The Progressive Era is the period in the United States during which numerous reforms were made in an attempt to curb corruption in the government and industry. In the late 1800s, the tremendous increase in industry had led to the rise of extremely powerful corporations, which often used monopolistic tactics to maintain their power, and which often operated with little or no government regulation. The results of this included poor working conditions, over-crowded cities, and an ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor (United States, Demopedia).
Progressive Era started from approximately 1890s and lasted through the 1920s, although some experts use the much narrower time frame of 1900 to 1917 (Progressive Era, Wikipedia encyclopedia). While historians may debate the exact boundaries of the Progressive Era, it seems clear that the stream of “New” ideas, innovations, and movements flowing through institutional and cultural landscapes around the turn of the last century reshaped the waterways of culture and society (People, Places, Politics, and Social Movements of Progressive Era).
The major social and moral issues of the Progressive era were birth control, child labor, divorce, immigration, political corruption, poverty, prisons, prostitution, and women's suffrage. In the late 1800s, working conditions were almost completely unregulated. Conditions in the workplace were dangerous, and a vast majority worked over 50 hours a week, resulting in extremely high accident rates.
Although people of every background participated in the Progressive Movement, the large majority belonged to the upper or middle class. Progressives included doctors, teachers, engineers, and small-business owners. Women, too, found progressivism attractive because it gave them an ability to have an influence in politics (United States, Demopedia).
At the local level, these Progressives sought to suppress red-light districts, expand high schools, construct playgrounds, and replace corrupt urban political machines with more efficient system of municipal government................
