Progressives In The 1800s

Riley Mangieri 12-19-15 Mr. Rauschenbach Grade 8 Progressives in the late 1800’s-1900’s
Our nation lost its way during the Gilded Age (1870s-1920s). The Gilded Age was a term made up by Mark Twain due to him having a book called the Gilded Age, which satirized American society in the late 1800s. It was a time of government corruption, poverty, and awful labor conditions but it being covered up by big businesses, or “gilded”. Progressives were people who were advocating social reforms such as the prohibition of alcohol sales,the riddance of the spoils system, and women’s suffrage. Examples of these Progressives included Progressives took it upon themselves to better the nation and live up to America being a free and opportunistic country.
One of the goals of Progressives was temperance, or not consuming alcohol. In the mid-1800s, alcohol was commonly blamed for violent family problems or criminal acts. In 1874, women Progressives from many different background made a union called the WCTU, or the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. They fought for state laws that would restrict to ban alcohol. Frances Willard was the leader of the union and created over 10,000 branches and forced 1,000 saloons to shut down. Carry Nation had a more violent way of carrying on the movement.
Throughout the 1890’s she would smash liquor bottles with a hatchet. After all this hard work of these Progressives, the problem was solved by the 18th amendment. This amendment banned the production and sale of alcohol throughout the US.
Another goal of the US Progressives was to get rid of the spoils system. The spoils system was a system in which a politician gives government jobs to its supporters. Andrew Jackson's patronage system made this concept very popular This resulted in a very corrupt governmental office. It caused many unqualified people to be put into jobs which already had been qualified. For example an illiterate member of the court systems. This problem was fixed in multiple ways. President Hayes refused to appoint his supporters in 1877. He also started to end corruption by fixing up a New York customs house. President Garfield continued this work, but was later assassinated by Guiteau due to him not getting a government job. The problem overall was solved by the Pendleton act, which declared that government jobs should be based on qualification and not support to the politician.
One of the last problems that was solved by the Progressives was women’s suffrage. Women’s suffrage means the right for women to vote which was not allowed. Many people opposed giving women the right to vote. Political bosses opposed it because they worried about women’s anticorruption efforts, such as minimum wage and child labor laws. Although talks of the subject began in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention, In the 1890s, the women’s suffrage movement began to spread nationwide. Multiple foundations began to form around the issue. One of these was NAWSA, or the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which was formed in 1890 by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This same year, women got the right to vote Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, and Utah. in 1900, the leadership was given to Carrie Chapman Catt, and she got over 1 million volunteers for the movement. Although a very effective organization, some women believed they didn’t go far enough. In 1913, Alice Paul created the National Woman's party. They used many different tactics to achieve their goal such as hunger strikes, parades, picketing and public demonstrations. After 30 years of fighting for the cause, women finally got the right to vote in 1919, with the ratification of the 19th amendment. This amendment stated that all women would granted the right to vote, and by 1920, the amendment was put officially into action.
In conclusion, the Gilded Age in the late 1800s to the early 1900s was a time of corruption and awful conditions being covered up by big businesses and the government.
It was a time in which the government was “gilded”. There were many problems, some of these including the spoils system, violence issues being caused by alcohol, and women not having the right to vote. These problems were also solved throughout this period through protesting and fighting for the morals of this country. Overall, his time period showed the worst of our country and how we fixed these issues and once again began to live up to the morals we were formed
upon.