The Progressive Movement: The Role Of Discrimination In The United States

The main goal of the Progressive movement was eliminating corruption within the government. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson are often referred to as the Progressive Presidents For the imense change they brought to

America became a more advanced and equal country during this time. The progressives were reformers who fought corruption. Business owners during this time were only concerned about themselves. (artifact 8) Child labor was still a very large problem.

The Progressive movement was a social and political movement that began in the late 1800s and lasted through the early 1900s. Before the Progressive Era, the Industrial Revolution had occurred, creating many new problems for the average person. Because of industrialization, people had started to leave their rural farmlands and move to the newly industrialized cities in hope of finding jobs. Because of lax regulations on growing businesses, monopolies were created the took advantage of their employees. Theodore Roosevelt was one of the leaders of the Progressive movement, focusing on dismantling these monopolies.

Progressives did not share the same views on every issue. It consisted of Republican, Democrats, and members of third parties. Although not a single uniform movement, the main goal was to improve the lives of American citizens and to strive to make government more accountable. Progressivism gained a significant momentum when

Progressives main goal was to make society a perfect union. The Progressives tried creating a “City upon a Hill”, which shared the same basis, but fought for more equality then religion.

Between the 1890s and World War One, reform efforts started taking place by the progressives. The progressives were not a single unified group and even had some contradicting goals. They were middle class urban dwellers and some were women. The progressives wanted to end prostitution, Americanize immigrants, antitrust legislation created, women’s suffrage, and the start of prohibition.

The popularity of the Progressive movement in the early 1900's was due to several social and cultural changes in the United States. In the wake of chaotic reorganizations of the country after industrialization and urbanization, as well as the influences of earlier ideological movements such as Populism and Pragmatism, the Progressives sought to bring order and progress to society through central planning, social reform, and even social control. The intellectuals were understood to have the best interests of the people in mind, and therefore had the responsibility to intervene in society through the means of the state. These areas of intervention included sanitation, inculcation of certain moral and behavioral habits, environmental conservation,

In response, a new generation of reformers developed, who aimed to solve these problems through social change and state action. Progressive reformers pushed for more governmental control of business and industry and also wanted the development of new social welfare programs. A dedication to social justice and equality was another quality of the Progressive Era. Progressive reformers aimed to deal with the fundamental factors that contribute to social inequality, such as poverty, racism, and limited access to healthcare and education. In addition, they campaigned to strengthen the rights of immigrants, African Americans, and other underrepresented groups, such as women.

These various reform movements during the Progressive Era were very successful because they achieved their goals and created safer, and more favorable situations and environments for American

World War II was fought due to the persecution and execution of multiple minorities such as Jewish people. gypsies, the disabled, and homosexuals. However, the irony of this event is that while America was fighting for the rights of others overseas, there was an immense amount of discrimination happening right here in the United States. African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and other underrepresented minorities were all put at a large disadvantage in terms of economic and social opportunity. While the United States army needed more soldiers to fight in the war, African Americans who were fighting for their country in the military faced immense discrimination from Caucasian soldiers.

During the progressive era our country faced many problems. The rise of substantial businesses caused industrial problems. Women suffrage, alcohol, child labor, and safety issues caused social problems. The necessitation of citizens in government decisions also caused political problems. Progressives were people who wanted to solve all of these quandaries.

After the Civil War, our country was battered and beaten, but it rebuilt itself over time and spread its policies, as well as manufacturing practices, throughout our country. Early in the 20th century, members of our nation started to look at some of these practices and policies and began to question their merit and whether they assisted our population or not. Many people were involved in the progressive movement in America from the presidents to a slew of popular authors and photographers. The one thing that they had in common was that they saw problems with how various industries in our nation performed that they knew needed to be fixed. They did not always agree on everything, such as immigration, but they always had the nation’s best interest at heart.

The “Progressive Movement was an early-20th century reform movement seeking to return control of the government to the people, to restore economic opportunity, and to correct injustices in American life.” (Danzer R54). The Progressive Era marked the end of the “Gilded Ages” and a start of a new era. The Progressive Era started in 1901 in the United States (Fagnilli 26). There were many major reforms in the Progressive Era that altered and advanced American society.

Workers felt unappreciated and that without rising up against their employers, they would be left starving,homeless, or dead. Workers wanted more money, an eight hour workday, safe working conditions, and protection against wage cutting. A couple of reformers during the Progressive Era were Jane Addams and Jacob Riis. Both worked toward helping the immigrants, women, children, and the poor working class. Jane Addams was a reformer who opened a settlement house to help the less fortunate.

The progressives, wanted to create a society that acted as one. The idea of being an individual was something to be forgotten in order to create a more perfect civilization of order and pureness. During this time of the progressive movement, the rest of society began to reject it ideology of their message and goals of non­pleasure and work. Especially around the Carina Arreola History 1302 W.Wooten time of World War One, the Great depression, and the New Deal.