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Course: US history   >   Unit 7

  • Introduction to the age of empire
  • The age of empire
  • The Spanish-American War
  • Imperialism
  • The Progressives

The Progressive Era

  • The presidency of Theodore Roosevelt
  • Progressivism
  • The period of US history from the 1890s to the 1920s is usually referred to as the Progressive Era , an era of intense social and political reform aimed at making progress toward a better society.
  • Progressive Era reformers sought to harness the power of the federal government to eliminate unethical and unfair business practices, reduce corruption, and counteract the negative social effects of industrialization.
  • During the Progressive Era, protections for workers and consumers were strengthened, and women finally achieved the right to vote.

The problems of industrialization

The ideology and politics of progressivism, the dark side of progressivism, what do you think.

  • For more, see H.W. Brands, The Reckless Decade: America in the 1890s (Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 2002).
  • For more on the Progressive movement, see Michael McGerr, A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).
  • For more on Progressive ideology, see Shelton Stromquist, Reinventing “The People”: The Progressive Movement, the Class Problem, and the Origins of Modern Liberalism (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2006).
  • See Walter Nugent, Progressivism: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
  • For more on Wilson’s racial policies, see Eric S. Yellin, Racism in the Nation’s Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson’s America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016).
  • Daniel J. Tichenor, Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2002), 3-4.
  • For more on eugenics in the United States, see Paul A. Lombardo, A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome Era (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011).

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The Square Deal: Theodore Roosevelt and the Themes of Progressive Reform

By kirsten swinth.

Theodore Roosevelt giving a speech in Waterville, Maine, 1902. (GLC06449.22)

These economic and social crises stemmed from the rise of industrial capitalism, which had transformed America between the Civil War and 1900. By the turn of the century, American factories produced one-third of the world’s goods. Several factors made this achievement possible: unprecedented scale in manufacturing, technological innovation, a transportation revolution, ever-greater efficiency in production, the birth of the modern corporation, and the development of a host of new consumer products. Standard Oil, Nabisco, Kodak, General Electric, and Quaker Oats were among those companies and products to become familiar household words. Many negative consequences accompanied this change. Cities, polluted and overcrowded, became breeding grounds for diseases like typhoid and cholera. A new unskilled industrial laboring class, including a large pool of child labor, faced low wages, chronic unemployment, and on-the-job hazards. Business owners didn’t mark high voltage wires, locked fire doors, and allowed toxic fumes to be emitted in factories. It was cheaper for manufacturers to let workers be injured or die than to improve safety—so they often did. Farmers were at the mercy of railroad trusts, which set transport rates that squeezed already indebted rural residents. Economic growth occurred without regard to its costs to people, communities, or the environment.

Many were appalled. Even middle-class Americans became outraged as the gap widened between the working and middle ranks of society and wealthy capitalists smugly asserted their superiority. A new class of muckraking journalists fed this outrage with stunning exposés of business exploitation and corruption of government officials. Lincoln Steffens’s 1902 The Shame of the Cities , for example, demonstrated the graft dominating politics in American urban centers. To many, such a society violated America’s fundamental principles and promises. Progressivism grew out of that dismay and a desire to fix what many saw as a broken system.

Progressivism emerged in many different locations from 1890 to 1917, and had varied emphases. Sometimes it had a social justice emphasis with a focus on economic and social inequality. At other times an economic and political emphasis dominated, with primary interest in moderate regulation to curtail the excesses of Gilded Age capitalists and politicians. It was, in short, a movement that is very difficult to chart. Historians most conventionally trace its movement from local initiatives through to the state and national levels. But it is potentially more useful to think of progressivism as falling under three broad areas of reform: efforts to make government cleaner, less corrupt, and more democratic; attempts to ameliorate the effects of industrialization; and efforts to rein in corporate power.

