The Progessive Era

The Progressive Era began in the mid 1890 's and continued through World War I . It was a time when individuals were beginning to have concerns with the state of society and how government was going to handle the problems . It also brought about a belief in human compassion and how new innovations along with scientific investigation could somehow show what the problem was with ways of solving the problems . Two prominent figures during this era were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson who were both national spokesmen for the movement . The sediment it

spread changed society to what we know today , it affected large numbers of people and expressed at many levels the excitement of progress and change (633 . Muckraking was a term used for a journalism style of that time . Theodore Roosevelt coined this term in 1906 to describe the practice of exposing the corruption of public and prominent figures (632 . This journalistic voice spread progressivism and the ideals associated with this movement very fast and to a large audience

Progressivism was enmeshed in all parts of society . In the political arena it called for reformation of problems that involved city , state and nation . Intellectually , it drew on the expertise of the new social sciences and reflected a shift from older absolutes of class and religion to newer schools of thought that emphasized physiological explanations for behavior , the role of the environment in human development , and the relative nature of truth (633 . It brought about a cultural change that included expression in dance , film , painting literature , and architecture . It became the attitude and a movement that society as a whole embraced fully

The appeal of this movement involved a wide variety of individuals that included the middle class , laborers and farmers . In the business community it gained a large following with ideals of expansion and money . The leaders were young educated men and women that had experience in law , medicine , religion , business , teaching , and social work (633 . With these young leaders came the ideology of an improved society using their expertise . There was not one single cause to unite the group , but their one single goal and that was to help create a better world in helping people to achieve this . Their belief was strong the high compliment of believing that , once they knew the truth , they would act upon it ' was said by the social reformer Florence Kelley an active participant in progressivism . Knowledge was an important key in this movement and formed a bond between people bringing them together instead of dividing them and pulling disheartened groups together in an effort to improve the well-being of everyone in society

Where Populism came out of rural America , Progressivism gained support across the whole country . Its starting ground came from cities with individuals that were feeling the pressures of urban living and factory life . This social justice movement had its attention on the national need for housing laws , better child labor laws and better working conditions for women . Individual...