Progressive Era Dbq

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In the early twentieth century successful efforts of reform were just starting to become apparent. Progressive reformers were finally able to help change many problems within the country due to the unfailing support of the reform presidents Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. Corruption in politics, economic injustice, and social unrest were the major issues that were addressed during the Progressive Era. While there were many successes in reform certain issues were not so easy to fix bringing distinct limitations. Nevertheless, progressive reformers and the federal government were for the most part effective in bringing reform to the political, economic, and social problems throughout the country in the early 1900’s. Political problems during the Progressive Era were big issues due to the previous role of the political machine, a political organization contained of a boss and many people underneath who used bribery to obtain votes for their respective parties. The abuse of political machines pushed reformers toward the idea of a greater democracy. The most important reform in politics throughout the early 1900’s was that of the direct primary. The idea that voters could choose presidential candidates was new because normally only a select number of people would be able to do so. Teddy Roosevelt, in one of his many speeches, supported the idea of direct nominations by the people. Roosevelt did not however just support the direct presidential primary; he also supported the direct election of senators. He believed that the past experiences of elections led way to the idea “that senators should be elected by direct vote of the people” (doc D). The support of the progressive reformers and the president led to an eventual amendment to the constitution. With the House of Representatives on board the Senate had to face the inevitable Snyder 2 and
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