Despite their anxieties about the problems in all three areas, progressives accepted the new modern order. They did not seek to turn back the clock, or to return to a world of smaller businesses and agrarian idealism. Nor, as a general rule, did they aim to dismantle big business. Rather, they wished to regulate industry and mitigate the effects of capitalism on behalf of the public good. To secure the public good, they looked to an expanded role for the government at the local, state, as well as national levels. Theodore Roosevelt declared in a 1910 speech that the government should be "the steward of the public welfare." Progressivism was a reform movement that, through a shifting alliance of activists, eased the most devastating effects of industrial capitalism on individuals and communities. Except in its most extreme wing, it did not repudiate big business, but used the power of the state to regulate its impact on society, politics, and the economy.

These progressive reformers came from diverse backgrounds, often working together in temporary alliances, or even at cross-purposes. Participants ranged from well-heeled men’s club members seeking to clean up government corruption to radical activists crusading against capitalism altogether. They swept up in their midst cadres of women, many of them among the first generation of female college graduates, but others came from the new ranks of young factory workers and shop girls. Immigrant leaders, urban political bosses, and union organizers were also all drawn into reform projects.

Still, some common ground existed among progressives. They generally believed strongly in the power of rational science and technical expertise. They put much store by the new modern social sciences of sociology and economics and believed that by applying technical expertise, solutions to urban and industrial problems could be found. Matching their faith in technocrats was their distrust for traditional party politicians. Interest groups became an important vehicle for progressive reform advocacy. Progressives also shared the belief that it was a government responsibility to address social problems and regulate the economy. They transformed American attitudes toward government, parting with the view that the state should be as small as possible, a view that gained prominence in the post–Civil War era. Twentieth-century understandings of the government as a necessary force mediating among diverse group interests developed in the Progressive era. Finally, progressives had in common an internationalist perspective, with reform ideas flowing freely across national borders.

To address the first major area—corrupt urban politics—some progressive reformers tried to undercut powerful political machines. "Good government" advocates sought to restructure municipal governments so that parties had little influence. The National Municipal League, which had Teddy Roosevelt among its founders, for example, supported election of at-large members of city councils so that council members could not be beholden to party machines. Ironically, such processes often resulted in less popular influence over government since it weakened machine politicians who were directly accountable to immigrant and working-class constituents. The good government movement attracted men of good standing in society, suspicious of the lower classes and immigrants, but angered by effects of business dominance of city governments. Other reforms, however, fostered broader democratic participation. Many states adopted the initiative (allowing popular initiation of legislation) and referendum (allowing popular vote on legislation) in these years, and in 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution mandated the direct election of US Senators. Perhaps the most dramatic campaign for more democratic government was the woman suffrage movement which mobilized millions to campaign for women’s right to the franchise.

Ameliorating the effects of industrialization had at its heart a very effective women’s political network. At settlement houses, for example, black and white woman reformers, living in working-class, urban neighborhoods, provided day nurseries, kindergartens, health programs, employment services, and safe recreational activities. They also demanded new government accountability for sanitation services, for regulation of factory conditions and wages, for housing reform, and for abolishing child labor. Leaders like Jane Addams and Ida B. Wells-Barnett in Chicago as well as Lillian Wald in New York pioneered a role for city and state governments in securing the basic social welfare of citizens. This strand of progressive reform more broadly involved improving city services, like providing garbage pickup and sewage disposal. Some activists concentrated on tenement reform, such as New York’s 1901 Tenement House Act, which mandated better light, ventilation, and toilets. Laws protecting worker health and safety mobilized other reformers. Protective legislation to limit the hours worked by women, abolish child labor, and set minimum wages could be found across the country. Twenty-eight states passed laws to regulate women’s working hours and thirty-eight set new regulations of child labor in 1912 alone.

The second major area—the effort to rein in corporate power—had as its flagship one of the most famous pieces of legislation of the period: the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. The Act outlawed business combination "in restraint of trade or commerce." In addition to trust-busting, progressive reformers strengthened business regulation. Tighter control of the railroad industry set lower passenger and freight rates, for example. New federal regulatory bureaucracies, such as the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Trade Commission, also limited business’s free hand. These progressive initiatives also included efforts to protect consumers from the kind of unsavory production processes revealed by Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle . Somewhat unexpectedly, business leaders themselves sometimes supported such reform initiatives. Large meatpackers like Swift and Armour saw federal regulation as a means to undercut smaller competitors who would have a harder time meeting the new standards.

