How Successful Was The Progressive Movement In The Late 1800s

Weather it was expansion of the United States or progressives working to make life better in our country, America has always found ways to the best it can be and improve in any way possible. The innovative people of America have helped shape it into what they think would make a better country to be in. The progressive movement involved progressives trying to fix problems created in the gilded age. It seemed as everyone was benefiting from and enjoying the rise of the booming industry, but unfortunately there were only a few people with wealth and power, and the rest were left poor. Progressives wanted to fix economic and social actions through group actions toward freedom and liberty. There was a rapidly changing political system and in the 1800’s people started to noticed that the industry wanted to keep cost down and prices high, which resulted in low wages and long hours. The working conditions were also not the best. Newspapers learned that they could make money off of releasing stories about industrialization abuse in America. Journalist known as Muckrakers would gather information and then expose businesses for corruption. Ida Tarbell was a woman who exposed Standard
Oil companies for its methods of eliminating competition. Lincoln Steffens also wrote about and photographed living conditions in the slums. In the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s people started to fight back, because they knew that the survival of the fittest attitude would not help them get far in life and that it was not working out so well. Reformers wanted to make it more accessible to have a decent lifestyle for everyone. They also wanted to make it easier to have the opportunity to have a better lifestyle. During the gilded age, poor people did not have the chance to have a good lifestyle. Protection of social welfare was a main issue. Different organizations like Y.M.C.A and the Salvation Army allowed the poor to be provided with different needs like food and shelter. They also had the chance to open public libraries for all. And in 1917, laws about controlling working hours were released in a few states. Capitalism allowed for people to own land and own businesses. Availability of ownership of these things motivated people because of the profit. With profit came competition. Every business wanted to be the best at what they did and would do anything for that. Capitalism allowed the consumers to be able to set the price. If something was too expensive, the consumers wouldn’t buy it which would force the provider to drop the price. Capitalism was a big part of the Progressive Era. Business owners would do anything in their power to stay on top and this eventually effected the government. The government started to do little to nothing for the non-wealthy people among America. This influenced people to want to replace capitalism with other things like socialism. Reformers wanted to improve local government so that the government would be more efficient and responsive towards the citizens.
Also, once the number of child workers began to grow, they also worked to end the idea and happening of child labor. Lewis Hine was an American sociologist who tried to end child labor because children were more prone to injury by fatigue. Child labor eventually came to an end in 1918. Before the Civil War, woman were expected to devote all of their time to their families. But, in the late 19th and early 20th century, they became more visible in the work force. By 1900, one out of five woman worked, and woman working became more popular in the cities. Many of the leading progressive reformers were actually woman. Most had graduated from the new Woman’s
Colleges. Before Roosevelt’s presidency, the federal government paid little to no attention to the nation’s natural resources. Roosevelt made this one of his biggest concerns. He later ended up doing things like setting aside 148 million acres of forest reserves, 1.5 million acres of water power sites, and establishing 50 wildlife sanctuaries and many national parks. Roosevelt did not completely support the civil rights for African Americans, but he did support a few like Booker T. Washington. While the Progressive Era did a lot to help important reforms, it did not do much for African Americans. WWI eventually brought the Progressive Ear to an end.
Expansionism in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shared many similarities and differences to that of previous American expansionist ideals. In both cases of American expansionism, the Americans believed that we must expand our borders in order to keep the country running upright. Also, the Americans believed that the United States was the strongest of nations, and that they could take any land they pleased. This is shown in the "manifest destiny" of the 1840's and the "Darwinism" of the late 1800's and early 1900’s. Apart from the similarities, there were also several differences that included the American attempt to stretch their empire across the seas and into other parts of the world. Throughout history, the United States had come off as a stubborn nation that would take what they wanted at any cost. This was prevalent in both cases of expansion as the Americans risked war and national safety for the sake of gaining land, or even merely for proving a point. During the early years of expansion, the Americans had pushed aside the Native Americans and whoever else inhabited the land they wanted. They believed that the land was rightfully theirs and that everyone else was merely squatting on their territory. This idea was continued into the early twentieth century as the Americans looked to the oceans for new territories to their kingdom. This idea is greatly exemplified in document 'E', in which Senator Albert J. Beveridge delivers a speech to Congress, saying that, "...and thanksgiving to Almighty God that He has marked us as His chosen people, henceforth to lead in the regeneration of the world..." It all came down to competition and America believed that expanding its borders would help make it the best. Imperialism occurs sometimes without the use of military forces, such as through political diplomacy. However, militaries also enforce and carry out acts of imperialism. In the U.S., imperialism emerged primarily during the 19th century. Prior to the late 1800s, the U.S. existed as an isolationist nation, taking measures to stay out of international affairs. The isolationist policy enforced by early American presidents, including George Washington, ended with the involvement of the U.S. in World War I. Several motivating factors led the U.S. to change course in pursuit of imperialism. Economic incentive to expand its market internationally and bring in additional revenue was a primary contributing factor. The U.S., like other nations, experienced a growth in technology that greatly improved the production of goods and services. Following the Great Depression of the 1920s, the U.S. saw a crucial and immediate need to fix a damaged economy, and resorted to imperialist policies and tactics to bring that change. From the initial immigrants to the first government, progress was always on the American mind. Wars were fought on the grounds on progress. The first United States president represented progress. Everything America stands for is based on the progression of its people.