The Roaring Twenties And The Progressive Movement In America

History 202 Midterm Exam Paper Throughout the semester we have studied several extremely influential time periods in American history. We have studied the post-Civil War tension between the Republican North and the Democratic South. We traveled through the rise of the railroad and the 2nd industrial revolution in America. We witnessed the taming of the West and watched American ideals spread to the wild lands and people’s there. At the turn of the century, we read how Progressivism and Imperialism conquered the minds of the American people (and the eyes and attention of the rest of the world). We reviewed the war and savagery destroyed the civilized world during the Great War. Finally, we took part in learning about the Roaring Twenties and

The Progressive Movement fought against all forms of injustice. It came to be to fight against corrupt politics, political machines, “robber barons” and big business, poor working conditions in the more industrialized America, poor living conditions for the poor and middle class in the more urbanized society, etc. Women’s Suffrage, child labor reform, social reform i.e. discrimination, banking and labor reform, and the desire for prohibition helped promote and influence this movement as well. Their goals were aligned with said causes. The movement’s eyes were set on the destruction of political machines, the breaking apart of big business and the power of the “robber baron”, the curbing and end of social injustice (in some forms), the end of child abuse and child labor, illiteracy, alcoholism, and crime, the improvement of the overall health, welfare, and safety of the country’s people, and the conservation and protection of natural

That sort of political influence (especially one so set on not being corrupt) caused a domino effect of political and social reform across the nation. Laws to protect public health and welfare emerged, anti-trust legislation destroyed existing monopolies and helped prevent future monopolies, big business lost power, unionization of most industries, and dissolving of political machines helped relieve the nation from oppression. Reform against social injustice, child labor laws, environmental protection laws, the 17th, 18th, and 19th amendments, and many more Women’s Suffrage ideas were other important changes made during this time.
Speaking of Women’s Suffrage, another incredibly important group/movement that took place in this period of time. The Women’s Right Movement came to be due to the lack of voting rights, unfair wages, and unfair hours. They fought against the oppressive traditional social structures created in America. Their goals were to gain even voting rights for all women, to create laws to safeguard against unsafe hours and working conditions, protection against unfair wages, the end of domestic violence, the prohibition of alcohol, and the overall collapse of the oppressive social structure generated for women in