Discuss what the major reforms of the Progressive Period were. Do you think they were effective? If the Progressive Movement existed today, what...

is the common
name for the period in American politics that stretched from 1890 to 1920. During this era, the
Progressive Movement targeted corrupt political machines and big business, instituting Antitrust
laws and supporting unionization as a mean to better working conditions. They also widely
believed in technological innovation as a means to combat old problems. Many progressives
supported Prohibition, especially as a means to make alcohol manufacturers less powerful.
Progressives also tended to support policies of segregation as the ultimate solution to problems
of race relations.

These goals are similar to the goals of many prominent
Democratic party candidates today in that they seek to challenge large bodies of established
power but also seek to maintain the cohesion of the political superstructure that the
established powers exist within.