The Progressive Era actually started long before 1900 and continues in many ways to the present time, for American has been in the business of reform from its earliest existence as a nation. Yet the Progressive Era as designated by historians—roughly 1900 to 1916—was a “just in time” phenomenon. Had Progressivism for some reason not gotten off the ground, the country could well have seen far more violence and upheaval than actually happened.By the end of the 19th Century much of America was a tinderbox. Cities were crowded with millions of immigrants, working conditions were appalling, and corruption darkened politics from the local level to the highest institutions in the land. Some thing had to be done, and it was. Although the progressive reformers did not fix everything, there was little that escaped their fury.With input from the “muckrakers”—journalists such as Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens and others—and under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt and many other political and business leaders, the nation began to clean up its act. By 1916 hundreds of national, state and local laws had begun to make the cities cleaner and healthier, the workplace safer, and businessmen more honest and considerate of their workers and customers. Much was done out of what has been called “enlightened self-interest,” which for some meant doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. But whatever the motives of the reformers, progress was made, and not a moment too soon.
http://www.sagehistory.net/progressive/index.html
Sources of Progressive Reform
A. Industrialization, with all its increase in productivity and the number of consumer goods, created1) Unemployment and labor unrest2) Wasteful use of natural resources3) Abuses of corporate power.
B. Growing cities magnified problems of poverty, disease, crime, and corruption.
C. Influx of immigrants and rise of new managerial class upset traditional class alignments.
D. Massive depression (1893-1897) convinced many that equal opportunity was out of reach for many Americans.
