Progressive Era
The Progressive Era was the period of time from approximately 1900 to 1914 in which America revived a
sense of protest and reform. Its "essential characteristic was a belief that all social problems could be mastered by
exercise of the collective will" (Filler 6). Progressivism renewed an interest in improving America's social, political,
and economic ills. It distinguished itself from other eras of reform through its extreme promotion of "activism", or
energetically working to facilitate improvements. The Progressives "argued that social evils will not remedy
themselves, and that it is wrong to sit by passively and wait for time to take care of them" (Hofstadter 4). The
Progressives worked to reform such areas as women's and minority's rights, social class distinctions, business, labor,
industry, and trade. Much of America was caught up in the upheaval of America's problems, and this was because of
the media's promotion of such issues. The media that particularly pushed these issues were called the Muckrakers.
The Muckrakers are generally regarded as the moving force behind the Progressive Era. The Muckrakers
were "a group of young reformers, who, through novels and popular magazine articles, laid bare the abuses that had
crept into American political, social, and economic life" (Werner 189). The Muckrakers were the most memorable
and effective aspect of the Progressive Era because of their ability to expose America's problems in a memorable,
interesting manner. The "Key to Muckraking Success" is described in the following phrase:
"An interesting Muckraking requires an interested public" (Filler 6). The Muckrakers convinced the public that what
they were discussing was not composed of minutiae, but was indeed composed of relevant and...
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