During the 20^th century, American experienced transition reforms in political, social and economic institutions. The transition was facilitated by various events which affected America either directly or indirectly. Some of the critical events which had a significant impact on America were World War 1 and Progressive Era Reforms which occurred between 1910 and 1920s. During this period, America was experiencing mass transformations in all sectors as the country focused on maintaining its supremacy among other nations undergoing revolutions.  In this paper,  I will provide arguments in support of Progressive Era Reforms as the event which significantly affected economic, political and social aspects in America.

The progressive Era Reforms marked the first comprehensive efforts adopted by the American government to address challenges that emerged within the industrial society and modern urbanization.   During the Progressive Era period (1900-1920), America grappled with various problems which originated from the industrial revolution.  The progressivism movement that emerged constituted the middle-class who focused on supporting the American government in controlling the public welfare and big businesses (Ma, 2).  In a broader context, the Progressive Era Reforms had a significant influence on the political, social and economic aspects in America as the government focused on introducing reforms to address domestic challenges.  However, the accomplishments of Progressive Era Reforms were based on the movements that were introduced earlier in America. For instance, the populist program that grew during the pre-civil war influenced the progressive reforms across America.

In the context of politics, the progressive Era Reforms significantly affected the American politics as key political leaders that are President Roosevelt for Republican and Woodrow Wilson for Democrat merged their political ideologies in support of the Progressive reforms.  Both political parties focus on applying the progressive reforms in making American government more efficient and responsive.  The progressive reforms embraced by the two political parties focused on granting the general public more direct involvement in American politics as well as limiting the power of emerging political city bosses.  The progressive reforms enhanced inclusion of preliminary elections in America by granting party members to take part in the nominations as an attempt to limit the influence of the political machine during the process of selecting party candidates (Robertson, 41).  Also, the progressive era reforms enhanced proposing of ballot laws, allowing people to make changes on legislation through referendum and granting people power to recall elected politicians through voting.

In the context of social aspects, the Progressive Era Reforms led to the introduction of prohibition as a process that entailed campaigns against social evils. Also, the reforms resulted in rising of church-based movements in addressing various issues in the society.  The reforms created a significant influence on the women and children rights due to the introduction of “National Child Labor Committee” to coordinate eradication of movements that sought in exploiting the children. During the 19^th century, Americans were affected socially by urbanization and industrialization processes. In regards to this issue, the Progressive Era Reforms aimed at enhancing the redistribution of people to end congestion in major cities.  Also, the reforms focused on addressing the problems that the societies experienced due to industrialization (Leonard, 201). Specifically, the Progressive Era Reforms contributed to better standards of living among the Americans due to an increase in the minimum wage as well as advocating for better working conditions. The Progressive Era reforms covered a wide range of social reforms related to female suffrage and educational reforms to end racism in American institutions. Also, the reforms contributed to the formation of unions by the industrial workers that helped in ending the boycotts and strikes.

In the context of economic issues, the Progressive Era Reforms affected key economic institutions such as banks and other lending facilities. The American economy was expanding as a result of industrialization, and therefore there was a need to come up with regulations to achieve a sustainable economy.  Also,  the industrilization focused more on cheap labor affecting the labor market. With progressive reforms, economic issues such as unemployment and inflation were addressed to attain stability in the American economy.  Also, the Progressive Era Reforms affected large corporations that existed as a monopoly in the American economy. For instance, the Steel Corporation which was controlled by Carnegie continued to dominate other steel factories in America. Therefore, the progressive reforms affected the monopoly corporations through the introduction of consolidation of corporations to end monopoly power and exploitation of the markets.  The Progressive Era reforms have a positive influence on the distribution of resources across America (Leonard, 202).  During the 20^th century, the American economy was dominated by the bourgeoisie who controlled the economic activities thus leading to the emergence of different social classes which included the middle-class and the low-income earners.  As a result, the social classes in America contributed to widened inequalities due to uneven distribution of wealth.  However, the progressive reforms sought in bridging the gap between wealthy class and low-income earners by the adoption of policies towards redistribution of wealth. In a nutshell, the Progressive Era Reforms had significant effect on the economic issues in America as compared to social and political issues.

Work cited

Ma, Jun. “Economic, Social Change and State Governance Transition: Reforms in Progressive Era of US.” Public Management Research 0 (2008): 2.

Robertson, David Brian. “The progressive era.” Oxford handbook of US social policy (2015): 41-58.

Leonard, Thomas C. “Retrospectives: Eugenics and economics in the Progressive Era.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 19.4 (2005): 207-224.