I like to see the glass as half full, so yes, the Progressive Era was indeed progressive. Our country gained many useful traits during this time, and many of them still apply to us today. Child labor was a problem before the era, but after, it became an item of the past. Conservation laws protected millions of acres of land in the US, which is wonderful for all of our tree-hugging friends. Lastly, two new amendments were created, each helping to modernize America.
Child Labor was a huge flaw in the American system before the Progressive Era. Children were unskilled, but they could use their puny hands to reach in and under machinery. This became a problem, because fingers and sometimes limbs were lost. First, the National Child Labor Committee was formed to watch over the children. In 1916, the Keating-Owen Act was passed that made any good made by a child illegal to be transported out of state. Finally, the legislature passed laws banning child labor. maximum hours were set, and child labor died. Regarding labor laws, in 1908, the court case of Muller v. Oregon made it so women could only work ten hour work
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Theodore Roosevelt worked hard to conserve millions of acres of land in the US from people who wanted to use it without thinking. He did this by providing protection for over 230 million acres of land, which consisted of national parks, forests, reservations, and monuments. He devoted much of his life to conserving our world. After his presidency, William Howard Taft took over. He was so stupid. He appointed Ballinger to Secretary of the interior. This was stupid because he had little interest in conserving the land, and he would have much rather opened up the land for forestry and mining. Four years isn’t quite enough time to open up 230 million acres of land