How is the government changing during the Progressive Era? Give examples of those changes and how they impact America?

Question

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Answer 1

The Progressive Era is usually seen as roughly 1890-1920. Two common threads were a call for technical competence in public officials and greater transparency in the public sector. Many reforms from this time remain in place today.

One Progressive Era reform was the requirement of identifiable qualifications for government employees. The Civil Service Act was adopted in 1883 and required that those hired to particular government jobs met identified qualifications for the position. Once hired, these officials were protected adverse action (being fired or demoted) for performing technical duties in an impartial manner. To illustrate, a building inspector would have to demonstrate the technical skills required to examine buildings for code violations, but then could not be fired for citing violations in a building owned by someone with political connections.

Some Progressive Era political reforms included the adoption of standardized ballots and secret voting, party primaries to choose nominees, and direct election of US Senators. These measures replaced the practices of citizens publicly declaring their votes, party bosses of a political machine choosing candidates for office, and state legislatures choosing the US Senators for their state.