The roots
of progressivism arise from a mixture of things. Intelligent women wanted the government to
step in and make a bunch of regulations for children, work places, and food
processing. Middle class workers were a
big part of it too because they had the most time on their hands, a decent sum
of money, and a well-rounded education. The catalyst for all this was a terrible fire
in which 100+ people died in and a book called The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which talked about how horrible
the meat-packing industry was.
Muckrakers
were the people who spoke out about these ideas in the first place. They were influential journalists who
uncovered political corruption and problems with the workforce. People began to form ideas about how to stop
the political machines and reform the government. There were so many problems that the
progressives wanted to stop, and they thought that they would all get better if
they pushed for prohibition, the banishment of alcohol in their society. Women and African Americans took advantage of
this period of reform and started protesting for the rights and suffrage that
they deserved.
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