Since its inception, America as a nation has developed and progressed according
to trends of change that collectively define an era. Like all other eras, the
time period of 1875-1925 experienced growth, changes, movements, and new
ideals. It is the way that these changes came about that defines this era.
Americans started to push for changes in many arenas of life that were
previously unchallenged. New experiences and opportunities were also presented
to America that caused tributaries in the former American ideal. These
pressures for change could not be ignored and thus America continued its
maturity in a new and unique manner. The changes in the American sphere of life
and the development of greater organization, the largest underlying theme of
the time period, facilitated the surgence of new foreign and military policies,
urban reform policies, economic reform policies, neo-federalism especially in
dealing with business, social reform policies, and the quality of life.
The period from 1875-1900 was considered the \"Gilded Age\". On come
the no-name presidents. There is a reason though, why these presidents were
no-name presidents. It is because all the power that the presidency gained from
Lincoln, was lost during reconstruction. Most things in American life were
considered to be things that the government, especially the president, should
not touch. The laissez-faire philosophy was in full force. The lack of
interference allowed the giants like John D. Rockefellar, Andrew Carnegie, and
J. Pierpont Morgan to rise to almost divine status. This is where organization
comes to play. Business began to realize that by organizing their power and
joining together in bonds such as cartels, later pools, and finally trusts,
that they could maximize the exploitation of the growing American population.
With this fusion of power and the creation of megacorporations, abuses in the
course of industrialization concerning labor and the environment developed.
This reaction to the weak central government led to the opposition of these
abuses. It is a natural pattern that opposition would occur, but the fact that
organized opposition began to grow is what separates these resistences from the
oppositions of the past. Immigration reaches its peak during the gilded age and
shifts from the \"old immigration\" (northern & western Europe) to
the \"new immigration\" (southern & eastern Europe) over time.
The immigration was considered not to be easy to assimilate, and therefore a
bigger problem than before. Nativist developed, as immigrants increased the
urbanization problems and formed ethnic ghettos throughout the city while
competing for jobs and working at lower wages than native-born citizens. This
immigration brought on an increased fight for labor power, urban machines for
maximizing the immigrants\' large collective power, another form of organization,
and plans for urban reform especially the \'Wisconsin idea\", and the
city-manager plan.
All the reforms suggested to remidy these problems are known as progressive
reforms. Progressivism is what the time period is most known for. A major
feature of the progressive reform, is that a great deal of it came from the
middle-class. A middle-class reform carries a great deal of weight, and also
means that it is not a great class struggle, but that a higher class is looking
to improve soical injustices. Progressivism is a general term that encompases
the reforms of women\'s movements, granger movements, labor movements
(including socialism), racial movements (pro and anti-black), nativism
movements, moral/religious movements, and anti-trust movements. Later on, at
the national government level, Theodore Roosevelt became the first true
progressive president and brings to the forefront the idea of neofederalism,
the square deal, and the new nationalism (later). He started to strengthen the
national government and the presidency which was continued eventually through
to Woodrow Wilson and his New Freedom. The key to progressivism is that all of
these reforms were organized from the local level of labor unions and other
resistence movements to the top level of government organization in matters
such as trust-busting.
Progressivism was successful in accomplishing many of its goals. It reduced
corruption in many of America\'s institutions. It gained priveleges for working
class people the in reduction of hours in workweeks, got increasingly safer
conditions, and higer wages. The settlement houses provided help for the urban,
immigrant poor and also key information about the racial ghettos and quality of
living. This led to muckraking and other tools of bringing reform. Progressives
got the 18th and 19th amendments passed granting prohibition and women\'s
suffrage. Segragation, which was considered a progressive movement, started to
develop more and more during this time period. The insurance system had its
major modern roots in the progressive era and city manager plans took effect as
a result of progressives in order to destroy all the abuses of urban life.
Basically, the time period is known for the changes that came about in it, and
these changes are because of progressivism.
With all of the changes going on within America, and the prosperity and
production that came with the industrial revolution, the temptation to stray
from the foreign policy that Washington set out a hundred years before was very
great. The Americans now entered a time where they were in a position to
compete with European powers, but the European powers had a jump on the
Americans in many areas, especially colonization of foreign territories. In
addition, the American frontier for the first time in history, no longer
existed. The frontier symbolized the freedom of a place to go when things got
boring. The frontier was a safety valve for people to go settle new
territories, and to find raw materials. Now with the frontier gone, the idea of
taking foreign territories looked like the best way to replace that frontier.
Increasingly, the Americans had started to flex their muscle in the affairs
around the world. Finally, it became clear that an imperialistic stance for
America would be necessary in order to keep up with all the other western
powers.
In conclusion, many changes in American life especially industrialization
forced America to react to the new situations being presented to it. The people
developed opinions on certain issues and actively pursued change. This forced
America to experience things that it never had in the past. It marked the rise
of America as a substantial world power, the removal from isolationism, and the
changing of the quality of life. The organized responses of the era, are its
stamp on American history, and are responsible for all the changes of the era.