Among progressivism’s greatest champions was Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt had a genius for publicity, using the presidency as a "bully pulpit" to bring progressivism to the national stage. Roosevelt’s roots were in New York City and state government, where he served as state assemblyman, New York City police commissioner, and governor. As governor, he signaled his reformist sympathies by supporting civil service reform and a new tax on corporations. Republican Party elders found him so troublesome in the governor’s office that in 1900 they proposed him for the vice presidency, a sure-fire route to political insignificance. The assassination of William McKinley just months into his presidency, however, vaulted Roosevelt into national leadership of progressive reform.

Although Roosevelt was known as a trust buster, his ultimate goal was not the destruction of big business but its regulation. For Roosevelt the concentration of industry in ever fewer hands represented not just a threat to fair markets but also to democracy as wealthy industrialists consolidated power in their own hands. He turned to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to challenge business monopolies, bringing suit against the Northern Securities Company (a railroad trust) in 1902. The Justice Department initiated forty-two additional anti-trust cases during his presidency. During Roosevelt’s second term, regulating business became increasingly important. Roosevelt had always believed big business was an inevitable economic development; regulation was a means to level the playing field and provide the "square deal" to citizens, as Roosevelt had promised in his re-election campaign. He supported laws like the 1906 Hepburn Act, which regulated the railroads, and the same year’s Pure Food and Drug and Meat Inspection Acts, which controlled the drug and food industries.

Although not always successful in achieving his goals, Roosevelt brought to the federal government other progressive causes during his presidency, including support for workers’ rights to organize, eight-hour workdays for federal employees, workers’ compensation, and an income and inheritance tax on wealthy Americans. Under his leadership, conservation of the nation’s natural resources became a government mandate. He encouraged Congress to create several new national parks, set aside sixteen national monuments, and establish more than fifty wildlife preserves and refuges. Through the new Bureau of Fisheries and National Forest Service, Roosevelt emphasized efficient government management of resources, preventing rapacious use by private businesses and landowners.

After leaving the presidency in 1909, Roosevelt initially withdrew from politics. But his dismay at the slow pace of reform under his successor, William Howard Taft, prompted him to return for the 1912 election. When Republicans failed to nominate him, he broke with the party and formed the Progressive Party. He campaigned under the banner of a "New Nationalism." Its tenets united the themes of his leadership of progressivism: faith in a strong federal government, an activist presidency, balancing of public interest and corporate interest, and support for a roll-call of progressive reform causes, from woman suffrage and the eight-hour work day to abolishing child labor and greater corporate regulation.

While progressives guided the country down the path it would follow for much of the twentieth century toward regulation of the economy and government attention to social welfare, it also contained a strong streak of social control. This was the darker side of the movement. Progressive faith in expert leadership and government intervention could justify much that intruded heavily on the daily lives of individual citizens. The regulation of leisure activities is a good example. Commercial leisure—dance halls, movies, vaudeville performances, and amusement parks like Coney Island—appeared to many reformers to threaten public morality, particularly endangering young women. Opponents famously deemed Coney Island "Sodom by the Sea." Seeking to tame such activities, reformers, most of whom were middle class, promoted "Rules for Correct Dancing" (no "conspicuous display of hosiery"; no suggestive dance styles) and enacted a National Board of Censorship for movies. These rules largely targeted working-class and youth entertainments with an eye to regulating morality and behavior.

Eugenics also garnered the support of some progressive reformers. Eugenics was a scientific movement which believed that weaker or "bad" genes threatened the nation’s population. Eugenicists supported laws in the name of the rational protection of public health to compel sterilization of those with "bad" genes—typically focusing on those who were mentally ill or in jails, but also disproportionately affecting those who were not white. Any assessment of the progressive movement must grapple with this element of social control as reformers established new ways to regulate the daily lives of citizens, particularly those in the lower ranks of society, by empowering government to set rules for behavior. It was often middle-class reformers who made their values the standard for laws regulating all of society.

