The Impact of the Progressive Era on Society

629 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The rise of progressivism

Teddy Roosevelt changed America forever with his ‘speak softly and carry a big stick’ policy. This policy was a kick-start to the progressive era, in which many strove to achieve social change and improvement. There is reason to believe that progressive movements had little effect on society. However, through progressive presidents, awareness of factory conditions, and activists seeking to broaden rights, several amendments were passed between 1900 and 1920. The progressives made a long lasting, though not immediate, impact on society.

The progressive era was marked by progressive presidents. For instance, Teddy Roosevelt was known as the first progressive president because of his big business policy. Teddy Roosevelt was known for trust-busting, as shown in the political cartoon from the Washington Post, where Teddy stands on a bear labeled bad trusts’. However, Teddy didn’t bust very many trusts. He laid the groundwork for regulations of business that his successor William Howard Taft, excelled at, busting over 70 trusts during his presidency. During the time of the third progressive president, Woodrow Wilson, many acts were passed, including the Clayton Anti-trust Act of 1914. This act states that sellers can no longer have different prices for consumers. The act also stated that labor unions were lawful, something that had before only been disapproved of. However, some didn’t think Wilson was very effective as president. Herbert Croly, who wrote New Republic, believed that Wilson was either lying or dumb for thinking that passing acts would fix things. Presidents were not the only ones focused on changing society, middle-class citizens focused on bringing change to the conditions in factories.

Big business exposes by the muck...

... middle of paper ...

... B. Anthony were very politically active during this time period. Another movement going on at the time was the movement for African-American equality. Despite the fact that African-Americans had been enslaved they were still treated as if they were inferior. This movement is shown at its height in The Crisis written by W.E.B. DuBois. In The Crisis, DuBois talks of African-American soldiers who will be coming home from war and demanding equality. As much as these advocates wanted change, it was a slow-going process.

Progressive presidents did their best to instigate change through legislative measures, civilians pushed for those bills, and many raised their voices for equality. However, there was not any real immediate change. While reformers may bot have had all of the answers or the perfect solutions, they set the wheels in motion for the society we have today.

Show More
Related

  • Progressives DBQ

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    All in all, Roosevelt and Wilson’s domestic policy made an improvement on the progressive movement and America. However, they both ignored did hurt the aspect of civil rights. Their policies immensely changed the role of the government for future presidents.. The government’s role in big businesses, labor conditions, civil rights, consumerism, and conservation were distinctly influenced by Roosevelt and Wilson. Some of the new progressive ideas used by these presidents are still used today such as the income tax, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Reserve Bank, and preserving national parks. While other policies led to more efficient modern policies, such as the Pure Food and Drug Act becoming the FDA. Without the help of these two progressive presidents, the U.S. wouldn’t have made it far in reforming America.

    Read More

  • Wilson vs. Roosevelt

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first two decades of the twentieth century the national political scene reflected a growing American belief in the ideas of the Progressive movement. This movement was concerned with fundamental social and economic reforms and gained in popularity under two presidents. Yet Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson espoused two different approaches to progressive reform. And each one was able to prevail upon congress to pass legislation in keeping with his own version of the progressive dream. These two people, although they had different principles in mind, had one goal: to make changes to the nation for the better of the people and the country. Setting out to reach this goal, Roosevelt came to be a president of the common man while Wilson became the “better” progressive president.

    Read More

  • Progressive Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Progressive Movement that occurred during the early 20th century was a time of major reform in the United States of America. During this time, there was a group of activists that referred to themselves as the Progressives, and they sought to change society for the people. The way that they intended to do this was change through their ideals of democracy, efficiency, regulation, and social justice. With this movement came the election that changed the course of America’s history “…demonstrating a victory for progressive reforms as both Progressive candidates accounted for 75 percent of all the votes” (Bowles). The candidates in this election were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

    Read More

  • Goals of the Progressive Era

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    The term Progressivism implies a philosophy that promotes change/reform in the current political, economic, and social aspects of society while conservatism stresses gradual change in society but promotes tradition rather than change. The Progressive movement from 1901 to 1917 worked to improve aspects of society that grew out of problems which occurred during the Industrial Age. The goals of the "Progressives" were to stop monopolies, corruption, inefficiency and social injustices. Both progressive acts and amendments were being passed to deal with social ills, corruption in politics and corporate America. The period from 1901-1917 was more a victory for liberalism, mainly "modern liberalism", than a triumph of conservatism due to the fact that multiple reform movements were occurring in this era changing political, economic, and social aspects in society to protect the rights of the common man.

    Read More

  • To what Extent the Progressive Movement was Successful

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the beginning of the twentieth century, the economy was booming, new technology flourished. The rapid industrialization brought achievement to the United States, however, it also caused several social problems. Wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of a few, and poverty and political corruption were widespread. As people became aware of these problems, a new reform group was created. Unlike populism, which had been a group of farmers grown desperate as the economy submerged into depression, the new reform movement arose from the educated middle class. These people were known as the progressives. The Progressive Movement was a movement that aimed at solving political, economic, and social problems. The Progressives were people from the middle class who had confidence that they could achieve social progress through political reform. The Progressives sought after changes and improvements in the society through laws and other federal actions.

