Progressive era free essay sample

The Progressive Era was a period of social and political reformation that flourished under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson. When the United States entered World War 1 on April 6, 1917, the whole nation was united under a moral cause. However, the war quickly busied Americans creating no time for Progressive movements and the events following the war put an end to the Era all together. During the beginning of the war, Wilson’s foreign policy was to remain on a neutral tide. With his reelection, he even won against Charles Hughes under his slogan, â€Å"He kept us out of war†, that persuaded Americans that choosing Hughes would lead them into direct contact with the war. Americans united under this foreign policy trying to stay out of European affairs under the philosophy of isolationism. When Germany’s unauthorized submarines caused for the sinking of the RMS Lusitania and their efforts chose to continue unrestricted submarine warfare the United States was infuriated. We will write a custom essay sample on Progressive era or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This is one factor that kept the United States busy with working to remain excluded from war. However, President Wilson addressed to Congress and declared he wanted â€Å"to make the world safe for democracy†, leading America into World War 1, under this moral cause. (Doc 2) Now that the United States was in the war, Americans started to become less concerned with social reforms and busier working, supporting, and fighting the war together. Women, for one, took over the jobs of all the men who went out to war, and worked to supply the belligerents, keeping women very busy. The United States Food Administration, under Herbert Hoover, promoted rationing of food through â€Å"Meatless Mondays† and â€Å"Wheatless Wednesdays†. This helped to conserve food and save for those fighting overseas. (Doc 6) Trench warfare was how most of World War 1 was fought and living in these trenches was rather a tough condition. This ensured that supporting and working hard together in America for our men was required to aid their health and capability of being able to fight effectively. (Doc 3) The war ended with a high number of casualties for America. Many of these casualties resulted from the influenza epidemic that attacked the world’s population and battle fights, such as those that occurred highly within the use of trenches. (Doc 3) This high death effected lives of Americans and their families, keeping them from being motivated to continue the Progressive movement. The Treaty of Versailles created at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, put an end to World War 1, but did so with a lot of problems. President Wilson, as devised in his 14 Point Peace Plan called for a creation of a League of Nations, an international peace organization. This organization caused for a split in American views. The United States, as a majority, voted not to join, as it took away the power of Congress to declare war and would ruin America’s self-determination. (Doc 9) This split in decision effected formally agreeing and creating more social reforms. The Progressive Era ended with World War 1, as many Americans were too busy with a plethora of events to help the United States fight the war. When the United States entered the war, they were morally united under a new crusade. However, they had to put their further ideas of reformations on hold as the war demanded serious attention to be fought effectively. The further Americans became deeply involved into the war, the further attention was dragged away from the progressive movement. Even after the war was over, Americans were still busy caught up in dealing with the aftermath and the approach of another worldwide outbreak. Progressive Era free essay sample In the Progressive Movement that began in the late 1800s was about governmental reforms and correcting injustices in the American life. There were problems that were present in the American life and plans and reforms proposed during the Progressive Era to address the problems faced by many Americans in the early 1800s late 1900s. There were problems that were present in the American Life. Poor families lived in crowded 1 room houses (Doc1). Sanitation was very hard for poor families to keep up. Children even worked between the ages of ten and fifth teen years old with barely any pay (Doc3). Susan B. Anthony argued to support the demand for women’s right to vote (Doc8). Also in factories workers did not wash their hands while working. Some workers limbs, bugs, and rats were cut into the meats. All of these issues were major during the late 1800s and early 1900s for people in the U. We will write a custom essay sample on Progressive Era or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page S. Plans and reforms were proposed during the Progressive era to address the problems that were faced by many Americans in the early 1800s late 1900s. Jane Adams built an inexpensive house for poor families to live in named the â€Å"Haul House† in Chicago IL. This house was a great help to families. The child labor rate dropped between 1890 and 1920 (Doc3). Women were given their right to vote. Susan B. Anthony fought for women’s suffrage so woman can be treated equal as men (Doc8). Upton Sinclair wrote a book named â€Å"The Jungle† explaining how in factories spoiled meat could be used to be chopped up in other things (Doc2). A Progressive Party Platform was proposed to prevent industrial accidents for health and safety issues (Doc6). This helped with the workers limbs for being cut off in food products. President Teddy R. proposed the FDA act to prevent unhealthy foods from being sent out. Expiration dates and health expectations were required. These plans and reforms helped major Americans during the Progressive Movement. Therefore in the Progressive Movement that began in the late 1800s was about governmental reforms and correcting injustices in the American life. There were many problems that were present in the American life and plans and reforms that were proposed during the Progressive Era to address the problems faced by many Americans in the early 1800s late 1900s. Progressive Era free essay sample The word progressive can be defined as change, improvement, and reform. This can be then opposed to wanting or hoping to maintain things the way they are, especially in politicals and political matters. The Progressive Era was just that a set of changes that enacted a movement in the ways that people behaved for many years or sought a better life. At the heart of the nation in the 1890s was the industrial revolution (Goldfield, et. al. , 2011). This brought great wealth to the country and great changes to the world that we now see today. Many governments and big businesses believed these changes were wonderful, unfortunately the rest of American citizens suffered greatly so they soon learned how to fight back. The people soon realized if they stuck together and created a wave of changes that things seemed to get better at work and in their lives. Reform became a hot topic for Americans in 1900 as people did not like what was happening around them and they wanted to reform anything and everything they could to change. We will write a custom essay sample on Progressive Era or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Progressives were seeking change, offered solutions to problems that they say, organized their supporters, and attempted to change public opinion (Goldfield, et al. , 2011). They did this by lobbying and demonstrating as nonpartisan pressure groups to have other join them in their fight for changes. Reform started to work at city and state levels where the poorer people and conditions were bad all the way up to the governmental levels. This extensive effort was responsible for women’s rights and empowerment, child labor laws, government reform, and bringing forth presidents who would reconstruct corporate business and social services. In 1904 the National Child Labor Committee was organized and began to fight to end child labor (Goldfield, et al. , 2011). Because women were being forced into the workplace, social reformers campaigned and fought for laws regulating the wages, hours, and working conditions of women (Goldfield et al. , 2011). With males dominating, the public sphere woman had to take a stand. Many Progressive women were well educated at the new women’s colleges but where banned from obtaining employment so they began to form associations in order to be active in public life (Goldfield, et al. 2011). These associations became one of the major influences of change. In addition to fighting for child labor reform, Americanizing immigrants, and banning alcohol, women also began fighting for women’s suffrage (Goldfield, et al. , 2011). Woman suffrage began in the mid-nineteenth century and was the foundation for woman’s rights. This is what gave woman the right to vote along with creat ing equal rights for women. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was enacted. The Nineteenth Amendment is the constitutional revision that gave woman citizens’ the right to vote (Goldfield et al. 2011). The first person to have ever been considered a progressive president was Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt consistently tried to control the power of corporate businesses by making them work with their employees and deal with companies who would check them. The way he handled the coal strike in1902, by offering to have both the owners and union leaders at the White House and â€Å"declared that the national interest made government action necessary† (Goldfield et al. , 2011) to work out the issues surrounding the strike was just the beginning of the way he handled conflict. Theodore Roosevelt paid attention to the formation of large businesses while paying closer attention to the public’s anxiety over corporate power. By not putting into effect â€Å"the foolish antitrust law† he decided to go with government regulations to help prevent corporate abuse and protect the public’s interest (Goldfield et al. , 2011). The election of 1912 became an important turning point in the Progressive era. This election and the events that followed are probably one of the main reasons American is the way it is today.