social activities, a national health service, social security for the elderly and the unemployed, work insurance, …show more content…

Progressives did not work as a united group. Some fought against railroad monopolies, while others began to march in support of the factory workers' children. Some tried to get equal rights to African-Americans, while others tried to protect the forests. Whatever the cause they supported, the Progressives wanted the government to play a greater role in helping to solve the problems afflicting the country. And everyone believed that ordinary people could start "big new movements" that would improve American …show more content…

After the Civil War, many farmers in the Midwest were trapped between high production costs and low prices for selling their crops. The farmers felt themselves victims of that situation. Banks made it harder for them to get cash loans so they could maintain their farms during this difficult time of scarcity. The railroads and the companies of barns charged very high for the transport and the storage of the harvests. And the merchants paid too low prices for the farmers' products. Social Darwinism seemed to offer a "scientific" justification for the enormous differences in wealth and power among people. He also supported the idea of laissez-faire. That businesses compete without restrictions, argued the leaders of large corporations. Then the best possible economy will emerge naturally. According to this way of thinking, governments were wrong to try to correct problems such as the work of minors, poor working conditions and fierce business practices.This was a way to explain

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