History Final paper

Khadka 2

Prashant Khadka

Prof. Amy Bell

Richland College

11/09/2018

The Progressives

In the gilded age, America was full of individualistic and some movements had goals into changing America into a better place. A limited group of individuals owned most of America's wealth and the little that remained was divided by the large population for which they had to earn it through long working hours with low wages, dangerous working environment and they would face harsh unscrupulous employers. For this reason, there arose a movement group which was called the Progressives. This was a group of dedicated individuals who had a goal to make reforms in the United States in the Gilded Age or the age of movement (Discussion Board 1). According to Howard Zinn, the progressives fought for reforms in the American industries, to increase working conditions, better pay and reduced working hours in which became difficult to stabilize the capital and labor struggles for the working class (William A. Link).

The progressives “offered an impressive array of proposals” because in the gilded age the system was corrupt that employee could tirelessly be working in the treacherous environment in the American industries and receive low wages and unreasonable insufficient compensations that they would barely feed their families. The American wealth was also distributed among greedy individuals who ran the industries where the employers received better salaries and better lifestyles. These reasons lead to the impressive array of proposals to try and change the American social structure. After the war, industries and business started to grow, even though they existed before the war, after the war is when they got well established. There were godfathers who took over the industries in who most of the wealth was distributed to. Industries continued to grow but the workers remained to suffer because the working conditions in these industries were not getting any better. Workers were exposed to toxic fumes, dangerous industrial equipment, hot temperatures and many treacherous conditions that led to deaths, accidents, disasters and many other tragedies as explained by a historian Howard Zinn (Zinn).

Corruption had taken over the government in the gilded age that America's citizens were not given the attention they required by the legislature (Zinn 23). Despite the elections that were held corruption would rule over the ballot boxes and this led to the dishonesty of legislature, the Congress and all the representatives such that none of them could be trusted.

The progressives tried to push the proposals that they had suggested, and they fought for their implementation. One of the proposals was to give the government the powers to enable the government to increase the continuity and predictability of endless change in the United States. Where there was corruption the government they fought for the system changes for example in leading the elections to expand America’s democracy. These benefited the lives in the United States by exercising their democracy and choose leaders who will represent them in the government. The progressives also pushed for the government involvement in public affairs and increased government regulations in which they fought for the elimination of trusts of the monopoly of corporations that had created an unfair business environment. Life in these United States benefited from this move by the progressives that facilitated a competitive and diverse business market.

The progressives had their proposals pushed into implementation and had altered the nation in various ways. There were political reforms in which the citizens would exercise their democratic rights. Also, as discussed there were business regulations that changed the nation to the better and business operator would compete effectively in the business environment. The progressives also enhanced trustworthy of the legislature and the government (Gould).

The progressive movement made the United States kinder and gentler nation in some ways such as the reforms in the government and in exercising democracy. In the gilded age, it was worse as the richest had all the wealth and would make decisions according to their will and America’s citizens had no power against them since corruption had seized the republic. Despite these reforms, they were unable to make reforms in the industries to better the working conditions of the employees (Discussion 10/11). This explains how different historians assessed the progressive movement. According to Zinn, he explained the progressive movement as a reluctant reform that did not concentrate on reform creation. His ideas are supported by the fact that in today’s industries, employees working conditions have not changed compared to those of the gilded age. Workers are still exposed to the harsh and dangerous working environment, yet they receive little pay and no compensations (Zinn349). More extended working hours and other challenges are faced by people working in the industries in the modern world which was the same in the gilded age proving that the Progressives failed in making reforms to these industries (McGerr).

Work Cited

Gould, Lewis L. America in the Progressive Era, 1890-1914. Routledge, 2014.

McGerr, Michael. A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America. Simon and Schuster, 2010.

William A. Link, Susannah J. Link. The Gilded Age and Progressive Era: A Documentary Reader. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present. Routledge, 2015.