Progressive Period - Research Paper Example

? Number] The Progressive Era The progressive era refers to the substantial changes occurred within the socio-political system of America during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The era is widely marked with social activism and reforms meant for the purification of the governments and system. During this period several people stand steadily to find solutions of the problems faced by America and these people were called as Progressive people. The progressive people worked to create awareness among the general public regarding different problems like alcohol abuse, child labour, food purity and government corruption etc. As a result of evolving public awareness then government had to pass several laws and acts to solve the problems of the people (Leuchtenburg, p504). The progressive movement was mainly aimed at eliminating corruption within the city government with the help of prohibition that worked for the destruction of political power of the local bosses that used to be based in saloons. The activists also worked for the promotion of women’s suffrage and eventually purer female vote was brought into the arena. During the progressive era efforts were also made to achieve high productivity and efficiency in different sectors by fostering modernization process. There were different scientific, economic, medical and engineering solutions invented during this era to support the performance of different sectors. The progressive movement was initiated at local level during the early stages however; soon it was expanded and spread to the national and state levels as well. The progressive people had great support from the middle class and many lawyers, teachers; physicians became the supporters of the progressive movement. Along with the middle class people some people from the upper class including several business people and ministers also became part of the progressive movement and worked to support the causes raised by the progressive movement (Thomas, p207). One of the major demands of the progressive people was the application of scientific methods within the economy, government systems, financial mechanism, and schooling system and even within the familial lives of the people. This application was basically meant to follow the advancements occurring within the Western European society during that time. As a part of application of the scientific methods it was realized that the old fashioned ways of running the economics, industries and government are highly inefficient and waste the time and resources. To avoid this wastage the progressive movement worked for adaptation of different policies like banking laws that resulted in the creation of Federal Reserve System in 1914 (Leuchtenburg, p504). The progressive period activities proved them dedicatedly committed to bring reforms and changes within the country. They expect that the changes they sought could significantly improve the American society. Some of the major changes enacted during the progressive era include the income tax imposition with the Sixteenth Amendment, direct election of Senators through the Seventeenth Amendment Prohibition ad the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S constitution that was meant to enact women’s suffrage. The journalist played an important role during the progressive movement as they worked to make people aware and informed about the corruptions being committed at the government level. These journalists were called with the names of Muckrakers who worked for exposing the waste, corruption and scandals of the authorities and government officials. They use the medium of highly influential and popular national magazines like McClure Magazine, Brand Whitlock and George Creel and published the stories and facts to uncover the wrong deeds and corruption of the government at local and state level. There were several frauds and corruption cases uncovered in these magazines. The progressive movement was also led by the motive of modernization implementation within the society. The progressive activists believed that all the problems of the society would be resolved with the help of modernization that gives several scientific based solutions to different problems. They favoured urban industrial society and propagated the thought that the human race has the potential and capability of improving the life conditions and environment if they will work in the right direction and promote the efficiency of the government to bring positive interventions to the system (Byron and Anthony, p180). It was also a widespread thought during the progressive era that citizens must be enabled to rule their state more directly and the political bosses must be sidestepped. The activists demanded democracy and exerted their efforts in this direction. The Oregon Republic Party State Representative William S. U’Ren and his Direct Legislative League worked for the approval of ballot measure in 1902 after which the referendum process was created and the citizens were allowed to take part in the political process by approving or disapproving the laws and amendments made to the constitution (Glad, p75). An important achievement of the progressive era is the inaction of several municipal reforms. Many of the cities established municipal reference bureaus in order to keep an eye upon the budgets and administrative structures of the local government. At these bureaus the progressive mayors were appointed in order to assure the elimination of corruption at local level. They also performed active role in the reorganization of the state governments and use their ideas and expertize to restructure and improve the system of the local government making it fair and efficient for overall good of the society (Byron and Anthony, p180). The family and food was also an important area of concern for the progressive activities. They believe that the family stands as the foundation stone of the society and measures must be taken at the government level to enhance, promote and strengthen the familial life. For this purpose there was some local public assistance programs were set up that strived to keep the families together and avoid breaking of the families. Juvenile courts were also established in different cities so that the disruptive teenagers would also be dealt effectively without interacting with the prisoners in the adult jails. The issue of pure water and milk supply was also emphasizes and some food and drugs laws were also implemented to assure the safety of the food system available to the people (Glad, p75). In sum, the progressive era was the period of massive and fundamental changes brought through dedicated and concrete efforts of several people. The progressive era possesses great importance in the history of America because during this period there were several important laws and acts formulated and implemented by the government for the improvement of society, economy, industries and health quality of the people of the country. The progressive era bring very positive changes in America because it led the wave of awareness among the masses and give call for action for the solution of the problems faced by the society at that time. Work Cited Byron Shafer, Anthony Badger, Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000, University of Kansas Press, 2000. Leuchtenburg, William E. "Progressivism and Imperialism: The Progressive Movement and American Foreign Policy, 1898-1916," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 39, No. 3. (Dec., 1952), pp. 483–504 Glad, Paul W. "Progressives and the Business Culture of the 1920s," Journal of American History, Vol. 53, No. 1. (June 1966), pp. 75–89 Thomas C. Leonard, "Retrospectives: Eugenics and Economics in the Progressive Era" Journal of Economic Perspectives, (2005) 19(4): 207-224 Read More