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Progressive Era Dbq

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DBQ The progressive era was a time of great social, economic, and political change in the United States that marked major changes in the daily lives of Americans. Between 1870 and 1920, reform movements for almost all aspects of American life took place. Although these reform movements did not affect the upper class, they would shape the majority of society leading all the way up to World War I. Changes in Political initiative, economic policy, and the social environment shaped the time period. American Expansionism and Civil Service examinations changed the political scene while new economic policies like the antitrust acts and the creation of the federal reserve reformed the period’s economic system. On top of all of that was the major …show more content…

With the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890, the government set out to limit the power of large corporations who were monopolizing good and controlling the economy. Small businesses struggled to stay afloat in the midst of these economic superpowers. The aim of the Sherman Antitrust Act was to make monopolization illegal. This was significant because it made the American economy rich with competition and increased monetary circulation. This in turn made the economy more favorable for smaller businesses. Another economic change that marked the progressive era as a turning point in history is the creation of the Federal Banks with the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. This act spread out the federal banking system which made the economy more stable than it had ever been before. This new period of economic prosperity and stability had not been seen in the previous era, and was the one that president Roosevelt strove to emulate during and immediately following the Great …show more content…

La Follette, the republican governor of Wisconsin, women's rights activist, and United States senator, played a large role in advocating for women’s rights. During the progressive era there was a rise in the number of both men and women who are willing to advocate and fight for the women suffrage. La Follette believed that women were just as able as men to perform in high level jobs and political offices, an opinion that would have been harshly ridiculed in any previous era. This opinion, coming from a white republican male, shows the shifting mentality of the role of women in society and leads the the passing of the 19th amendment in 1919 which finally gave women the right to vote, shifting the role of women and their responsibilities drastically. A similar rise in the fight for African American rights was seen during the time period, although its effectiveness was to a somewhat lesser extent. In the previous time period, African Americans had just been freed from slavery and faced extreme racism and prejudice in both the north and south. However, with the beginning of the progressive era there was a rise in the number of people willing to speak up for African Americans as well. In the cartoon by John McCutcheon, it showed an evident disparity between the quality of the two train

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