The Progressive Era Essay

The Progressive era was a period of widespread activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1900s to 1920s. The goal was to end abuse of power (monopolies, unfair privilege and corruption), and to replace corrupt power with humane institutions, apply scientific principles and efficient management to economic, social, and political institutions. Through the Progressive Era they were able to create the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Amendment. The 16th Amendment allowed income tax, the 17th Amendment allowed the direct election of senators, the 18th Amendment allowed prohibition (prohibition is the manufacturing and sale of alcohol, especially in the US between 1920 and 1933), and the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.

Unlike African Americans the women had a favorable change mainly because many women were fighting hard for it and formed groups specifically to help women. Groups that were formed during the Progressive era were the American Birth Control League (ABCL) that was founded by Margaret Sanger in 1921 at the First American Birth Control Conference in New York City. The League was then incorporated under the laws of New York State on April 5, 1922. The second group that was formed was the National American Suffrage Association which was formed in 1890. And the last group that was formed was the National Association of Colored Women that was formed in 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C. According to Document H it talks about voting namely women voting they feel like they do not have the vote and they definitely wanted it. In the picture it says, “20,000,000 AMERICAN WOMEN ARE NOT SELF-GOVERNED.” And this is certainly true that is why women are very upset about this. Also in the picture I would say that Kaiser Wilson is not a real person but the National Archive is representing him as President Wilson. Wilson would rather sympathize with Germans who do not enjoy self-government, but not with American

Those problems were tariffs, high railroad rates, food and drugs, and because of the depression they wanted more money in circulation. Their goals were to end abuse of power, reform social institutions, and of course safer foods. The Progressive Era for them was somewhat of a change due to the creation of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA was created because of the horrendousness going on in factories across the United States. Document B is a perfect example of what was going on in one factory in the U.S. Document B talks about the report that was documented about the awful conditions in meat-packing. According to the document it says, “Meat scraps were also found being shoveled into receptacles from dirty floors where they were left to lie until again shoveled into barrels or into machines for chopping. These floors, it must be noted, were in most cases damp and soggy, in dark, ill-ventilated rooms, and the employees in utter ignorance of cleanliness or danger to health, expectorated at will upon them. In a word, we saw meat shoveled from filthy wooden floors, piled on tables rarely washed, pushed from room to room in rotten box carts, in all of which processes it was in the way of gathering dirt, splinters, floor filth, and the expectoration of tuberculosis and other diseased workers.” It is a disgrace what these people were doing how you can put