Progressive Essay
Progressive Essay
During an era of great change with the development of great cities and businesses and the establishment of overseas empires, problems arose because many citizens did not reap the benefits of these changes. Progressive reformers worked to correct the flaws in government and to improve social equality. Progressivism is characterized by the overall feeling that the government must play a role to solve social problems and to restore not only the American society, but its values and institutions as well. The success of progressivism is owed much to the publicity generated by the muckrakers who detailed the horrors of poverty, dangerous factory conditions, and urban slums. There was corruption is every facet of life, political, economic, social, and environmental injustices were felt by majority of citizens and many reforms were created that addressed these issues. There were many economic problems during this time because of the immense amount of power that big business had over the entire country. Big business formed trusts and merged smaller companies under one large control. One percent of the population held 90% of the populations wealth. Problems occurred because big monopolies destroyed competition by raising prices and controlling everything. This was a huge problem for the consumer because it created unfair profits that the customers were not able to afford and the high-priced objects were the only option for the consumer. Roosevelt supported efforts to break up large trusts and supported muckrakers like Lincoln Steffens who tried to expose to the corruption of the behind the scenes capitalism. The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 were both democratic reforms enacted to combat these problems. The Interstate Commerce Act was designed to address the issues of railroad abuses. This was strengthened by the Hepburn Act of 1960 by establishing maximum rates and giving the Interstate Commerce
During an era of great change with the development of great cities and businesses and the establishment of overseas empires, problems arose because many citizens did not reap the benefits of these changes. Progressive reformers worked to correct the flaws in government and to improve social equality. Progressivism is characterized by the overall feeling that the government must play a role to solve social problems and to restore not only the American society, but its values and institutions as well. The success of progressivism is owed much to the publicity generated by the muckrakers who detailed the horrors of poverty, dangerous factory conditions, and urban slums. There was corruption is every facet of life, political, economic, social, and environmental injustices were felt by majority of citizens and many reforms were created that addressed these issues. There were many economic problems during this time because of the immense amount of power that big business had over the entire country. Big business formed trusts and merged smaller companies under one large control. One percent of the population held 90% of the populations wealth. Problems occurred because big monopolies destroyed competition by raising prices and controlling everything. This was a huge problem for the consumer because it created unfair profits that the customers were not able to afford and the high-priced objects were the only option for the consumer. Roosevelt supported efforts to break up large trusts and supported muckrakers like Lincoln Steffens who tried to expose to the corruption of the behind the scenes capitalism. The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 were both democratic reforms enacted to combat these problems. The Interstate Commerce Act was designed to address the issues of railroad abuses. This was strengthened by the Hepburn Act of 1960 by establishing maximum rates and giving the Interstate Commerce