    Read More

  • New Deal impact on society

    1623 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...y new ideas, presidents after him felt they had a lot to live up to. Franklin D. Roosevelt “cast a long shadow on successors” with his New Deal program. Conservatives were constantly worried about the loss of their capitalist economy, but it is possible that Roosevelt’s greatest New Deal achievement is the fact he never allowed America to completely abandon democracy or turn to socialism or communism. Many New Deal programs fixed economic problems but did not completely solve social ones surrounding equality and discrimination. New Deal programs took radical steps while moving toward government regulation and intervention causing conservatives to fear concentrated power, but the steps and transformations Roosevelt made while in office preserved conservatives’ need of capitalism and democracy in government, defining the New Deal as both radical and conservative.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Progressive Era And The New Deal Era

    1652 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thesis The Progressive Era and the New Deal Era had a significant amount of similarities with policies and programs to reform the American society and improve lives and fight poverty in America. Although the Progressive and New Deal Era had many similarities, there were still differences between them. Both the Progressive and the New Deal Era’s main goal was to improve American society. Both of the Progressive and New Deal’s accomplishments were rooted in the economic depression and the need for change before the era, the Guilded age in the 19th century for the Progressive era, and the Great Depression for the New Deal era. As the Guilded Age was ending, and the Progressive Era was emerging, most American families had to live with the harsh reality of sweatshops, slums, child labor, corruption in government and businesses, disease, and racial prejudice.

    Read More

  • Effectiveness of the Progressive Era

    599 Words  | 2 Pages

    Within the period of 1900-1920, many national reforms were rising to the top as Progressive Era reformers and the federal government heard the voices of the people. The effectiveness of Progressivism is a controversial subject for some, but the future was changed through the events of any actions a president made, the rights of people, and unfair treatment and conditions. This era brings changes to our society that also changes the future of it. These two decades brought forth successful times in bettering America.

    Read More

  • Theodore Roosevelt, A Brief Annotated Bibliography

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    This article speaks to the long term impacts of the Progressive Movement and what it has become to today’s society. Roosevelt was a symbol for the Progressive Movement and although Howell does not specifically list Roosevelt’s successes, he does detail some of the major breakthroughs of the Progressive Movement.

    Read More

  • An Obituary For The Progressive Movement Analysis

    2307 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Progressive Movement The progressive movement of the early 20th century has proved to be an intricately confounded conundrum for American historians. Who participated in this movement? What did it accomplish, or fail to accomplish? Was it a movement at all? These are all significant questions that historians have been grappling with for the last 60 years, thus creating a historical dialogue where in their different interpretations interact with each other.

    Read More

  • Progressive Era Vs New Deal

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Progressive Era lasted from the 1890s until the 1920s during World War 1. However, its legacy continued subsequently, spreading the philosophy and the policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR was elected president during a major economic depression known as the Great Depression. He issued the New Deal, which was a series of domestic reforms to battle the depression by enacting numerous social insurance measures and use the government spending to stimulate the economy. While, the Progressive Era was a reform movement seeking to return control of the government to people, to restore economic opportunities and amend the injustices in American life.

    Read More

  • The Progressive Era's Affect on Modern America

    1904 Words  | 4 Pages

    All the Progressive presidents helped set up today's economy and social policies. However, Roosevelt and Wilson had the most lasting impact on today. They esablished labor laws still in effect today, and both protected the consumers from high prices set by the Trusts. The Trusts were diminished of their powers during the Progressive era, and a stronger government was put into place. This further eliminated the Trusts' influences over the earlier weak government.

    Read More

  • The Progressive Era

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    Industrialization led to the rise of big businesses at the expense of the worker. Factory laborers faced long hours, low wages, and unsanitary conditions. The large corporations protected themselves by allying with political parties. The parties, in turn, were controlled by party leaders, rather than by the members. Many people felt that all power rested with the politicians and businessmen. Reformers known as Progressives attempted to undo the problems caused by industrialization. The Progressive movement sought to end the influence of large corporations, provide more rights and benefits to workers, and end the control possessed by party leaders. At the national level, Progressivism centered on defeating the power of large businesses. The Progressive Era was a period in American history in which improving working conditions, exposing corruption, improving the way of life, expanding democracy, and making reforms were the objectives at hand. With the emergence of the Progressive Era two important figures gradually emerged as well. One of the mentioned figures, President Theodore Roosevelt, succeeded to the Presidency when President McKinley was assassinated in 1901, helped the Progressive movement greatly. Another figure, although a Democrat is Woodrow Wilson who much like Roosevelt still pushed for progressive reforms. Each of the mentioned figures did their share in re-establishing a “fair” government that would work for the people and not for the large corporations and mon...

    Read More

  • The Progressive Era

    884 Words  | 2 Pages

    The turn of the century was marked by a movement known as the Progressive Era, during which many groups sought to reshape the nation's government and society in response to the pressure of urbanization and industrialization. Progressives were mainly members of the Post-Civil War generation that made an attempt to master a world much different then that of their parents.

    Read More

  • Progressive Era Essay

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the civil war, America was rapidly growing socially and economically. Because of the rapid industrial growth, many businesses were abusing their workers and therefor gave them very low wages. Workers and many other people began to unite and fight for their rights and for the well-being in society. This time period, known as the Progressive era, brought very important social changes and reforms. The Progressive era was very successful because the majority of the changes were to improve the lives of all American workers and to make a beneficial change. The Progressive Era had four main goals; Protecting Social Welfare, Promoting Moral Improvement, Creating Economic Reform, and Fostering Efficiency. The changes took a long period of time to implement and it was not easy making people aware that there was need for change.

    Read More

More about The Impact of the Progressive Era on Society

Open Document