Katahira-Ables, Yuto
Mr. Ready, period 2
APUSH 5/13/14
During the Progressive Era from 1900 to 1920, the reformers and the federal government were successful in bringing about reform at a national level, and this is suggested through the regulation of corporations, the fight against child labor, and the rights of women. Although these reforms were made, they were rather conservative and had a limited effect due to the public's opinion.
The US government was not involved in the concerns of the people at first. However, muckrakers, or journalists, revealed the severity to which corporations were treating their workers and eventually got the public opinion to the government. An example included an individual who exposed corruption of the industry Standard Oil. Others exposed to larger audiences and put politicians under great stress because they didn’t want to lose their popularity. Theodore Roosevelt was deeply involved with reforming and defended the public’s outrage. He involved himself with these concerns by partaking in trust bustings. There were political cartoons that portrayed Roosevelt as a supporter of trust bustings when he was depicted supporting the good trusts and “killing” the bad. Roosevelt enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act and Wilson strengthened with the Clayton Antitrust act. However, the act was limited because not all trusts were eliminated and the president was the one who decided if a trust was good or bad; therefore, big industries like the railroad and the bank were still not heavily controlled by the government
As industrialization was booming, an increasing amount of children were working to support their families at a young age. Accounts of factory life were portrayed through the Jungle and through reports like the Neill Reynolds report that showed life as a factory worker demoralizing and inhuman. They ultimately opened the public eye to disastrous working conditions. There were also reformers like Jane Addams who were concerned about their health in the working conditions. Children were getting severely injured and they weren’t receiving education in school. This eventually pushed the federal government to pass Keating Owen Act that prohibited kids ages fourteen and younger to work. However, this act was very conservative and limitedly enforced and children still continued to skip school to make provide money for their family, and working conditions remained almost the exact same.
During the Progressive Era, the role of women were changing from living the life of a domestic wife to the “new woman”. Women felt they were as important as men and created political organizations like the National American Suffrage Association. Women protested through the streets on why they should be as equal as men and supporting suffrage for women to be the main advocate. However, growing resentment of the public with the addition of sexism made it an arduous task for women to make any serious gains. However, the government passed the 19th amendment, securing rights and giving the right to vote to all women. It was limited however because of the continuous degradation of women in society as a whole. Also, as represented in the bar graph, a decreasing percentage of eligible voters became existent in presidential elections; therefore, this was a push factor into allowing women to vote.
In conclusion, the Progressive Era reformers and the federal government had success in reforming America through antitrust bustings, the prohibition of child labor, and the 19th amendment. However, the acts were conservative and limited and hauled the effectiveness of what serious gains they could have achieved.
