Progressivism
Progressivism, a time of change, those who supported it wanted that exact thing, change. Child labor within the United States was staggering, nearly every boy and girl was forced to work (if their families were at that state; money wise). This picture portrays and truly captivates the time, a time where pictures such as these, inspired those who were willing to make a difference within society.
Political
1.)There was no party affiliation during this time, which meant no involvement of political machines, party bosses, and more. Progressives did not believe in laissez-faire economics, which was little government involvement. They believed the government can fix all problems, socially, economically, and politically.
2.)Suffrage for women and African Americans was huge during this time. This progressivism era was the first time the rights for women and African Americans to vote were introduced, fought for, and enforced. They felt rights were not equal to all and many people felt that everyone should be able to vote, no matter what race, gender and more.
Also, William Howard Taft was in office at this time.
Economic
1.)Child labor was becoming increasingly popular, so many people felt a ban of this should come into play sometime. 1.7 million innocent, young children would work under seriously dangerous conditions, such as unclean work areas, unsafe work areas and more. these children would lose limbs, eyesight from flying objects, and other serious injuries. If a limb was lost, they would still be forced to work and just use the only existent and able-to-be-used limb. Also, young children around five and six years old, would work for eighteen to twenty hours straight sometimes. The Meat Packing Act states that cattle had to be inspected before and after they were killed, and also slaughterhouses had to be inspected, too.
2.)The USDA could issue grants of inspection. The 19th amendment was passed and meant that anyone could vote.
The Sherman Anti Trust act was passed in 1890 and the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed in 1906.
Social
1.)Muckrakers were journalist who spread grotesque news stories that were "buried", or forgotten about for a long time. For example, a famous muckraker was Upton Sinclair. He wrote "The Jungle" , which uncovered the horrors of the meat packing industry. Ida Tarbell was a muckraker, and she thought Rockefeller's Standard Oil company was "shady", and questioned how he climbed so high up in the oil business.
2.)Poor working conditions fueled the fire for progressivism. The FTC, or Federal Trade Commission strove to abolish such conditions. The FTC's main goal was not to break up businesses, but merely to regulate them and ensure that no American business, was taking part in unfair trade practices, such as the ones we saw in the previous unit.
Progress?
The name says it all, progress...ivism. A time of change was brought to America through the progressivism unit. We say working conditions improve, thanks to the FTC. People like Jane Addams rose to the occasion, building kindergartens, preschools, daycares, etc. for immigrants so that they would have an actual sense of belonging within society and so that immigrant children, would not have to work in the factories (most immigrants were very poor). Muckrakers stirred up controversy within society, especially Upton Sinclair who wrote "The Jungle", a book that uncovered the horrors of the meat packaging industry. Through muckrakers, progressivism supporters were able to target what needed to be changed in society. Through this change, progressivism was most certainty a time of great progress.
How Progressivism leads to Imperialism
Now that American society was safe and improved, why not move outwards towards the world and improve them? We already did it once, we could easily do it again. This mentality passed the torch on, from progressivism to imperialism in America. Americans began to think, like many other nations, that America was the best in the world, much thanks to nationalism. With that mentality, we began to move outwards in the world in hopes that we could further expand and change the world's society just as we did within America itself. If democracy could spread outside of America's boarders, then why not try?