Progressive Movement The Progressive Movement was an effort to cure many of the ills of American society that had developed during the rapid industrial growth in the last quarter of the 19th century. As Americans became increasingly aware of the need for reform, attitudes toward the proper role of government shifted from the limited role preferred in the 19th century to the increasingly expanded role chosen in the 20th century. During the era of progressive reform new groups and movements emerged that were successful in bringing about effective changes. Muckrakers drew attention to the need of reform by highlighting great injustices in their writings and woman played a major role addressing poor working conditions, child education, and woman’s suffrage. The success of progressivism owed much to publicity generated by the muckrakers.
This included women’s suffrage, the direct election of senators, the availability of the referendum, and the right to recall representatives whose behavior in office did not satisfy their constituents. There were also progressives who hoped to increase efficiency in governments there by eliminating the power of elected officials by choosing to use “experts” in their place, thereby putting the progressives at odds with one another. . (www.u-s-history.com/pages/h106.html) Retrieved 11/2008 Throughout the Progressive Movement there were several accomplishments. For example, Teddy Roosevelt ended the 1902 coal mine strike, used the Sherman Antitrust Act to attack a railroad monopoly (known as the Northern Securities Case), and added Departments of Labor and Commerce to the cabinet.
Also, the Workers Compensation laws were introduced which allowed employers to be blamed if any injuries were caused to their workers at work. In the reformist wing of the Republican Party, they promoted the idea of the anti-trust laws which prevented big businesses from fixing prices. During this period, writers were publishing articles about trusts, high finance, impure foods and abusive railroad practices. These began appearing in newspapers and popular magazines which increased
Muckrakers have had a substantial impact on American his due to their wrings concerning corruption and significant social issues. President Theodore Roosevelt made the term "muck-raker" popular when referring to a character in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, he stated, ''The man with the muck-rake, the man who could look no way but downward with the muck-rake in his hands; who was offered a celestial crown for his muckrake, but who would neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered, but continued to rake himself the filth of the floor.'' Though President Roosevelt saw the methods of muckrakers such as somewhat reckless, many others found these methods appropriate for fighting against the American hierarchy. Muckraking actually began long before the years of 1900-1902, when the muckraking movement is credited to have begun. Martin Luther exposed the corruption of the Catholic Church.
During an age of mass industrialization and urbanization, obtaining social justice was of vital importance because with social justice established, social control would naturally be achieved due to the satisfaction of citizens being treated equally. Progressive reformers moved to correct flaws in government and improve societal equality, but they soon found the widened divisions in American society to be difficult, if not impossible, to overcome. (Out of Many, 606) Progressivism was characterized by a series of movements, each of them aimed in one way or another at renovating or restoring American society, its values, and institutions. (Out of Many, 612) The three basic social issues addressed by the Progressives were women suffrage, freedmens civil rights, and working conditions. Each group of reformers challenged the words of our founding fathers as stated in the Constitution, “…in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity,…promote the general welfare…to ourselves and our posterity…,” progressives were searching for a perfect union for every individual to be satisfied with.
These taxations also led to strikes and demonstrations becoming commonplace so could have caused Bloody Sunday itself. Witte’s economic reforms also led to another economic factor that caused the 1905 Revolution, the industrialisation of Russia. High speed industrialisation of Russia led to urbanisation causing a high density of people living in the towns and cities. This aided a social factor, the creation of a new urban working class and led to poor working and living conditions in Russia, this caused even greater resentment of the government and helped the formation of the SDs who also had a part to play in the 1905 Revolution. This high density of people living in towns and cities made it easier for revolutionary parties easier to rally and less easy to crush than when most people lived in more rural areas.
The Depression, Nazi propaganda and the weaknesses of the Weimar government were all important reasons why Hitler came to power in 1933. This essay will argue that the Depression was the most important reason for why Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933. It could be argued that the Deppression was the most important reason for why Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933. This is because the deppresion increased unemployment and a cut in unemployment benefit which meant that people wanted an extreme change in political leader. Due to the Depression making people want a drastic change in political party in ower there was an increase in communist support and as a result an increase in Nazi support because people were scared of communism and the Nazi's promised to deal with them.
Multiple factors influenced and contributed to the Progressive Movement in the 20th century. The middle class, muckrakers, and scientific management are just a few of these. The Progressives held democratic values and they believed that they could improve human society by having fair laws and an honest government. A large portion of the Progressive Movement was made of the persons of the middle class; they were doctors, lawyers, ministers, storekeepers and office workers, etc. They took their civil duties extremely seriously.
Sweatshop labor within the United States was common until 1938 when the Fair Labor Standards Act was introduced. ("Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Amended" 5) After this first intervention, the United States government adopted an anti-sweatshop labor view. Due to sweatshop labor's illegality within the United States, companies began exploiting developing countries that did not have such strict labor laws. The government took up arms against sweatshop labor once again and began pressuring other governments to institute labor laws. The government’s involvement in the anti-sweatshop labor campaign both in the United States and abroad has drastically changed the practice of sweatshop labor to a more ethical business practice.
As this capitalist industrial system spread, reactions in the form of socialist thought increased making it obvious that there was a dyer need for a revolution. This theory spread throughout the world into the early 20th century. After many socio-economic changes nations began to base their socialist/communist views on the ideologies of Karl Marx. Marx believed that the injustice in capitalism determined that the industrial working class