The Growth Of Government Power During The Gilded Age

988 Words4 Pages

The growth of government power commenced during the Gilded Age when farmers perceived problems formed the Populist Party that brought up the Omaha Platform, which demanded the government for certain policies. These demands in the Omaha Platform would later be answered by the government during the Progressive Era. After the Progressive Era, the Great Depression would occur forming the New Deal that could have some extension of progressive ideology and gave a massive increase of power to the government. Then Lyndon B. Johnson formed the Great Society that was like the New Deal on steroids hoping for prosperity for everyone. As you can see, from the Gilded Age, to the Progressive Era, to the New Deal, to the Great Society, and to the Great Recession, …show more content…

Therefore, when ranchers and farmers need help with railroads, they gave it to them. For example, the Hepburn Act that gave the Interstate Commerce Commission which gave the government power to regulate the railroads. Then when Woodrow Wilson took over for office after the 1912 election, he passed the Federal Reserve Act and the Federal Farm Loan Act in response to the Omaha Platform. The Federal Reserve Act was the response to free silver and established the Federal Reserve System with the monetary policy and the Federal Farm Loan Act would lend long term loans to farmers with low interest rates and that was the response to subtreasury. However, the Progressive Era would end at the start of World War 1 and the Great Depression would begin after the end of …show more content…

Another big extension was that farmers from the Progressive Era have been helped by initiatives like the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act, and the Hepburn Act. However, they have never been able to get rid of the overproduction issue since the Gilded Age. The New Deal would expand on helping the farmers with the Agriculture Adjustment Act that would turn the economy around by focusing on cutting the supply of crops. The New Deal ideology would also be expanded upon by the Great