What was the Progressive Era?
1 Answer
It spanned from 1897 to 1913 and remained famous for the series of reforms that was introduced.
Explanation:
It was marked by the two terms of Theodore Roosevelt from 1901 to 1909, he is known for having been a reformator. He introduced reforms to put an end to trusts. He regulated the meat packing industry and the pharmaceutical industry with the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. Fears had been triggered after the publication of "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair in 1905.
After the populist campaign of 1896(embodied by William Jennings Bryan), trusts became increasingly unpopular. According to Marxist historians such as Howard Zinn, these moves towars less corporation power was only a means to restrain popular anger.
He favored the development of the National Parks which proved to weaken the authority of the States and to strengthen the Federal Government.
The Gilded Age(1865-1897) is often described as the "sunset of the presidency", Congress was indeed stronger than the executive power during that period. TR reversed that trend.
The introduction of the Federal Reserve System and of the Graduated Income Tax in 1913 during Taft's presidency also illustrates the evolution that characerized that period. The Federal Reserve System was invented by Nelson Aldrich and J.D Rockefeller on Jekyll Island, Georgia on the 22nd of November in 1910. In 1907 a major financial crisis had struck the American economy and Theodore Roosevelt created a commision appointing Aldrich at the head of it, in order to stabilize the American financial system. The FRS was his answer.
