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Important facts regarding the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The era witnessed the embrace of a wide array of social and economic reforms, including women’s suffrage, the dismantling of business monopolies, the elimination of child labor, and the adoption of social welfare programs.
The early 20th century was an era of business expansion and progressive reform in the United States. The progressives, as they called themselves, worked to make American society a better and safer place in which to live.
- I. Introduction
- II. Mobilizing For Reform
- III. Women’s Movements
- IV. Targeting The Trusts
- V. Progressive Environmentalism
- VI. Jim Crow and African American Life
- VII. Conclusion
- VIII. Primary Sources
- IX. Reference Material
“Never in the history of the world was society in so terrific flux as it is right now,” Jack London wrote in The Iron Heel, his 1908 dystopian novel in which a corporate oligarchy comes to rule the United States. He wrote, “The swift changes in our industrial system are causing equally swift changes in our religious, political, and social structure...
In 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan caught fire. The doors of the factory had been chained shut to prevent employees from taking unauthorized breaks (the managers who held the keys saved themselves, but left over two hundred women behind). A rickety fire ladder on the side of the building collapsed immediately. Women lined the roof...
Reform opened new possibilities for women’s activism in American public life and gave new impetus to the long campaign for women’s suffrage. Much energy for women’s work came from female “clubs,” social organizations devoted to various purposes. Some focused on intellectual development; others emphasized philanthropic activities. Increasingly, thes...
In one of the defining books of the Progressive Era, The Promise of American Life, Herbert Croly argued that because “the corrupt politician has usurped too much of the power which should be exercised by the people,” the “millionaire and the trust have appropriated too many of the economic opportunities formerly enjoyed by the people.” Croly and ot...
The potential scope of environmental destruction wrought by industrial capitalism was unparalleled in human history. Professional bison hunting expeditions nearly eradicated an entire species, industrialized logging companies denuded whole forests, and chemical plants polluted an entire region’s water supply. As American development and industriali...
America’s tragic racial history was not erased by the Progressive Era. In fact, in all too many ways, reform removed African Americans ever farther from American public life. In the South, electoral politics remained a parade of electoral fraud, voter intimidation, and race-baiting. Democratic Party candidates stirred southern whites into frenzies ...
Industrial capitalism unleashed powerful forces in American life. Along with wealth, technological innovation, and rising standards of living, a host of social problems unsettled many who turned to reform politics to set the world right again. The Progressive Era signaled that a turning point had been reached for many Americans who were suddenly wi...
1. Booker T. Washington & W.E.B. DuBois on Black Progress (1895, 1903) Booker T. Washington, born enslaved in Virginia in 1856, founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881 and became a leading advocate of African American progress. Introduced as “a representative of Negro enterprise and Negro civilization,” Washington delivered the following ...
This chapter was edited by Mary Anne Henderson, with content contributions by Andrew C. Baker, Peter Catapano, Blaine Hamilton, Mary Anne Henderson, Amanda Hughett, Amy Kohout, Maria Montalvo, Brent Ruswick, Philip Luke Sinitiere, Nora Slonimsky, Whitney Stewart, and Brandy Thomas Wells. Recommended citation: Andrew C. Baker et al., “The Progressiv...
The progressive solution was the "open" primary by which any citizen could vote, or the "closed" primary limited to party members. In the early 20th century most states adopted the system for local and state races—but only 14 used it for delegates to the national presidential nominating conventions.
In the early twentieth century, reformers worked to improve American society and counteract the effect of industrialization.
- The idea of sterilization was based in part on a misunderstanding of Darwinism and natural selection. White Supremacists adhered to "Social Darwini...
- I'd say it was a mixture of pro and con. How can anyone be against the Pure Food and Drug Act? We still today depend on that to be able to buy groc...
- There's also the problem of overwhelming racism during this period. Even white 'progressives' like Roosevelt didn't concern themselves with matters...
- Sterilization is a medical procedure that stops the reproductive system from working. More commonly referred as vasectomy for men, and tubal ligati...
- Not necessarily! A lot of people who underwent involuntary sterilization were told that they were getting a routine surgery and put under and only...
- You could argue both sides. Personally, I find that WWI marked the end of the Progressive Era, as acts like the Sedition Act ended civil liberties...
- Yes. Corporations and trusts are larger today than ever before. Have you heard about the recent college admissions scandal (https://www.nytimes.com...
- I'm assuming you're referencing this quote: "The genocidal policies of Nazi Germany ultimately discredited the 'science' of eugenics, but not befor...
- "Progressive" during the Progressive Era means both progress in passing a great amount of economic, political, social, and environmental reforms, a...
- Women's rights advanced a bit, and women were given the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Hope that helps!
List of some of the major causes and effects of the Progressive Era. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries progressive reformers in the United States made a comprehensive effort to address the problems that arose with the emergence of a modern urban and industrial society.
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Summary. The decades from the 1890s into the 1920s produced reform movements in the United States that resulted in significant changes to the country’s social, political, cultural, and economic institutions. The impulse for reform emanated from a pervasive sense that the country’s democratic promise was failing.
