GHIST 225 Final Exam Take Home Essay
There are many parts of American history that have significance to America and
its growth like westward expansion, slavery, and the Civil War. However, one part that I
think had the most impact was the Progressive Era. The events of this period largely
made society as we know it by changing how people and conditions of the workplace are
handled, how social responsibilities of government are handled, and how our place is
looked at in the world.
Today, the circumstances of the workforce have considerably changed from what
they were in the beginning of the 20th century. We no longer have child labor as a source
of work since its banning in 1937. According to the Progressive Party platform of 1912,
this was one of their main goals. Children of ten years old or even younger were subject
to extreme working hours and unsafe working conditions that sometimes even left them
with developmental defects for the rest of their lives, such as bent backs for the children
who had to crawl into small spaces behind machinery at factories and permanently
damaged hands to many children that handled spinning fabric at textile mills. These
accidents occurred at three times the rate of adult workers. To counter these conditions,
“Progressives” constantly made a push for legislation. They were successful when the
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 and the Child Labor Tax Law of 1918 were
signed into law by the Progressive president, Woodrow Wilson. They banned the sale of
products from factories that employed children under fourteen and from mines that
employed children under sixteen. They also increased taxes on businesses that did
employ young children. And even though both were declared unconstitutional, they
helped encourage others to follow this direction and culminated with complete success
, when Roosevelt continued Progressive policies with the signing of the Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1937 that abolished child labor altogether. From that point on, the Fair
Labor Standards Act would become the standard and give us the labor force today that
upholds the protection of children in the workforce.
The Progressive Era further had an impact on the workforce with how it related to
women. We now have a workforce that respects women more and gives them a greater
opportunity in wages and better working conditions. This was a high goal of the
Progressive platform of 1912. Women in the workforce at that time received a great deal
less of respect than were men and often received conditions to work in that were far
below the already poor working conditions of men. One such example is the Triangle
Shirtwaist Company in New York. On March 25 of 1911, a fire broke out due to
extremely unsafe conditions and nearly one hundred out of five hundred workers died.
These workers also received less money than the low amount men were currently being
paid. These low wages combined with tragedies like the Triangle disaster would serve as
a wakeup call and start a drive to improve their situation. This drive would lead to most
states passing legislation in the 1910’s that limited the work hours of women and
provided for higher wages, safer conditions, and stronger building and sanitation codes.
These laws also would extend these same benefits to men as they too suffered from very
poor conditions. And even though it would take time for these laws to be fully enforced,
they gave us the workforce of today that is a great deal fairer to women and much more
safer for all than it was before.
Another area of the workplace that was targeted is fair competition among all
companies. In place today is a market that encourages and enforces fair competition and
There are many parts of American history that have significance to America and
its growth like westward expansion, slavery, and the Civil War. However, one part that I
think had the most impact was the Progressive Era. The events of this period largely
made society as we know it by changing how people and conditions of the workplace are
handled, how social responsibilities of government are handled, and how our place is
looked at in the world.
Today, the circumstances of the workforce have considerably changed from what
they were in the beginning of the 20th century. We no longer have child labor as a source
of work since its banning in 1937. According to the Progressive Party platform of 1912,
this was one of their main goals. Children of ten years old or even younger were subject
to extreme working hours and unsafe working conditions that sometimes even left them
with developmental defects for the rest of their lives, such as bent backs for the children
who had to crawl into small spaces behind machinery at factories and permanently
damaged hands to many children that handled spinning fabric at textile mills. These
accidents occurred at three times the rate of adult workers. To counter these conditions,
“Progressives” constantly made a push for legislation. They were successful when the
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 and the Child Labor Tax Law of 1918 were
signed into law by the Progressive president, Woodrow Wilson. They banned the sale of
products from factories that employed children under fourteen and from mines that
employed children under sixteen. They also increased taxes on businesses that did
employ young children. And even though both were declared unconstitutional, they
helped encourage others to follow this direction and culminated with complete success
, when Roosevelt continued Progressive policies with the signing of the Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1937 that abolished child labor altogether. From that point on, the Fair
Labor Standards Act would become the standard and give us the labor force today that
upholds the protection of children in the workforce.
The Progressive Era further had an impact on the workforce with how it related to
women. We now have a workforce that respects women more and gives them a greater
opportunity in wages and better working conditions. This was a high goal of the
Progressive platform of 1912. Women in the workforce at that time received a great deal
less of respect than were men and often received conditions to work in that were far
below the already poor working conditions of men. One such example is the Triangle
Shirtwaist Company in New York. On March 25 of 1911, a fire broke out due to
extremely unsafe conditions and nearly one hundred out of five hundred workers died.
These workers also received less money than the low amount men were currently being
paid. These low wages combined with tragedies like the Triangle disaster would serve as
a wakeup call and start a drive to improve their situation. This drive would lead to most
states passing legislation in the 1910’s that limited the work hours of women and
provided for higher wages, safer conditions, and stronger building and sanitation codes.
These laws also would extend these same benefits to men as they too suffered from very
poor conditions. And even though it would take time for these laws to be fully enforced,
they gave us the workforce of today that is a great deal fairer to women and much more
safer for all than it was before.
Another area of the workplace that was targeted is fair competition among all
companies. In place today is a market that encourages and enforces fair competition and
