history

Student 1

Progressivism was a reform movement that took place during 1900-1917. The movement wanted the government to solve problems in the failing areas of American life, such as education, the economy, labor, etc. The tragedy at the Triangle Shirtwaist shop was a catalyst for the progressive reformers because it publicly showed the conditions the people were forced to work in. The members of the reformation movement were diverse, different gender, class, and race. It was labor activists who wanted to “empower industrial workers” and “forward-looking business men who realized that workers must be accorded a voice in economic decision making.” It was also members of female reformative organizations, who wanted a voice and to protect themselves and children from exploitation. 

Women wanted to be able to work and immigrant women specifically wanted the option to have better jobs than working in a low-paying factory. By 1920 due to the movement around “25 percent of employed women were office workers or telephone operators.” and 8 million women were working for wages. A Social reformer, Florence Kelly, visited the Hull House documents the “dismal lives of women and girls, especially those who worked in sweatshops.” It was long hours in bad conditions. And this report from Kelly led to a legislation in Illinois that limited women to an 8 hour workday and barred children under 14 from working. One of the main ideas that drove the Progressive movement was unsafe working conditions and child labor and this is one of the ways that was improved by the movement.

Immigation had begun around 1890 but it reached its peak during the Progressive era. During 1901-1914, when the outbreak of WWI in Europe about thirteen million immigrants came to the U.S. Around the same time an influx of Asian and Mexican immigrants were taking place in the west. And about “72,000” Japanese arrived. Most of them arrived because they saw the U.S. as a land of freedom, a safe place from their homeland where it might have been a dangerous environment to live in. However now most of them have long hours, work in dangerous conditions and receive low wages. So one of the main goals was also to reform the conditions for immigrants as well, provide them better opportunities, better wages, and better environments to work in. 

Many people, the factory workers and more well off employees complained about a loss of freedom. Many believed at the root of the labor problem was a lack of “industrial freedom.” Many of the Progressives thought that the “key to increasing industrial freedom lay in empowering workers to participate in economic decision making via strong unions.” Progressives wanted to create strong labor unions and have the ability to govern themselves. The Socialist Party, which was founded in 1901, wanted many reforms as well. They wanted free college education, economic freedom, legislation to improve the conditions of laborers and “democratic control over the economy through private ownership or railroads and factories.” The Socialist party did have many successes, they were published multiple times in newspapers and elected many local officials. 

There was also the Campaign for Women's Suffrage. They wanted the right to vote and this campaign eventually led to a national constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.

Progressives also wanted to reform the structure of government to reduce the power of political bosses. 

Progressivism was an international movement, many people, no matter the differences came together to fight for what they believed to be right. Fought for themselves and other people

Student 2

During the progressive era, The United States was going through a lot of change. This era started approximately around the 1890s and ended in the 1920s. The purpose of the progressive era was to attempt to make changes in the society of America. Some of the changes that this era was supposed to fix or make better were economic reform, social welfare, and morality. One of the main leaders in this era was Theodore Roosevelt. With Roosevelt entering the presidency he stood by and supported a lot of the progressive era.

With the progressive era, there were a lot of groups that formed because of this change. One of the main groups that were formed is called the muckrakers.  Muckrakers were a very large group of journalists whose job was to expose problems that were happening in American society. They also sought to expose politicians, which forced them to introduce new reforms. Not only this the muckrakers brought attention to poverty around the whole world.

Also during this era, there were a lot of acts that were made. Including Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act. these are just of the many acts that helped move this movement and era. Another huge idea that helped move the progressive movement was equality for women. In the 1900s females around the world were making strong statements to make their voice be heard in our society. Women started to protest and even go to the extent of hunger strikes to get the point across that they were treated unfairly in our society. With women making these strides they finally got the right to vote.

This movement was not just state by state it was national. Another idea that was being pushed by this movement was overall benefits for workers. The progressives were looking to get better pay, shorter hours, and safer working environments. progressives also pushed to get rid of child labor, they believed every child deserved an education. During this time a majority of kids were working to help provide for their families, working in factories and mines. A lot of this was because of the industrialization act.

In conclusion, I feel the progressive movement made a lot of positive and negative changes. But I think a lot of these changes had to be made because of how bad the industrialization revolution was. On the positive side, a lot of the changes that were made make the United states society a better place today. Women's rights were changed, Freedom laws of African Americans were changed and so much more.

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