How Did the Progressive Era Reforms Improve American Society?

How did the Progressive Era reforms improve American society?

The Progressive Era reforms improved American society by fixing the problems from the Gilded Age. Muckraking and changes in the government allowed for necessary reform and improvements.

Reforms were put into action when journalist, investigative reporters, writers, and social scientists exposed, the abuses of industrial society and government corruption. The spread of newspapers and magazines made this new form of journalism important.

  Starting when Upton Sinclair wrote his book “The Jungle”. His intentions were to depict the hard lives immigrants lived.

However, when his book was published the gruesome conditions of the meat packing companies were exposed. This resulted in the enforcement of the FDA by Theodore Roosevelt and Harvey Wiley.

When Theodore Roosevelt was put into office, government reforms were started because the government was laissez-faire, which means the government wasn’t involved with the economy. During the Gilded Age the big businesses controlled the smaller businesses and the government did nothing to stop them or take control.                         Due to this political reforms were initiated to many states such as initiative, referendum, and recall

 The purposes of these reforms was to end corruption and to make government more directly involved with the economy. As president, Roosevelt advanced aggressive political reforms, including the heavy regulation of business. Known as the “trust-buster,” Roosevelt was the first president to successfully invoke the Sherman Antitrust Act against monopolies and also the Clayton Antitrust Act which attempts to prohibit certain actions that lead to anti-competitiveness. Roosevelt continued to restrict businesses throughout his presidency. His reforms greatly influenced economic, environmental, and international affairs as well. Roosevelt’s platform became known as the “Square Deal” because he vowed not to favor any group of Americans but to be fair to all.