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The Progressive Era (1890s-1920s)

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The Progressive Era (1890s-1920s)
During the Era of Progressivism, which lasted approximately from 1890s to1920s, some reforms were made to deal with the socio-economic crisis which the United States faced at that time. Among the most prominent political figures of that period are the two presidents, Theodore Roosevelt of the Republicans and Woodrow Wilson of the Democrats. In our paper, we will consider the situation that America was in and elaborate why those reforms were needed. After that, we will compare the policies of the named two presidents.
The United States of America faced numerous problems related to poverty, social injustice, and corruption in the government. The degree of social injustice was despicable; workers had to labor …show more content…

His version of free market economy, however, included antitrust views, and did not perceive labor unions as a hindrance to the “market freedom”, allowing for the right to create such unions and fight for laborers’ rights (Foner 720). Among notable documents adopted during his presidency are the Underwood Tariff Act, which lowered import duties and “imposed a graduated income tax on the richest 5 percent of Americans”, and the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, which gave workers more rights to protect themselves (Foner …show more content…

We have already mentioned Roosevelt’s fighting against monopolies; the Northern Securities Company was one of them. This major railroad company established by J. P. Morgan controlled three large western railroads, monopolizing the means of transport between the Pacific Ocean and the Great Lakes. Roosevelt prosecuted the Northern Securities under the Sherman Antitrust Act, and, as a result, the company was dissolved in 1904 by the Supreme Court (Foner 716).
Furthermore, in 1906 the Hepburn Act was adopted by the Congress. It allowed the Interstate Commerce Commission to control railroads’ rates and set the maximum prices on transportation, which was a step for the government to influencing the market economy (Foner 717). The 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, as well as the Meat Inspection Act, also adopted during Roosevelt’s presidency, were the result of the activity of the “muckrakers” (Foner 685-686,

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During this time period the outstanding debt of the national government decreased as a whole, which showcases that despite how the government was centering more attention on nonmilitary activities and likely interfering with laissez faire, the economy of the country improved as a whole. Government interference through the interstate commerce act also proved to be beneficial to both the party it was interfering on behalf of and the railroad systems. The act was seen as necessary in order to “conserve and protect” without harming the interests of the enterprises. It was in this same point of view that John Sherman created the Sherman Antitrust Act, for the sake of aiming at unlawful combinations and not harming any innocent enterprises. However, congress did follow in accordance to laissez faire when they resolved to no longer grant subsidies to corporations or private

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The 1912 Election and the Power of Progressivism: A Brief History with Documents by Brett Flehinger is about the four Presidential candidates during the election of 1912, their political parties and campaigns. The book shows how opposed each candidate 's platform was and which problems the candidates agreed on. The book has documents from this time to further aid in understanding what exactly was happening. None of the candidates, however, were as different as Theodore Roosevelt and his predecessor, William Howard Taft. Their platforms and ideas regarding trusts, direct democracy and courts and the constitution differed greatly, whilst they agreed on the important issue of women 's suffrage.

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In their opinion, the employees were not employed in interstate commerce, so their wages had nothing to do with it either (Document F). They also thought that the government had no right to give workers the right to self-organize and break the law (Document G). The authority of the federal government expanded, and FDR was, in a sense, abusing the power he had. Roosevelt’s administration increased the role of the federal government in the economy. His New Deal programs were more successful in empowering the government than lightening the effect of the Depression.

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Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican with liberal beliefs. While he was trying to reform our nation, the conservative Republicans were disappointed that he did not hold the same views that they did. He passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. This act was a part of his “Square Deal” programs. This program had a set of policies that sought out for equal opportunity for all Americans.

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President Roosevelt had many supporters but he also had many opponents during his year in office. Conservatives or the “Rights”, argued that the New Deal programs that provided more government activity weakened the autonomy of American business. They also claimed that the effort to aid nonbusiness groups was too much. They were using too much government funded money to support unemployment. Bankers and industrialists created the American Liberty League to try to end the New Deal, which did not work.

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Theodore Roosevelt's anti-trust act stopped robber barons in their track's. The Anti-Sherman Trust Act wast the first act to outlaw monopolistic businesses which is reducing the fair market competition of enterprises and monopolies. Theodore Roosevelt sued J.P. Morgan for bad trust's and won the case in The Supreme Court. This was a turning point in America because robber barons didn't own America anymore. It was a time of greed, corruption, and broken capitalism was common in America.

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President Roosevelt was a president that wanted to make America great again. Through his multitude of progressive and usually controversial legislations and policies, Roosevelt managed to steer America away from the decadence of the gilded age and steered her towards a glorious path of greatness. through revolutionary use of governmental power such as using the sherman trust act, threatening the privatization of natural resources and the conservation of natural. Roosevelt understood how degenerate the trust monopolization was towards the free market and made the bold move to go against the corporate giants which dominate the market and corrupted its inherent freedom, using his glorious presidential power and the Sherman trust act to remove their monopolies and furthermore enacted the Hepburn act to crush the

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Roosevelt adjusted the railroad shipping rates. He also supported conservation. These acts were successful until William Taft. William Taft won the election of 1908 with the help of Teddy Roosevelt. After becoming the president Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich tariff reducing some imported good’s rates but raising others.

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He set out to regulate and subdue these corporations and remove the political corruption that was going on at the time. One of his first accomplishments

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One historical figure during the Progressive Era was the former U.S. president Theodore

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When Theodore Roosevelt saw that trusts, or monopolies, were cheating millions of Americans, he did not stand by idly; he aggressively utilized the Sherman Antitrust Act to break up monopolies, causing some to mock him as the “trust-buster.” When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was faced with the worst economic recession in American history, he did not utilize moderate, monetarist economic policies; he passed what many would consider to be the most aggressively liberal economic policies in American history in the New Deal, which created programs like Social Security and the minimum wage, even though most of the New Deal was controversial and parts would be struck down by the Supreme

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Forces such as immigration, industrialization, and the populist party during the time e=were the foundations that led to the progressive era reforms which impacted the American Government greatly in its democracy and in its activeness and involvement in businesses an so on. The progressive era reforms is quite similar to the New deal era in the 1930s, they each produced a record amount of programs and policies that worked to change the status of Americans living in poverty, which included their working

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