Progressive Era during the Great Depression Essay

Progressive Era during the Great Depression - Essay Example The progressive era that transpired through the 1800s to 1920s established a critical moment of change for the American society and world in general. The period characterized by massive urbanization coupled with high rate of industrialization. In nutshell, the Progressive era became synonymous with high levels of poverty that touched lower class that constituted the biggest percentage of the American population. No sooner had the impacts the Progressive era fade than America and world, in general, bumped into yet another tempting moment of Great Depression. This period began in 1929 and ended in early 1940, before giving way for World War II. According to Sage, the spirit of progressive started to signalize in the early 1890s when small businesspersons, farmers, and other reform-oriented leaders merged to form the Populist Party. The purposes of the party were to confront and address the problems faced by the American societies such unemployment, injustice, poor leadership among other. It is from Populist Party that Progressives would later develop after the former gained national trust. As mentioned earlier, Progressive era entailed numerous events ranging from urbanization and industrialization that necessitated the need for change in the American societies. The rate at which urbanization took place alongside industrialization could only translate to the effects of poverty. Increased poverty among the majority of citizens translated to poor health services, high crime rates, racism, violence, class warfare, and greed, together with corruption. In the description of Burt, poor working conditions and environments were als o justifiable causes of concern by the Progressives. By 1890, 18% of the total labor in the country constituted of the women and children.