The Progressive era
Jacob Myers
Who were the Progressives?
The Progressives were people who believed that any social problem could be solve through hard work and determination. They helped form many amendments like the 16th, 17th 18th and 19th amendment. President Ted Roosevelt made a progressive political party called the bull moose party in 1912.
What were their motives?
The progressives motives were to protect the social welfare, promote moral development, create a economic reform, and have faster efficiency. Ida wells was one of many who believed in the progressive reform, she exposed the standard oil express company's cut-throat method of eliminating the competition. Many journalists ,like Ida Wells, were known as muckrakers whose goals were to expose the corruption and bad practices in businesses.
The Government reform
One of the many reforms of the federal reform would be the Elkins act which outlawed the use of rebates by railroad officials or shippers. The state/local had a reform which made the ballot box have some privacy for people who voted and so the party bosses would not know how the people voted this reform was called the Secret Ballot Reform.
Suffrage
The Suffrage movement were a group of people who wanted women to have the ability to vote. There were three important people who played a key part in this movement which would be Susan B Anthony, Alice Paul, and Lucy Burns. The two major events that these women were in was when Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed a Congressional Union so they could work toward a passage of a federal amendment so that women could vote. They called this group The National Women's Party. The members of this party would picket at the White House and would practice other forms of civil disobedience. Another major event was when a suffrage amendment , which was originally written by Susan B. Anthony in 1878, was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate in 1919 then was sent for a ratification.
Societal Reform
The Child Labor Reform I think was the most important reform. This reform was made in 1938 under federal law which made it so children could not work if they were at a certain age and could not work for a certain amount of hours. Before this reform was made many children of any age could work at ,for example, a glass factory for a certain amount of hours and be paid less then an adult. The conditions at some of the factories were very unsafe for children to work at. Many children were harmed or even killed while they worked at the factories and many had to get rid of their hands or feet because they were either crushed or cut off by dangerous equipment they were working at.
Big business regulation
I think the Clayton antitrust act was a important for big business regulation which improved the Sherman antitrust act and helped take care of big business monopolies and gets rid of cutthroat tactics of getting rid of competition.
The Progressive amendments
The 16th,17th,18th, and 19th progressive amendments had a big effect on the nation. The 16th amendment was made in 1913 which let the congress have power to control the tax of income. The 17th amendment was made in 1913 and made it so a direct election could be made for the U.S Senate. The 18th amendment was made in 1919 which was made so the selling, making and transporting alcohol of illegal. The 19th amendment was made in 1920 and it let women be able to vote or other known as suffrage.
Were the ideas new?
No, some of these ideas were not new like getting rid or keeping down of monopoly companies was always an idea that was carried through different eras.