Progressive reform’s greatest failure was its acquiescence in the legal and violent disfranchisement of African Americans. Most progressive reformers failed to join African American leaders in their fight against lynching. Many endorsed efforts by southern progressives to enact literacy tests for voting and other laws in the name of good government that effectively denied black Americans the right to vote and entrenched Jim Crow segregation. By 1920, all southern states and nine states outside the South had enacted such laws.

Progressivism’s defining feature was its moderateness. Progressives carved out what historian James Kloppenberg describes as a "via media," a middle way between the laissez-faire capitalism dominant in the Gilded Age and the socialist reorganization many radicals of the period advocated. It was a movement of accommodation. Some regulation of business joined some protection of workers, but no dramatic overhaul of the distribution of wealth or control of the economy occurred. Instead, progressives bequeathed the twentieth century faith in an active government to moderate the effects of large-scale capitalism on citizens and communities. Government would secure the public claim to unadulterated food, safer workplaces, decent housing, and fair business practices, among many other things. Theodore Roosevelt epitomized progressive rebuke of the outrageous excesses of capitalists and their cronies, but also typified progressive accommodation of the new order. He opposed unregulated business, deemed monopolies antithetical, defended labor unions, supported consumer protections, and initiated government protection of natural resources. Yet he never believed we could turn away from the new economy and the transformation it had wrought in American society. The balancing act of reform and regulation that Roosevelt and other progressives pursued led the nation through the moment of crisis at the end of the nineteenth century and accommodated it to the modern industrial society of the twentieth century.

Kirsten Swinth is associate professor of history at Fordham University and the author of Painting Professionals: Women Artists and the Development of Modern American Art, 1870–1930 (2001).

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Home — Essay Samples — History — History of the United States — Progressive Era

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Essays on Progressive Era

How to write a progressive era essay, choosing progressive era essay topics.

  • What specific aspect of the Progressive Era am I interested in?
  • How can I relate the topic to contemporary issues?
  • How can I use primary sources to support my argument?
  • How did Progressive Era reformers attempt to address the problems caused by industrialization and urbanization?
  • What were the most significant achievements of the Progressive Era, and what were its most significant failures?
  • How did Progressive Era reformers view the role of government in American society, and what kinds of reforms did they advocate for?
  • How did Progressive Era reforms affect the lives of ordinary Americans, particularly those who were marginalized or oppressed?
  • What was the relationship between the Progressive Era and other social and political movements of the time, such as suffrage and labor movements?

Writing a Thesis Statement

  • Addresses the prompt or the question you are answering
  • Provides a clear argument or perspective
  • Highlights the significance of your essay.

Conducting Research

Organizing your essay.

  • Introduction: Start with an attention-grabbing statement that contextualizes the Progressive Era and leads to your thesis statement.
  • Body paragraphs: Each paragraph should address a specific aspect of your argument and provide evidence to support it. You can use primary and secondary sources to support your argument.
  • Conclusion: Summarize your main points and restate your thesis statement. Offer some reflections on the significance of the Progressive Era and its relevance to contemporary issues.

Progressive Era Essay Examples

Prompt examples for progressive era essays, goals and reforms of the progressive era.

Discuss the goals and key reforms of the Progressive Era in the United States. What were the main issues and injustices that progressives sought to address, and how did they advocate for change?

Muckrakers and Investigative Journalism

Analyze the role of muckrakers and investigative journalism during the Progressive Era. How did journalists and writers like Upton Sinclair and Ida Tarbell expose social and political problems, and what impact did their work have?

Women's Suffrage Movement

Examine the women's suffrage movement as a significant part of the Progressive Era. How did women activists like Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul contribute to the fight for women's right to vote, and what were the challenges they faced?

