Progressive Era Through the Great Depression

Progressive Era through the Great Depression

Jocelyn L. Williams Phillips

Stuart Collins

August 4, 2013

The Progressive Era through the Great Depression was some of the most prestigious times in America. The Progressive Era gave opportunity for worldwide trading with some trading was done forcefully from the U.S., and America rose into to world power. The Progressive Era carried momentous reforms to the American industry, and with the political system activism lead by Americans. The Progressives got together to better the working, and living conditions for the unfortunate people. The Progressive wanted to target the social and environmental issues, and they also wanted to get the democratic government to get involved. The Progressives pushed many issues during their time, women's rights to vote, help improve the health care in the cities, improved the working conditions along with the hours the people had to work in the factories, the immigrants had the opportunity to get an education, health laws also safety laws. "Progressive Era reforms are best understood as a coalition of different reform groups who agreed on the problems facing the nation but rarely agreed on a unified program social change"(Shultz,2012).

The Great Depression began in 1928; this stamped the time our countries economic downfall. The stock market crashed, and banks failed. The Roaring Twenties was very upbeat and exciting time for the people, but it came to an end with the stock market crashing. The Roaring Twenties was the time when American really felt like they were free people. Before the Great Depression the Americans was in the middle of a bad economic, also social, and income inequality. This turned the government into a source of help, socially and financially for the people that's was in need. "Science, medicine and health advanced remarkably during the roaring twenties. Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921. Diphtheria became better controlled in 1923 by newly introduced immunization. An interest developed in nutrition, caloric consumption and physical vitality. With the Flapper`s focus on dieting and her popular look came a significant change in the dietary habits of Americans as a whole -- less fat and meat, and more fruits and vegetables. The discovery of vitamins and their effects also occurred around the same time" (unknown, 2013). During this Era the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ensured that all deposits were made was only a certain amount. By doing the deposits that way it gave the people a sense of security when depositing there moneys, and boosted the economy.

At first Hoover Administration did not want to offer any financial help to the people that were in poverty during this economic downfall. While everyone was fighting for a proper living, the government was trying to remove the financial burden and the employment issues. Hoovers Administration then began trying to develop a program to help employees keep their jobs, but it really wasn't until Roosevelt became president that the New Deal was created. The two most historical turning points during the Progressive Era through the Great Depression were the Women's Progressivism and Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression. "By the late nineteenth century; many women were well educated, and many in the first generation of college graduates ignored traditional social norms and worked outside the home"(Shultz,2012 ). Within the Progressive Era the one of the most achieved goal was 19th Amendments. The Western states had the right to vote before the southern and eastern states. The men viewed the women's suffrage movement with doubt, the men in the east felt that it was morally wrong, some men even said if women did get the right to vote the divorce rate with go up, and the women will become very promiscuous. "The 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change of the Constitution. Few early supporters lived to see final victory in 1920" (Record Group 11, 1917).