American History: The Progressive Era, Analysis and Insights

This assignment delves into the Progressive Era of American history, spanning from the 1890s to the 1920s, a period marked by significant political and social reforms. It examines the era's response to industrialization, urbanization, and corruption. The assignment highlights key concepts such as 'muckrakers,' investigative journalists who exposed societal issues, and 'scientific management,' a principle championed by F.W. Taylor to improve industrial efficiency and worker-employer relations. Through references to magazines like McClure’s and the works of Upton Sinclair, the assignment illustrates the era's focus on public interests and reform, with concepts that are still relevant today. The assignment emphasizes the importance of understanding this historical period's contributions to contemporary contexts.

Running head: AMERICAN HISTORY
AMERICAN HISTORY AFTER 1865 – THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1AMERICAN HISTORY
The Progressive Era in the history of the United States of America lasted between the
1890s and the 1920s. This era was a period of widespread political reform and social activism
across the country. The main objective of such actions was to eliminate problems brought on
by industrialization, urbanization, political corruption and immigration.
There were a few terms which surfaced during this time. One of them was
‘muckraker’. This was used to characterize reform-minded journalists who accused
established institutions and popular leaders of corruption (Wilson, 2015). ‘Investigative
journalist’ could be seen as a present equivalent of the term. The muckrakers played a vital
role during this period in raising public awareness and anger, focusing it towards urban
poverty, unsafe working conditions, child labour, and prostitution (Wilson, 2015). Awareness
was mainly raised through magazines such as McClure’s and fictional works such as those by
Upton Sinclair.
When speaking of corruption in the Progressive Era, another term which surfaces is
‘scientific management’ proposed by engineer F.W.Taylor. Through his career, Taylor
observed extreme inefficiency in the management of industrial enterprises (Turan, 2015). He
argued that the basic principle behind management should be the coupling of the maximum
prosperity for the employer as well as the employees. His principles included scientific
development of work principles, scientific selection, training and employment coupled with
cooperation between employees and employers alike, and equal division of work and flow of
responsibility between the management and the workers (Turan, 2015).
The Progressive Era was mainly built upon the objective of reformation keeping the
public interests in mind with much of the concepts developed then still providing relevance in
contemporary contexts as well.

2AMERICAN HISTORY

3AMERICAN HISTORY
References
Turan, H. (2015). Taylor's Scientific Management Principles": Contemporary Issues in
Personnel Selection Period. Journal of economics, business and management, 3(11),
1102-1105.
Wilson, H. S. (2015). McClure's Magazine and the Muckrakers(Vol. 1312). Princeton
University Press.