Scribd
Upload
42 views2 pages

Progressive Movement Reforms in America

The document discusses several key impacts of the Progressive movement in early 20th century America: 1) Muckrakers drew attention to social, economic, and political injustices through exposés in print media. 2) Changes like women taking on work outside the home and children spending more time in school gave women more independence and time for other activities, helping create the "New Woman." 3) The introduction of the secret ballot system weakened political parties' control over voters by allowing them to vote privately for different parties for different offices. 4) Initiatives and referendums gave citizens more direct power by allowing them to propose and vote on new laws.

Uploaded by

Dương M. Ý Nhi
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
42 views2 pages

Progressive Movement Reforms in America

The document discusses several key impacts of the Progressive movement in early 20th century America: 1) Muckrakers drew attention to social, economic, and political injustices through exposés in print media. 2) Changes like women taking on work outside the home and children spending more time in school gave women more independence and time for other activities, helping create the "New Woman." 3) The introduction of the secret ballot system weakened political parties' control over voters by allowing them to vote privately for different parties for different offices. 4) Initiatives and referendums gave citizens more direct power by allowing them to propose and vote on new laws.

Uploaded by

Dương M. Ý Nhi
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Vy Nguyen Professor McCullar HIST 1493 03/31/2010

Nguyen 1

One of three reform tendencies of the Progressive movement in turn of the century America was to change the structure of government to make it more responsive to the people. People believing moral purpose, knowledge and involvement were necessary to ordering and bettering society were the Progressives. People wonder why the Progressive movement is important in US history and what happened because of the movement in US history. First, people contributing to the Progressive movement were muckrakers. To illustrate, they directed public attention toward social, economic, and political injustices. Also, they exposed scandal, corruption, and injustice to public view. Secondly, the social and economic changes helped produce the New Woman. All most all income-producing activity had moved out of home and into the factory or the office. At the same time, children were beginning school and spending more time at school at earlier ages. Those helped women have more time to work or do social activities. To be modern women, they needed a constitutional amendment to provide clear, legal protection for their rights and prohibit all discrimination on the basis of sex. Thirdly, the new secret ballot printed by the government and distributed at the polls to be filled out and deposited in secret made an easy way for voters to split their tickets to vote for candidates of different parties for different offices. Moreover, it made less the power that political parties had over voters. Fourthly, the initiative and referendum gave

additional power to citizens. For instance, they regulated railroads and utilities; passed laws to regulate the workplace and provide compensation for laborers injured on the job; instituted graduated taxes on inherited fortunes; and doubled state levies on railroads and other corporate interests. Finally, power centers were developing even as the influence of political parties diminished. They replaced those parties by interest groups. New organizations emerged

You might also like