Explain the Progressive Era

Question

Explain the Progressive Era. What were the major issues for the Progressive movement? Who were the major figures in this movement? Who opposed them, and why? What successes did the Progressives enjoy, and what failures did they suffer? In the end, how successful was this movement?

Answer 1

Generally the Progessive Era was an age of reform movements that attempted to fix the issues caused by the Gilded Age.

to understand the major issues you would need to understand the Gilded Age. During the Gilded Age the United States began to industrialize as a result of innovation and entrepreneurship. Great businessmen created various combinations if businesses that raised enormous amounts of capital that was used to grow their wealth exponentially. This brought in waves of migrants who wanted to participate in the new industries. It also, however, brought on a host of social, economic, and political problems.

The major figures of the Progressive Era would be those figures who either wanted to expose the issues of the Gilded Age (muckrakers) or those who wanted to fix them.

As far as the success or failures of the movement, these are things you would find once understanding the details of the narrative above. A clue would be that we have legislation this era that is still in place today.