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Progression Era Through Great Depression

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Progressive Era through the Great Depression

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In this paper I will discuss the Progressive Era during the Great Depression. There were (2) major historical turning points during this period. The first one was the women’s suffrages. There were two major groups: The National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) founded in 1890, and The National Women’s Party (NWP) founded in 1913 which were run by Alice Paul. The NAWSA worked through many states to trying to convince opponents that women were a valuable asset to society. Alice Paul and the NWP went for the bigger fish. They targeted President Woodrow Wilson with a rally outside his inauguration demanding changes to the amendment giving women the right to vote. The second major historical point was the Stock Market Crash of 1929 which devastated the economy. The banks had used the consumer’s money to invest without knowledge. When everything was going well, it didn’t matter but as the stocks began to drop, that’s where the problems began. The Federal Reserve had raised interest rates while the banks were cutting lending because of the cost increases. Once the bank had less money to loan out the market began to fall. Due to the stock market collapsing, the unemployment rate for the United States had reached a high of 25% in 1933. In analyzing the impact the (2) or more major historical turning points selected on America’s current society, economy, politics and culture. Because of the Women’s Suffrage movement, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed allowing women the right to vote. This opened many doors for women, giving them the platform to expand beyond their voice. Women became teachers, lawyers, doctors, senators etc… The stock market crashing changed how the United States did business (for a while anyway). It put fear in the country as a whole. Many businesses went bankrupt, jobs were lost and it created a decrease in consumer’s purchasing power. Women earned the right to vote in the frontier states of the west before the eastern and southern states because men outnumbered women in the west. Women fought for their rights where they knew they stood a fighting chance. There are (2) pieces of legislation in the Roosevelt-Taft Wilson Progressive era years that have influenced the conduct of business to this day and what that influent has been. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and the Hepburn Act of 1906. The Sherman Trust Act was the federal government’s attempt to break up monopolies. Roosevelt felt that big businesses were more interested in personal gain than society. Roosevelt enforced that act one in office and he prosecuted many companies for breaking the Sherman Act of 1890. Roosevelt also developed the Hepburn Act which limited the price that railroads could charge and allowed the federal government to monitor the financial books of the large railroad companies. The war between Spain and the United States gave the United States major power overseas. The U.S. for years had been interested in gaining possession of overseas territories so that they could create naval bases and trade agreements. Basically giving them leverage and alliances from afar. The U.S. already had investments in Cuba. Since Cuba and Spain were at war, it gave the U.S. the opportunity to take on a global role. The boom and bust of “The Roaring Twenties” followed by the Great Depression affected the federal government’s involvement in the national economy by President Roosevelt’s “New Deal”. The new deal created programs which increased the federal government’s spending. It addressed the banking crisis which created the outcome of the Emergency Bank Relief Act of 1933. This created federal control over the banks and rescued them from failure with government loans. He also created the Federal Emergency Relief Administration which increased the federal contributions to city and state relief agencies. Finally Roosevelt enacted the Civilian Conservation Corp which enlisted young unemployed men in building and repairs, highways, forest service sites and national park buildings.

References * Shultz, 2012. History 2012 * Encyclopedia Britannica – Spanish American War * http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/stockcrash1929.htm

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