The Progressive Era
History
The Progressive Era was a time of major reform and change in the United States, that began from 1890 to 1920. Progressivism was a group of different ideas concerning how to fix the problem that affected the American society. The major goals of the progressives were to promote the ides of morality, economic reform , efficiency and social welfare. The Progressives had many different methods and ideas on how to solve social problems.
The Muckrakers were a group of people that informed about wrongdoings in the face of society. The most important Muckrakers were Upton Sinclair and Jacob Riis, they were writers who exposed the corrupt politicians and also pressured them into introducing new reforms. 
Some of the differences that the progressive era had was that they wanted to government to become more efficient by applying many basic principles of the scientific management methods. Many others wanted much more democracy in the society. One man Robert M. La Follette the governor of Wisconsin was one of the most infulenctal politicians that wanted more democracy, and he also stated the requirement of political parties to hold a direct primary.
Another big movement during the progressive era was the women's suffrage movement which began to get the attention of many people during the early 1900's. Women began protesting and also would go on long hunger strikes to be recognized by society. Alice Paul the leader of the National American Women Suffrage (NAWSA) was one of the leaders of these types of protest. The senate finally took these women seriously by passing the 19 th amendment on August 26,1920 which guaranteed the ever wanted right to vote for women.
More movements that happened during the Progressive era were the idea of social welfare. The people who agreed with this were people who wanted to stop child labor and put major regulations on the big businesses. A temperance Act was also created during this time and many new laws were put into use to make sure that many of the social problems in the community were to be fixed. Women also helped inforce these laws after gaining their right to vote.
Theodore Roosevelt was a big leader in the progressive movement. Roosevelt moved through offices very quickly because of his fame as a war hero and then moved into presidency after the assassination of p
resident Mckinley in 1901. Roosevelt was really known for breaking up company trusts like Northern securities, a railroad trust. Roosevelt was known as the trust-buster among the business owners. In 1902 a coal strike began with the United Mine Workers, which left the people of America cooked and desperate for the heat, Roosevelt had intervened for the best of the American people and created federal arbitration between unions and the cooked employers. The book "The Jungle" caused Roosevelt to push congress to pass many new reforms like the Meat Inspection Act , the Pure Food Act, Drug Act and they also created new department of commission (ICC) and also the labor with a bureau of corporations that could investigate corporations. "Teddy" Roosevelt also conserved over 50 wildlife sactuaries and parks that are still in use today, he also set many new foreign acts. Roosevelt made the U.S the police of the Americas and made sure that no foreign countries would try to over rule or enforce any rules on any country of the Americas. Roosevelt also built the Panama Canal which made trade much easier to other countries and help the time travel. These are some of the things made during the Progressive Era.
The Progressive Era changed the U.S in many ways that are still in use to this day. The American society and welfare of people are better because of the change many people did like the Black Freedom which were affected by Booker T Washington and W.E.D Dubois who influenced the society. Roosevelt made many of our natural treasures that are still around. The Progressive Era help the U.S become a great nation after its earlier falls.
Internet sites
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt
Book source
American Pagent: David M. Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, Thomas A. Bailey