Progressive Era through the Great Depression
Latisha Blacknall
Dr. James Allen
HIS105 Contemporary US History
November 5, 2012

In American History there were many turning points that occurred from the Progressive Era through the Great Depression. It was during this period that many historical events shaped Americans current society, politics, economy and culture. The progressive era was a time period that American people needed. When society was going through urbanization, this movement was needed to survive the harsh conditions they were forced to live and work in. If it had not been for the muckrakers, the progressive era might not have received the attention that was needed to become a success. They wrote newspaper columns about the unsatisfactory conditions people were forced to live and work in while the government did nothing. The progressive era also brought awareness to the importance of education and started the reformation of the system. It was during this time that more schools were built and teachers’ salaries were raised. There was two major turning points in the in progressive era, the first is the Women Suffrage Movement. The National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA), which was founded in 1890, the second is The National Women’s Party (NWP) which was founded in 1913 and was led by Alice Paul. NAWSA worked many states to try and convince opponents that women were a valuable asset to society and deserved the right to vote. Alice Paul was more aggressive when it came to women’s rights; she organized a rally of 5,000 women that marched on President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration in 1913. The women demand a federal constitution amendment that gave women the right to vote, this rally held its ground for six months. In 1920, just after the end of WWI, congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment that gave women the right to vote. The second turning point was the stock market crash in 1929. Between 1929 and 1933 about 9,000 banks closed. It all began in September 1929 when the Federal Reserve Board raised interest rates, this move was to help prevent over speculation in the stock market, but banks cut lending due to cost increases. It became the waterfall effect because they cut lending then banks had less money to loan out, so fewer people could purchase stock, so stock prices began to fall. The market slightly recovered in September but the market the collapsed. With the stock market collapsed the United Sates unemployment rate escalated to nearly 25 percent by 1933.
The American people went from dealing with an economy depleted because of the cost of war, to thriving in peace. America became the richest nation, with consumers that were ready to purchase new products. Politically, the laws were created to allow people who historically didn’t have a voice, the opportunity to be heard. As a culture, Americans began to develop the art of music, sports and entertainment. When the American people realized they were able to afford automobiles, the demand increased and this in turn created more jobs. Employment opportunities not only came in the production of the cars, but also in the advertising for the car dealerships.
I believe that women earned the right to vote in the West, sooner than women in the eastern and southern states because western politicians were more open to experimentation. This allowed suffrage leaders to often reach across dividing lines of place, race, ethnicity, creed and economic circumstance to win both men and women to their cause. Many voters in the West assumed that Anglo Saxon women, not women of color, would enter the electorate to help shape the political agenda. In the West, African Americans were not a threat to the white dominance like the Mexican American voters were, because they only made up a small portion of the population. For example, Arizona’s white territorial leaders worked to neutralize the votes of those whom they labeled as uneducated, mostly working class Mexican Americans who spoke little English, and in 1909 passed a literacy requirement that kept them from voting until 1972. Rebecca Mead stated that, “woman suffrage was easier to accept in the West in part because it could not alter the balance of racial power in the region, where white racial hegemony was firmly established by the turn of the century.” Arizona was the perfect example of this thought.
President Taft supported the Sixteenth Amendment, which authorized income taxes, the creation of the Children’s Bureau in the federal government and laws mandating employer liability and an eight hour work day. He was also active in initiating antitrust suits, supporting the courts use of the “rule of reason” against unfair trade practices by corporations. President Wilson called congress into special session shortly after his inauguration and successfully pushed through the Underwood Tariff, which reduced the rates and levying a modest income tax to make up for the lower tax. He also supported the Federal Reserve Act, which centralized banking and created the Federal Reserve Board to regulate interest rates and the money supply. As a part of his New Freedom program, President Wilson also supported the Clayton Antitrust Act, which brought much needed improvements in regulating trusts, outlawed interlocking directorates and created the Federal Trade Commission.
The Spanish-American War launched the United States on a path of a modern non-aristocratic empire founded on state power but oriented towards commercial gain for well-connected friends and associates. By expanding the horizons of U.S. foreign policy in the pursuit of export markets through formal empire, such as the Philippines; and an informal empire, Latin America the Spanish-American War enhanced the role of government in American life and the role of the presidency in American government.
In the 1920’s, the Federal Government allowed people to invest in the stock market on margins. This meant you could by stock for less than the market value, promising to pay the remaining balance later. But you never had to pay the balance, because the price of the stock would increase and then it would be sold for a higher price and a profit was made. Secondly, the development of Social Security, which provided supplemental income to retired people who had a large poverty rate during the depression. This is yet another program, developed with good intentions, which were not very well thought out, because no one had the foresight to see the day when the ratio of workers to retired people would be so low as to make Social Security unsustainable.

References:
Cooney, Jr. Robert P.J. Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement. American Graphic Press, 2005.
The Spanish-American War: The Leap into Overseas Empire
By Joseph R. Stromberg | Posted: Tue. December 1, 1998