Progressive Movement Late 1800's

During the late 1800’s a seemingly impossible uphill battle for equality and rights gained a new ally in the Progressive Movement, whose main goal was to enact reform in a practical, plausible way. Before this Movement social conditions were worsening across the United States and inequality in politics ran rampant, to spread the news of this new forms of media and campaigning arose, and after the Progressive Movement ran its course it left a drastic imprint on the history of American reform. This era is famous for its changes and philosophies that governed America and its people such as the argument between Conservationists and Preservationists or the issue of tariffs that had persisted since the birth of the United States, but what the Progressive

(doc 1) When even their living conditions and social standing were satisfactory, they were never far enough away to escape the pandemic of food poisoning that resulted from the atrociously nonexistent food standards and the condition of the meat produced from the fields around Chicago. (doc 3) These problems did not only affect the adults, child labor was used across the nation in dangerous factories where it was commonplace to meet young amputees. (doc 4) Among some of the most disturbing reports of the quality of the food for the lower class came from the sausage factories where rats, humans, and pigs share a home in the vats. (doc 6) What made matters worse was the fact that those that lived in these squalid conditions, mainly the women, could not even vote to change their lives for the better. (doc

These problems were quickly addressed because the majority of the progressive movement was behind such reforms. This is very similar to the American opinion during the build up to and following the Second World War where public opinion of Fascism had grown to near taboo levels where even mentioning the word caused a major scandal over its context. This parallels with the progressive era with their problems before the movements, the fear of oppression and losing their democracy, their spread of information in the media to expose these problems, a new type of muckraking and warmonger media aimed at Nazism, and their coming together in order to solve their problems, the consolidation of power and popular support to declare war after Pearl Harbor and hearing of the lack of success by the Allies. While both of these periods feature change and a unifying cause that brought the divided nation of America back together, there is only one era when such a large amount of change and reform was enacted, whether it be Trust-Busting, Conservation, or the municipal reforms that took place on the lower levels, the Progressive Era is the only time period to pass so many reforms that it was named after its efforts to change despite hugely important events were happening