Labor and Workers' Rights

Discuss the labor movement and efforts to improve workers' rights during the Progressive Era. How did labor unions advocate for better working conditions and fair wages, and what were the outcomes of their actions?

Environmental Conservation

Explore the conservation movement and its impact on environmental policy during the Progressive Era. How did figures like Theodore Roosevelt contribute to the preservation of natural resources and the establishment of national parks?

Legacy of the Progressive Era

Analyze the lasting impact of the Progressive Era on American society and politics. How did the reforms and changes implemented during this period shape the nation's future, and what lessons can be learned from this era?

The Different Changes in Effect During The Progressive Era

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The Progressive Era: Woman Suffrage, African American and Immigration

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Overview of The Major Problems During The Progressive Era

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United States

Trust-busting, Women's Suffrage, Initiative and Referendum, Spanish-American War

Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Evans Hughes, William Jennings Bryan, Woodrow Wilson

The Progressive Era with intense social and political reform aimed at making progress toward a better society across the United States of America that spanned the 1890s to the 1920s. During this period, reformers worked to improve American society and counteract the effect of industrialization. The main purpose of the movement was eliminating corruption in government. Many progressives were also concerned with the environment and conservation of resources.

Progressive Era movement targeted the regulations of huge monopolies and corporations, that was done through the Sherman Act of 1890, the Clayton Act of 1914, and the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. The main purpose of the Progressive movement was the eliminating of corruption in government. The leaders of the era worked on the issues such as labor rights, women’s suffrage, economic reform, environmental protections, and the welfare of the poor, including poor immigrants.

Many Progressives supported prohibition in the United States in order to destroy the political power of local bosses based in saloons. In 1918, Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment established prohibition of alcohol in 1920.

Between 1900 and 1915, more than 15 million immigrants arrived in the United States. The U.S. population nearly doubled between 1870 and 1900. By 1900, 30 million people, lived in cities.

The cause of women’s suffrage became a priority for many during the Progressive Era. American women finally achieved the right to vote with Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, that granted women the right to vote and forbade any suffrage restrictions based on gender.

The Progressive movement fractured after America’s entry into World War I.

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progressive era reforms essay

82 Progressive Era Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best progressive era topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 interesting topics to write about progressive era, 🔎 good research topics about progressive era, ❓ progressive era essay questions.

