Late 19th century America was characterized by the “Gilded Age” and the “Progressive Era.” During this time, American society was changing rapidly; both social trends like urbanization the Progressive movement, as well as technological innovations like the massive expansion of the railroad system were occurring. This change brought both improvements and setbacks to people’s quality of life. One of the most important social trends of 19th century America was urbanization. In 1860, merely 1 in 6 people lived in cities. By 1900, that number grew to 1 in 3. By 1920, more people lived in the city than in the country. The impetus for this demographic shift is multifaceted, but the main driver was technological innovation which displaced small farmers and forced them to search for work in the city. One of the negative consequences of urbanization was increased pollution. Along with this came decreased sanitation. The spread of disease was rampant and difficult to contain. Outbreaks of smallpox, malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera, and yellow fever ensued. Crime increased …show more content…
The movement was characterized by social activism accompanied by political reform. Preachers oftentimes became political, such as Washington Gladden. Protestant ministers began advocating for a Laissez-faire economic system. The objectives of these preachers and their followers was to eliminate the many issues caused by industrialization, urbanization, increased immigration, and political corruption to name a few. Thus, it stemmed out of discontent with the status quo. There were many accomplishments of the Progressive Era. Foremost among these were public health and welfare laws, legislation to prevent the formation of monopolies, environmental protection laws, and women’s suffrage. The people started to feel like they had real power; this sentiment led to the rise of populism, and national farmer’s organizations were
C2. The Progressive Era had a rise in reform movements. Two important reform movements are “the woman movement” and conservation efforts. Women were viewed as inferior to men and women banded together to move beyond these prejudices.
A time period that ranges from the 1800’s to 1850’s is known as a tremendous changing time for our young country of America. These changes included the Social Reform Era, Manifest Destiny, Industrialization, and Urbanization. Changes like these took huge effect on American History. Without knowing and understanding these aspects it is very difficult to know how the development of America worked. It is important to realize that events like these let America unravel into a valuable long lasting country.
The continuing population flow from cities to suburbs, and the internal migration from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt have had significant social and political effects on American life. Additionally, the advances in science following World War II have had a profound impact on American society. In this answer, we will examine these three phenomena and their effects. The post-World War II era saw a significant shift in population from cities to suburbs. This migration was driven by several factors, including the availability of cheap land, increased mobility due to the automobile, and a desire for a more suburban lifestyle.
Mia Edwards Professor Gordon History 102 7 March 2023 From the Edge of Reconstruction to the Roaring ’20s Ever since the edge of Reconstruction America has been expanding and changing in many ways, America was impacted by people, developments, and events that went on from the 18th century to the early 20th century. In the early 18th century Agriculture products became in high demand and heavily impacted American Society. From 1870 through 1920 industrialization impacted many American citizens' ways of life by bringing in new means of work and more immigration into the states. At the beginning of the 20th century, progressivism helped play a role in the rapid urbanization happening across America. Leading up to World
As America matured during the 1800’s it had some help from the dramatic evolution in transportation. The railroad system was improved dramatically, for example, the transcontinental railroad. Before the transcontinental railroad, traveling coast to coast took so long but the railroad gave people fast transportation from coast to coast. According to GTG Technology Group “Before the railroad, it took almost six months and cost $1000 to travel between California and New York. After the transcontinental railroad was completed, it cost $150 and took one week.”
Between the 1890s and World War One, reform efforts started taking place by the progressives. The progressives were not a single unified group and even had some contradicting goals. They were middle class urban dwellers and some were women. The progressives wanted to end prostitution, Americanize immigrants, antitrust legislation created, women’s suffrage, and the start of prohibition.
