Editing Progressive Era (section)

{{Short description|1890s–1920s US political reform movement}}
{{Other uses}}
{{See also|History of the United States (1865–1917)|United States in World War I}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox historical era
| name      = Progressive Era
| location   = [[United States]]
| start     = 1890s
| end       = 1920s
| image     = Henry Mayer, The Awakening, 1915 Cornell CUL PJM 1176 01 - Restoration.jpg
| alt       =
| caption   = ''The Awakening'': "Votes for Women" in 1915 [[Puck (magazine)|''Puck'' magazine]]
| before    = [[Gilded Age]]<br />[[Greater Reconstruction]]
| including = [[Fourth Party System]]
| after     = [[United States in World War I|World War I]]<br />[[Roaring Twenties]]
| presidents =  [[William McKinley]]<br /> [[Theodore Roosevelt]]<br /> [[William Howard Taft]]<br />[[Woodrow Wilson]] <br />[[Warren G. Harding]] <br />[[Calvin Coolidge]] <br />[[Herbert Hoover]]
| key_events = [[Nadir of American race relations]]<br /> [[United States anti-trust law|Trust-busting]]<br /> [[Women's suffrage in the United States|Women's suffrage]] <br /> [[History of direct democracy in the United States|Initiative and referendum]]<br /> [[Square Deal]]
}}
{{Periods in US history}}
{{Progressivism}}

The '''Progressive Era''' (1890s–1920s)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibition/congress-and-progressive-era|title=Congress and the Progressive Era &#124; U.S. Capitol - Visitor Center|website=www.visitthecapitol.gov|access-date=November 30, 2024|archive-date=November 29, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241129210718/https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibition/congress-and-progressive-era|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://picturethis.museumca.org/timeline/progressive-era-1890-1920s|title=Progressive Era: 1890–1920s &#124; Picture This|website=picturethis.museumca.org|access-date=November 30, 2024|archive-date=October 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007122018/https://picturethis.museumca.org/timeline/progressive-era-1890-1920s|url-status=live}}</ref> was a period in the [[United States]]  characterized by multiple social and political [[reform]] efforts.<ref>John D. Buenker, John C. Boosham, and Robert M. Crunden, ''Progressivism'' (1986) pp. 3–21</ref><ref>Arthur S. Link, "What Happened to the Progressive Movement in the 1920s?." ''American Historical Review'' 64.4 (1959): 833–851.</ref> Reformers during this era, known as [[progressivism in the United States|Progressives]], sought to address issues they associated with rapid [[technological and industrial history of the United States|industrialization]], [[urbanization in the United States|urbanization]], [[immigration to the United States|immigration]], and [[corruption in the United States|political corruption]], as well as the concentration of industrial ownership in [[monopoly|monopolies]]. Reformers expressed concern about slums, [[poverty in the United States|poverty]], and labor conditions. Multiple overlapping movements pursued social, political, and economic reforms by advocating changes in governance, [[scientific method]]s, and professionalism; regulating business; [[environmental protection|protecting]] the [[natural environment]]; and seeking to improve urban living and working conditions.<ref name="Auto29-3">{{cite web |title=Progressive Era to New Era |url=https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/progressive-era-to-new-era-1900-1929/overview/ |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=October 24, 2022 |archive-date=November 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231116203809/https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/progressive-era-to-new-era-1900-1929/overview/ |url-status=live }}{{source-attribution}}</ref>

Corrupt and undemocratic [[political machine]]s and their bosses were a major target of progressive reformers. To revitalize democracy, progressives established direct [[Partisan primary|primary election]]s, [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|direct election of senators]] (rather than by state legislatures), [[Initiatives and referendums in the United States|initiatives and referendums]],<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web|title=United States History. The Progressive Era Key Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/summary/The-Progressive-Era-Key-Facts|publisher=Britannica|access-date=October 24, 2022|archive-date=September 5, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240905095800/https://www.britannica.com/summary/The-Progressive-Era-Key-Facts|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's suffrage]] which was promoted to advance democracy and bring the presumed moral influence of women into politics.<ref>On purification, see David W. Southern, ''The Malignant Heritage: Yankee Progressives and the Negro Question, 1900–1915'' (1968); Southern, ''The Progressive Era And Race: Reaction And Reform 1900–1917'' (2005); Norman H. Clark, ''Deliver Us from Evil: An Interpretation of American Prohibition'' (1976) p. 170; and [[Aileen Kraditor]], ''The Ideas of the Woman Suffrage Movement: 1890–1920'' (1967). 134–136.</ref> For many progressives, [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition of alcoholic beverages]]<ref>James H. Timberlake, ''Prohibition and the Progressive Movement, 1900–1920'' (1970) pp. 1–7.</ref> was key to eliminating corruption in politics as well as improving social conditions.

Another target were [[Monopoly|monopolies]], which progressives worked to regulate through [[Competition law|trustbusting]] and [[United States antitrust law|antitrust laws]] with the goal of promoting fair competition. Progressives also advocated new government agencies focused on regulation of industry.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael Kazin|title=The Concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political Turn up History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fsWLGcZ7pyAC&pg=PA181|year=2011|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=181|isbn=978-1400839469|display-authors=etal}}</ref> An additional goal of progressives was bringing to bear scientific, medical, and engineering solutions to reform government and education and foster improvements in various fields including medicine, finance, insurance, industry, railroads, and churches. They aimed to professionalize the social sciences, especially history,<ref name="Richard Hofstadter 1968"/> economics,<ref name="ReferenceB"/> and political science<ref name="Barry Karl 1975"/> and improve efficiency with [[scientific management]] or Taylorism.<ref>Lewis L. Gould, ''America in the Progressive Era, 1890–1914'' (2000)</ref><ref>[[David B. Tyack]], ''The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education'' (Harvard UP, 1974), p. 39</ref>

Initially, the movement operated chiefly at the local level, but later it expanded to the state and national levels. Progressive leaders were often from the educated middle class, and various progressive reform efforts drew support from lawyers, teachers, physicians, ministers, business people, and the working class.<ref>George Mowry, ''The California Progressives'' (1963) p. 91.</ref>