  • The Progressive Era History The Progressive era in the United States which lasted from 1890 to 1920 was known for two things, namely that it was a period of progressive social movement and change that sought to reform many […]
  • The Progressive Era and World War I To achieve the intended goals, many progressives began by exposing the major evils and challenges that were affecting the United States towards the end of the 19th century. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
  • The Progressive Era and Its Technological Inventions Moreover, the period marked the shift from the agrarian to the urban society, and many critics referred to it as the age of reforms in American history.
  • Women’s Movement Connected to the Progressive Era The objectives of the movement converged at addressing problems that women faced at the time as part of promoting the ultimate agendas of the Progressive Era as discussed in the next section.
  • America’s Progressive Era and World War I This paper will outline the events leading to America’s entrance into the war, the obstacles faced by the U.S.military, and the role of American women and minorities.
  • Progressive Era and Its Significant Interventions One of the most significant progressive interventions was the Nineteenth Amendment, through which American women got the right to vote. Besides, the right to vote guaranteed by the Nineteenth Amendment changed the social life of […]
  • The History of Progressive Era in the US Progressivism it is a political movement supporting the ordinary people’s interests through their roles of consumers, employees, parents and citizens.
  • Public Administration in the Progressive Era In the context of this video lies the idea that progressives fought for the rights of certain groups of people who were once deprived of them, the struggle for justice and for the eradication of […]
  • Lack of Unanimity Among Black Constituencies During the Progressive Era While Du Bois criticized Washington’s approach and proposed to demand civil rights immediately so that black people could become equal and proper citizens of the U.S.
  • The Progressive Era in the United States History The Progressive Era in US history occurred in the early 20th century, between 1900 and 1918, and comprised of a number of attempts to implement social and economic reforms in the country, to tackle the […]
  • The Progressive Era Significance The progressives also considered the minimal salaries for females, provided the industrial accident insurance and created the limitations for the child labor at the state level.
  • The Progressive Era in the US It is possible to single out a number of persons who can be regarded as symbols of the Progressive Era, symbols that contributed into development of particular areas in the US society.
  • The Progressive Era in the United States The inequity and the deep class conflict were a result of monopolization, total domination of major businesses in the political life of the country, and their interpenetration with the government.
  • Gilded Age and Progressive Era Freedom Challenges They used that fact in their attempt to argue that the slavery of African Americans was natural as well and that it should not be abolished.
  • Progressive Era in United States The progressives also rooted for the adoption of laissez-faire and formation of labor unions in face of high rate unemployment in order to improve the working conditions of the workers.
  • The Importance of the Progressive Era Reforms The importance of the Progressive Era reforms is in providing a lot of possibilities for changing different aspects of the political, economic, and social life for the benefit of the US citizens with references to […]
  • Race Relations During the Progressive Era The need to solve the problems led to the emergence of pro-reform groups. During this era, the American constitution was amended several times to accommodate the reforms.
  • The Politics of Urban Reform in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
  • Political Discord in the Reactive Progressive Era
  • Academic Reform Thought in the Long Progressive Era
  • Dealing With the Class Gap During the Progressive Era
  • The Progressive Era’s Derailment of Classical-Liberal Evolution
  • Lessons Learnt From the Great Depression and Progressive Era
  • Comparing the Advancement Made in Progressive Era
  • American Progressive Era, From the 1890s to 1920s
  • How Did Theodore Roosevelt Contribute to the Progressive Era
  • Political Ideologies and Policies in the Progressive Era
  • Negative Aspects and Disadvantages of the Progressive Era
  • Federal Legislations During the Progressive Era
  • Effects of Food Regulation in the Progressive Era
  • Efforts for Social Reform by Muckrackers and Progressive Era
  • Education Reform Movements During the Progressive Era
  • Changes That Came About During the Progressive Era in the U.S.
  • Anti-semitism and Progressive Era Social Science
  • The Progressive Era and Amendments of the US Constitution
  • Curriculum Change From Common School Education Era to Progressive Era
  • African American Population During the Progressive Era
  • Progressive Era Success and Failures
  • How Empowered Women to Work in the Progressive Era
  • Progressive Era: The Era of Immigration, Race, and Women’s Rights
  • Positive and Negative Aspects of the Progressive Era and Their Consequences
  • Achievements During the Progressive Era
  • Overview of the Major Problems During the Progressive Era
  • Historical Turning Points Through the Period of the Progressive Era
  • Government During the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era
  • The Causes and Impacts of the Progressive Era
  • African-American History From Reconstruction Through the Progressive Era
  • Child Labor and the Progressive Era: 1900-1920
  • Childhood and Child Welfare in Progressive Era
  • Major Changes That Impacted the United States in the Progressive Era
  • Progressive Era Reformers: Regulation of Industry and Trust-Busting
  • Industrialization During the Progressive Era
  • Eugenics and Socialist Thought in the Progressive Era
  • The Long Term Impact of the Progressive Era’s Changes in Society Today
  • Political and Social Aspects of the Progressive Era in the USA
  • The Main Improvements Made During the Progressive Era in America
  • Women’s Suffrage Movement During the Progressive Era
  • What Is the Progressive Era Known For?
  • What Major Events Happened in the Progressive Era?
  • What Were the Progressive Era Reforms?
  • How Did the Progressive Era Affect the Economy?
  • What Was the Progressive Era Main Purpose?
  • What Was the Most Important Reform of the Progressive Era?
  • What Factors Led to the Progressive Era?
  • What Was the Greatest Accomplishment of the Progressive Era?
  • How Did the Progressive Era Lead to the Great Depression?
  • Did the Progressive Era Improve Society?
  • What Were the Main Goals and Beliefs of Progressives?
  • Why Did the Progressive Era End?
  • How Did the Progressive Era Help the Poor?
  • What Inspired the Progressive Era Movement?
  • Was the Progressive Era a Success or Failure?
  • Who Benefited the Most From the Progressive Era?
  • How Did Society Change During the Progressive Era?
  • What Was Life Like During the Progressive Era?
  • What Problems Were Solved by Progressive Era Reforms?
  • What Were Some Negative Effects of the Progressive Era?
  • How Did Government Change During the Progressive Era?
  • What Did the Progressive Movement Achieve?
  • What Was the Progressive Era Quizlet?
  • Was Progressive Era Successful?
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IvyPanda. (2023, September 27). 82 Progressive Era Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/progressive-era-essay-topics/