The popularity of the Progressive movement in the early 1900's was due to several social and cultural changes in the United States. In the wake of chaotic reorganizations of the country after industrialization and urbanization, as well as the influences of earlier ideological movements such as Populism and Pragmatism, the Progressives sought to bring order and progress to society through central planning, social reform, and even social control. The intellectuals were understood to have the best interests of the people in mind, and therefore had the responsibility to intervene in society through the means of the state. These areas of intervention included sanitation, inculcation of certain moral and behavioral habits, environmental conservation,
The 19th century was the era of the Gilded Age, where the economy was booming, bringing great changes that affected the lives of workers and entrepreneurs. During this period, there was a large influx of immigrants that were coming to America to look for job opportunities. The migration of immigrants proved useful as a source for cheap labor, allowing an even higher rise in the U.S. economy. While American industrialization may have benefited the upper class of the American society, the effects were opposite to the workers of the lower classes. This problem was especially worse for immigrant workers as their belief in the so-called American dream has been worn down due to the misery they had to endure.
Progressive tries to tackle many of the issues that we face today. The Progressive movement addressed the issues in factories and the liberties given to the people. With vast growth in population in concentrated areas came more technological advances. Many acts of legislation were passed during this era, especially those in the labor market. Mainly the Progressive Era had a lot of focus on the social issues of the time.
The Progressive Era was a time period where people known as Muckrakers exposed the problems of everyday people like the poor living conditions while the progressives tried different ways to fix those problems. During this time, there were also six goals that they focused on protecting social welfare, promoting moral improvement, improving efficiency and labor, creating economic and government reforms. One of the major reforms of this time was the Social Welfare reform which helped to improve some of the problems that people faced such as poor housing, lack of education, and social welfare for women. In 1890, Jacob Riis published a book called How the Other Half Lives which exposed the harsh and poor living conditions of immigrants in tenement
Towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, America had experienced booming industrialization, urbanization and economic growth which brought about many technological advancements; this era was known as the Gilded age. Despite the technological accomplishments and economic success during the Gilded age, the wealth gained by industries was do to the unfair treatment of workers, by giving them long hours and paying them low wages, employers and owners kept most of the profit while workers suffered. As European immigrants began flooding the United States, in search for opportunity and to live the American dream, they settled in cities in search for jobs and communities to raise their families in but were faced with
After the Civil War, the United States (U.S.) started industrializing in the early nineteenth century, bringing revolutionary revisions to America’s society and its industries. The abundance of natural resources, new inventions, and continuously immigrating workers, along with the creation of the free enterprise system and a spur of railroads, enabled the country to industrialize successfully. Soon America’s small towns were transformed into large cities filled with factories. In the late 1800s, a period known as the Gilded Age came about, suggesting that America’s industrialization and urbanization had two facets. On the surface, the U.S. showcased golden success and prosperity, while the interior aspect began to unveil the unsettling realities
During the “Gilded Age”, America made numerous improvements to the functions and development of society. This was a time of renaissance in the United States, shortly after leaving a state of depression caused by the civil war and the reconstruction of our nation from World War I. We made break thorough advancements and improvements that allowed us to be where we are today. The “Gilded Age” was pivotal to the growth of our nation as a whole and led us to be as developed as we are. The three most important improvements to America through the “Gilded Age” were industrialization, transportation, and the appearance of wealth.
This essay will examine the reasons why historians have called “The Gilded Age” to the era between 1877 and 1900, in which poverty, massive immigration, racism and corruption were the base metal of a nation that was gilded with industrialization and sudden wealth in order to make it look perfect with a shine finish. During the XIX century, United States suffered an important economic growth that took place after the civil war and the reconstruction era. The end of the war had a very decisive influence in the industrial development of the nation, giving a strong boost to it, causing a strong demand for many goods and a vertical rise in prices. The progress of American industry has had its repercussions to this day.
The quality of housing did not help, but worsen the overcrowding issue, being one of the biggest reason why this was such a big problem. Cities grew a huge amount in a very short period of time. This can be seen when the city of Manchester went from 17,000 to 70,000 people in a period of 50 years. Because there were so many people cramped in the cities, enormous amounts of human waste were produced, with nowhere to be disposed. Cess pools overflowed, and waste was everywhere, making diseases the product of such filthy conditions.