Progressive Era Dbq

By the end of the 1800s, industrialization and immigration dramatically changed the landscape of the United States. These changes led to the beginning of reform movement composed of various people who wanted to improve the lives of American citizens and further democracy. They were known as Progressives, and their some of their many goals was to end corruption, limit the power of big business and corporations, and make social improvements, often through government action. Though they did not fix all issues, they did improve the quality of life in American and expand the role of the people in democracy. The values of three important aspects of Progressivism - women’s rights, imperialism, and immigration - developed during the early 1900s, and

After the deaths of many of the women’s rights activists from the older generation, younger leaders began to take charge, and they often aligned themselves with the Progressives. During this time, women’s roles were viewed as homemakers, so many of the Progressive women defended their reform actions as an extension of the traditional role of women. Among, the many values held for many decades by these reformers was the right to vote for women. In her piece, “Why Women Should Vote”, Jane Adams argued how women needed this right “in order to preserve the home,” (Doc C). These views developed into the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which gave women the right to vote. Furthermore, during the early 1900s, women campaigned for other rights, such as education on birth control (Doc F), giving women the right to own property, reducing discrimination in the workplace, and more liberal divorce and marriage laws. Progressive reforms continued to increase their activists in the National Women’s Party propose as constitutional amendment that would grant women equal rights as men beyond just voting rights. It is clear that the values of the women's’ rights activists and Progressive reforms carried into the 1920s as they fought for voting rights and other rights for

Foreign intervention was viewed differently by Progressives, especially after the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. Some Progressives, such as Theodore Roosevelt, viewed the war positively; he believed that imperialism was an extent of Progressivism as both were attempted to bring reform and improvement, and as an opportunity to spread the Progressive agenda globally. However, many Progressives were opposed to American imperialism, and believed that foreign intervention distracted from domestic political and social issues. Due to this, Progressives began to split, and would only split further after conflicting ideas on the Treaty of Versailles in 1918. These beliefs held by Progressives encouraged isolationism during the 1920s, as Progressives prefered to focus on ending the power of big business and government corruption rather than focusing on imperialism. Furthermore, as the movement began to lose momentum during the 1920s, the Progressive section of the Republican party began to fracture and would lead to a split in the 1924 election. Overall, the Progressive issues that were previously the most important were regarded with less focus due to the split between interventionism and isolationism in the