Draft:Progressive Era

The Progressive Era is a period of the history of the United States that lasted from around 1890 to 1920.The period was marked by widespread attempts (with varying success) at "improving" society and reforming government — often through "scientific" means. Many of these changes have become permanent fixtures in modern American society and government. When looking at the time, one must remember the phrase "progressive" had a much different meaning then, hence why someone like Woodrow Wilson gets called "progressive."

An outline
The Progressive Era in large part began as a reaction to the gilded age-a time of mass inequality and concentration of power in the hands of the elite. Perhaps the high point of the era was the 1912 presidential election. A progressive Democrat won, a progressive Republican who left his party came in second, and the incumbent conservative president actually came in third, the only incumbent to have ever done so. In time progressives would become more divided over Wilson, especially when he entered WWI and actively suppressed public criticism of it, in spite of winning re-election with the slogan "He kept us out of war." Prohibition was also a major misstep. It would end after the presidential election of 1920, a landslide win for conservative Warren G. Harding, who was seen as reigning in certain "excesses" of the time. Conservatives would continue to hold power until the next great era of transformation, the New Deal.

Major social and political movements

 * Attempts to eliminate corruption in government, often via investigative journalism. From these ventures, we get the term "muckracker."
 * Efforts to Improve the economy via regulation of monopolies, anti-trust laws, the income tax, and transforming the banking system
 * The promotion of women's rights, especially legal agency
 * The "scientific" improvement of just about everything, with mixed results
 * The prohibition of alcohol for both moral and political ends
 * The creation of the presidential primary system as we know it, alongside other reforms to expand average voter participation in politics.
 * The rise of the second Ku Klux Klan in 1915, in many ways as a reaction to these changes.

Important events

 * The rapid growth of labor unions, which worked to improve labor conditions, but also to severely restrict immigration.
 * The growth of American imperialism
 * The expansion of Fundamentalist Christianity leading to the Scopes trial
 * Some unpleasantness overseas
 * The Spanish-American War and the caused by it and immediately following it
 * Four constitutional amendments (16-19) would pass, dealing with issues ranging from the income tax to female suffrage...and on a less praiseworthy note prohibition.