Progressivism contributed significantly to the transformation of the United States of America. After the civil war, America experienced significant economic changes due to industrialization. The economic situation was encouraged by the government's support of private companies, an environment that supported start-ups and availability of natural resources such as coal, oil, iron ore, copper, timber and vast of fertile lands. Besides, the federal monetary policy that ensured stabilized the currency and high-interest rates. Although many Americans were committed to the ideology of using free labor and wished that the country's economy would remain open and decentralized, and the gap between the rich and the poor would be minimized due to the numerous opportunities, the opposite happened because of the emergence of monopolies such as Rockefeller who dominated the market and prohibited entry of new enterprises. The economy became more centralized and the gap between the rich and the poor was greater than any time before. The middle class who owned the property became wage earners. …show more content…
The discontent spread to the members of the middle class in the society. The middle class was concerned about how the large businesses and corporations were running their businesses and sympathized with the workers, immigrants, and the poor. The majority of the American citizens were not happy in their country due to the inequalities of wealth. This awakened Theodore Roosevelt, who aimed at solving the problem of having a few wealthy people whose wealth was contributed by the many poor people through unfair business practices and exploitation of workers due to unfair labor