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IvyPanda . "82 Progressive Era Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 27, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/progressive-era-essay-topics/.

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Students will use evidence from the documents to discuss the conditions that led Progressive Reformers to address their goal and the extent to which the goal was achieved.

progressive era reforms essay

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COMMENTS

  1. The Progressive Era

    The Progressive movement was a political and social-reform movement that brought major changes to the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this time, known as the Progressive Era, the movement's goals involved strengthening the national government and addressing people's economic, social, and political demands.

  2. The Progressive Era (Progressive movement) (article)

    Overview. The period of US history from the 1890s to the 1920s is usually referred to as the Progressive Era, an era of intense social and political reform aimed at making progress toward a better society. Progressive Era reformers sought to harness the power of the federal government to eliminate unethical and unfair business practices, reduce ...

  3. The Progressive Era History

    The Era of Prohibition. The era of Prohibition, which consisted of outlawing the sale and manufacturing of alcohol, was actually started by various religious groups who rode on the coattails of the Progressive movement stating the "social harm" that alcohol had on the general population. As a result, the ban on alcohol achieved success by ...

  4. The Square Deal: Theodore Roosevelt and the Themes of Progressive Reform

    The Square Deal: Theodore Roosevelt and the Themes of Progressive Reform | Progressivism arrived at a moment of crisis for the United States. | Progressivism arrived at a moment of crisis for the United States. As the nineteenth century came to a close, just decades after the Civil War, many feared the nation faced another explosive and violent conflict, this time between the forces of ...

  5. The Progressive Era

    The Progressive Era started a reform tradition that has since been present in American society. Monopolies were broken up due to violation of federal law. Many labor unions, trade groups, and professional, civic, and religious associations were founded. They improved the lives of individuals and communities. Regulations that progressive groups ...

  6. Progressives and Progressivism in an Era of Reform

    Samuel P. Hays, "The Politics of Reform in Municipal Government in the Progressive Era," Pacific Historical Review 55.4 (October 1964): 157-159. 87. Robert H. Wiebe, Businessmen and Reform: A Study of the Progressive Movement (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1962); and Wiebe, The Search for Order. 88.

  7. Progressive Era Essays

    2 pages / 690 words. The Progressive Era from 1900-1915 contained many important issues that centered mostly on the improvement of society. The main focus of this period, however, was the overall improvement of social injustices that occurred to the common people especially worker's rights.

  8. The Importance of the Progressive Era Reforms Essay

    In the United States, the Progressive Era is associated with the period of 1890-1920 when the traditional old order was changed with the new order under the influence of active transformations in the political and social spheres. We will write a custom Essay on The Importance of the Progressive Era Reforms specifically for you for only 9.35/page.

  9. Progressive Era Essay

    It is a collection of reform movements. The progressive era was when reformers or activists who were working to solve the problems in the American society and the government were trying to end the laissez-faire. The root of progressive started during the glided age. This era started in 1890 and ended in 1920. A solution.

  10. The Progressive Era in the United States History Essay

    Introduction. The Progressive Era in US history occurred in the early 20 th century, between 1900 and 1918, and comprised of a number of attempts to implement social and economic reforms in the country, to tackle the problems unleashed by industrialism, urbanization, and immigration. It was an era that consisted of a number of movements as ...

