Turn-of-the-century political reform movement - The Progressive Era (1901–1929) was a period in the United States during the early 20th century of widespread social activism and political reform across the country. [[Progressivism in the United States | Progressives]] sought to address the problems caused by rapid industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and political corruption as well as the enormous concentration of industrial ownership in [[Monopoly | monopolies]]. Progressive reformers were alarmed by the spread of slums, poverty, and the exploitation of labor. Multiple overlapping progressive movements fought perceived social, political, and economic ills by advancing democracy, scientific methods, and professionalism; regulating business; protecting the natural environment; and improving working and living conditions of the urban poor. - Corrupt and undemocratic [[Political machine | political machines]] and their bosses were a major target of Progressive reformers. To revitalize democracy, progressives established direct [[Primary election | primary elections]], [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution | direct election of senators]] (rather than by state legislatures), [[Initiatives and referendums in the United States | initiative and referendum]], and [[Women's suffrage in the United States | women's suffrage]] which was promoted to advance democracy and bring the presumed moral influence of women into politics. For many progressives, [[Prohibition in the United States | prohibition of alcoholic beverages]] was key to eliminating corruption in politics as well as improving social conditions. - Another target were monopolies, which Progressives worked to regulate through [[Competition law | trustbusting]] and [[United States antitrust law | antitrust laws]] with the goal of promoting fair competition. Progressives also advocated new government agencies focused on regulation of industry. - An additional goal of Progressives was bringing to bear scientific, medical, and engineering solutions to reform government and education and foster improvements in various fields including medicine, finance, insurance, industry, railroads, and churches. They aimed to professionalize the social sciences, especially history, economics, and political science and improve efficiency with [[Scientific management | scientific management]], or Taylorism. - Initially, the movement operated chiefly at the local level, but later it expanded to the state and national levels. Progressive leaders were often from the educated middle class, and various Progressive reform efforts drew support from lawyers, teachers, physicians, ministers, business people, and the working class. ## Sources - [wikipedia_page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era)