Spanish-American War

      This was truly an important time in American history. It was a time where American began to emerge on the world level. Our economy had been fluorescing, as our country became a world power. Our military was stronger than it had ever been, and we were a prominent country that had to make a decision. The promising part of this time period is that we had emerged as a world power. We began to think of ourselves as one of the elite countries in the world. We had finally became one of the world's strongest powers. We felt that we could stand toe to toe with the world's other strong powers. American could also control its own destiny because we were able to choose the foreign policy that we would use. Although there was a lot of promising development in America, this was also a time of problems. The issue was that we needed to decide our involvement in foreign affairs. We needed to create a plan and stick to it. There were a few options that we had. We could become an imperialistic nation, we could stay a passive nation, or we could become a nation that promotes western ideas to other countries. Either way, we needed to find our niche on the world scene. This time period was essential to the development of American. This was a time where we proved that we could be a world power, yet it was a time where we had to step up and answer the question regarding our foreign policy.

The Progressive Movement

             

          The areas that were most influenced by the Progressive Movement were working conditions,  and social issues. Working conditions were a huge issue during this time period. People often worked unreasonable hours in horrible conditions for very little pay. An example of this was the Triangle Shirt Waist factory. The women were given little pay for working in a factory where little safety measures were taking. All around the country factories were like this. Workers began to step up and protest the harsh conditions. This lead to reforms, which helped to create better working conditions. Eventually federal regulations were implemented. Another area that was a center of focus was Social Issue.  Women’s rights were also a major area that was focused on by progressive reformers. Women were mistreated, and people started to take action. Women's rights activist, like Florence Kelly, started to step up. Florence Kelly tried to help create better work conditions, while other reformers, Susan B. Anthony, worked toward getting women the right to vote. These activist led protests. The main issue that they tried to resolve was voting privileges. Suffrage became the center of their reform efforts. Eventually there ideas were granted in the 19th amendment, when the women were granted the right to vote. This accomplished the main social issue that these reformers were asking for. Social issues and working conditions were essential in the minds of the leaders of the progressive movement.

       I feel that big businesses were the reason for the creation of the progressive movement. These businesses tried to do everything as efficient as possible. They wasted little money on taking safety precautions for the workers. This means that the environment for the workers was often unsafe. The working conditions were harsh, and the workers did not receive large compensation for their efforts. This began progressive idea that focused working conditions and workers’ rights. Another thing that progressivist focused on was the idea of equaling out the money in the economy. The leaders of these big businesses made a lot of money and created a huge disparity of wealth within society. This led to an issue of economics because there was a huge problem with wealth. Some people in society had an abundance of money while others were very poor. Progressives tried to change this.  This connects to the populist because they both focus on the wellbeing of the people. Populist wanted to create a system that benefits the people, which was the main idea of the progressive movement at this time. We see the same populist ideas reappear in the progressive movement. The difference is that populism was much less broad than progressivism. The populist movement failed because it was much more focused, yet many of its ideas are seen within the progressive movement.

       

       

         

1st Reflection

Over the past few weeks we have done a lot of work with with the West. A huge part of this was through a transcontinental railroad. This was essential to moving goods, and played a huge role in the economy. Although, there were many new economic opportunities (farm land) for people who moved west, the government did little to protect the farmers. This lead to the Populist movement, which was basically a party for the people. They wanted things that will help the average citizen. This party soon fall, yet their ideas are still see today in our political system.