  11. Progressive Era

    Liberalism portal. Philosophy portal. v. t. e. The Progressive Era (1896-1917) was a period in the United States during the early 20th century of widespread social activism and political reform across the country that focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste, and inefficiency. The main themes ended during American involvement in World ...

  12. Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929

    The early 20th century was an era of business expansion and progressive reform in the United States. Top of page. ... The 1920s, also known as the "roaring twenties" and as "the new era," were similar to the Progressive Era in that America continued its economic growth and prosperity. The incomes of working people increased along with those of ...

  13. Progressive Era Reforms

    The Progressive Era (1890-1920s) was a turning point in American history during which many important reforms were passed. At the turn of the 19th century, Americans were facing a range of social ...

  14. PDF 2019 APUSH DBQ Sample Responses Political Reform in the Progressive Era

    The 2019 APUSH DBQ about the success political reform during the Progressive Era can be accessed here. Five sample essays are included in this collection: SAMPLE RESPONSE A Exemplar SCORE: 7 This is the essay that I wrote in response to the prompt. I completed it in less than one hour. I like for students to be able to see what I would consider ...

  15. Progressive Era in United States

    Progressive Era was a period of great reforms in the United States that occurred in the early part of 20 th century. The progressives formulated reforms focused on promoting good governance and welfare of the Americans by advocating for radical changes in economic, political and social policies. Economically, the progressives advocated for the ...

  16. PDF AP United States History

    Evaluate the extent to which the Progressive movement fostered political change in the United States from 1890 to 1920. Maximum Possible Points: 7. Points Rubric Notes A: Thesis/Claim (0- 1) Responds to the prompt with a historically defensible thesis/claim that establishes a line of reasoning. (1 point)

  17. Labour Reforms During the Progressive Era Essay

    Success of Reformers and the Federal Government during The Progressive Era: Argumentative Essay. Civil Rights ; Progressive Era

  18. Gilded Age and Progressive Era

    Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Themes: Equality, Reform Movements, Economic Systems. ~18 days. The United States was transformed from an agrarian to an increasingly industrial and urbanized society. Although this transformation created new economic opportunities, it also created societal problems that were addressed by a variety of reform efforts.

  19. Progressive Era Reformers Essay

    Progressive Era Reformers Essay. 1001 Words 5 Pages. From 1900-1920 in the United States of America the reformers of the Progressive Era and the Federal Government were effective bringing about reform dealing with reforms to improve the social disgrace of the working conditions, the enthusiasm to be a nation of self-governed people, and the ...

  20. The Progressive Era Essay

    Progressive Era Essay 860 Words | 4 Pages. Forces such as immigration, industrialization, and the populist party during the time e=were the foundations that led to the progressive era reforms which impacted the American Government greatly in its democracy and in its activeness and involvement in businesses an so on.

  21. Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929

    National Expansion and Reform, 1815 - 1880 Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877 Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900 Progressive Era to New Era, 1900-1929 Overview Automobiles in the Progressive and New Eras

  22. 82 Progressive Era Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

    During this era, the American constitution was amended several times to accommodate the reforms. The importance of the Progressive Era reforms is in providing a lot of possibilities for changing different aspects of the political, economic, and social life for the benefit of the US citizens with references to […] We will write.

  23. Progressive Era Reforms Essay

    Progressive Era Reforms Progressive Era Reforms From 1900-1920, there was an era of reform by progressives, as a result, the federal government brought reforms at the national level. Two major types of reforms were Social reform, and Political reform. Socially, there was Women's suffrage, which gave women the right to vote.

  24. DBQ: Progressive Era Reforms

    DBQ: Progressive Era Reforms | New Visions - Social Studies. Resource: DBQ: Progressive Era Reforms. Students will use evidence from the documents to discuss the conditions that led Progressive Reformers to address their goal and the extent to which the goal was achieved. Preview Resource Add a Copy of Resource to my Google Drive.