Running head: PROGRESSIVE ERA
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Progressive Era through the Great Depression
[Author’s Name]
[Institution]
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Abstract
The Progressive Era remains one of the most interesting objects of historical analysis. The
goal of this paper is to provide answers to the questions pertaining to the period of the
Progressive Era through the Great Depression. The paper discusses and evaluates two major
points in the Progressive Era and their impacts on the current economy, society, politics, and
culture. The issues of women’s suffrage and corporate legislation are discussed. The paper
reviews the importance of the Spanish-American War for the creation of the American
Empire. Government’s involvement in economic affairs during the Roaring Twenties is
analyzed.
Keywords: Progressive Era, economy, suffrage, business, federal.
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The Progressive Era through the Great Depression
The Progressive Era: Major Points and Impacts
The end of the 19th century presented the United States a huge number of problems
that required immediate solutions. The American society was facing numerous economic and
social injustices (Sage, 2010). The war between labor and capital became the determining
feature of the time (Sage, 2010). The Progressive Era came in the last years of the 19th
century and lasted until 1917, bringing new ideas and progressive reforms whose legacy
continues to persist until today. Among the most important points in the Progressive Era were
the actual birth of the American oil industry in 1901 and the creation of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909.
Today’s oil industry in America has its roots in Texas. The drilling of Texas’s
Sprindletop set the basis for the subsequent evolution of the nation’s oil sector
(Paleontological Research Institution, n.d.). The “Spindletop” was discovered on a salt dome,
not far from the Jefferson County, on the 10th of January, 1901 (Texas State Historical
Association, 2012). Needless to say, the development of the oil industry had profound
impacts on the politics, economy, culture, and social life in America. Apart from the fact that
the oil industry greatly contributed to the rapid evolution of the U.S.’s political and economic
power, it also became one of the major employers in the U.S. labor market. The oil industry
generates and supports millions of jobs in other industry sectors and remains one of the
biggest purchasers of services and goods in America.
In the meantime, the creation of the NAACP became a turning point in the
development of racial values and attitudes in America. Like many years ago, today’s
“mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the
political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate
race-based discrimination” (NAACP, 2012). It is interesting to note that, according to Sage
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(2010), during the Progressive Era, most racial and women’s rights were persistently ignored.
However, the creation of the NAACP laid the foundation for the rapid advancement of
equality and human rights protection in America. The NAACP managed to change the culture
of race relations in the U.S. by protecting vulnerable populations from discrimination,
strengthening law enforcement against hate crime and generating greater tolerance to
diversity and difference in the country (NAACP, 2012).
Women and Suffrage in the Progressive Era
It is no secret that women earned the right to vote in the Western frontier states before
southern and eastern states. The mere fact that women could vote became a revolution in the
American politics and mentality. At the end of the 19th century, women were primarily busy
raising children and doing household chores, while men assumed the role of breadwinners.
However, while men in eastern states compared women’s suffrage to the downfall of ethics
and morals in society (Bridgen, 2012), western states willingly allowed women to engage in
the process of election. Eastern states argued that women’s suffrage would result in higher
rates of divorce (Bridgen, 2012). Men living in eastern states were confident that, through
suffrage, women would win the right to have sex with any man they wanted (Bridgen, 2012).
Eastern states were characterized by the higher rates of population diversity, compared to the
American West, which also impeded the implementation of women’s suffrage laws (Bridgen,
2012). As a result, western states were the first to allow women to participate in elections in
1912, followed by a number of eastern states in 1913. The passage of the Nineteenth
Amendment put an end to the women’s suffrage movement, turning suffrage into a universal
human right.
The Progressive Era for Business
The Progressive Era set the stage for the rapid evolution of corporate legislation. The
creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903 and the passage of the Hepburn
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Act in 1906 were, probably, the two most important points in the development of complex
relationships between business, government, and society. The creation of the Department of
Commerce and Labor, which was later divided into the Department of Commerce and the
Department of Labor, was intended to resolve the existing labor-capital conflicts. Oscar S.
Straus, the second Secretary of the newly created Department, claimed that his mission was
to turn capital and labor into the two arms of business which, through cooperation, would
promote the interests of industrial manufacturing in America (Grossman, 1973).
Later in 1906, the Hepburn Act was passed to establish and regulate maximum
railroad rates (Commercial Laws, 2011). The Act strengthened the existing railroad
regulations and further submitted national railroad companies to the power of the Interstate
Commerce Commission (I.C.C.). Under the Hepburn Act of 1906, the I.C.C. was given the
power to establish and regulate maximum railroad rates, while railroad companies assumed
the primary responsibility to justify their accounting procedures and fairness of their rates
(Commercial Laws, 2011). The Act became one of the series of steps that reduced the power
of employers in their relations with employees. Later in 1916, railroad companies had to
establish an 8-hour-long day for all their workers, which further disabled them in their
striving to exploit their employees (Commercial Laws, 2011).
Spanish American War and the Empire
The Spanish-American War is believed to have greatly contributed to the creation of
the American Empire. Even at that time, the events of the Spanish-American War were
interpreted by historians as the fight for the commercialization of the territories conquered
during the military conflict (Stromberg, 1998). Stromberg (1998) writes that the discussed
war turned the U.S. into a “modern nonaristocratic empire founded on state power but
oriented towards commercial gain for well-connected friends and associates.” Everything the
U.S. accomplished during the war was done to expand its export markets and strengthen its
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political and military power. The Spanish-American War further strengthened the role and
position of the national government in all spheres of American life (Stromberg, 1998). The
war itself was a bright manifestation of the U.S.’s commitment to the Manifest Destiny that
reaffirmed the necessity of establishing the American power in other, non-American
territories (Stromberg, 1998). As a result of the war, America was able to extend its political
and military influence over the new territories.
Roaring Twenties and the Power of Government
The Roaring Twenties is a metaphor used to describe the period following the
Progressive Era in the U.S. In the 1920s, the United States entered the period of relatively
little federal government’s involvement in business activities and markets. That was the age
of jazz and freedom of the American society, which tragically ended on October 29, 1929,
when the American stock market crashed (PBS, n.d.). Before the Great Depression, the
American society witnessed huge economic and social imbalances and income disparities
across major social groups. However, even in the midst of the serious economic crisis,
Hoover’s administration refused to provide any financial relief to the population groups
stricken by poverty (PBS, n.d.). Hoover tried to develop an economic program to help
employees retain their jobs but was ridiculed by businesses and executives who blamed him
for the Great Depression (PBS, n.d.). It was not until Roosevelt became President and
proposed the New Deal that a new model of government-business cooperation was settled.
The Great Depression turned government into the basic provider of social and
financial assistance to citizens in need. While the whole society was fighting to provide for
their living, the American government was trying to relieve the burden of financial and
unemployment difficulties by the American citizens after the Roaring Twenties. Since then,
providing social support to the needy has become one of the primary government’s
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responsibilities. Today, government involvement with the social and economic life in
America is both expected and desired.
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