During the Progressive Era, 1890 to 1917, some of the significant reforms in the history of America were experienced (OpenStax College 504). For example, there were some amendments to the Constitution of America. In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. It stated that “the Congress had the power to collect income tax from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration” (The Armory Show at 100). Previously, the Constitution stated that the amount of income collected should be divided among the states according to the population.
The 17th Amendment was another part of the reform (Ourdocuments.gov). It happened that there were more cases of corruption in the local government and the state at that period. Therefore, more campaigns were put to fight it, and the push of senators’ elections was part of the campaign. One of the populists leading this reform was William Jennings Bryan. Initially, the constitution required the state legislature to select two senators for a term of at least six years.
The two amendments had some positive effects on the American people. The Sixteenth Amendment marked some of the political and social changes in the society. It ensured the end of corruption in government due to the steady flow of revenue. It assisted the government in expanding its funding programs and its ability to address the issue of increasing monopolies in the private sector. The 17th Amendment helped in the fight against racism (OpenStax College 514).
The other type of reform in that era was the Pure Food and Drug Act (Friedman, Lawrence and Harry 437). It was signed in the year 1906, and it was meant to regulate the supply of food. The law required that the quantity of the food should be accurate, and the labels in the food should not be misleading. In addition, the new Act prohibited the addition of ingredients that substitute the original ones. The establishment of the Act followed many cases of industries diluting their products with cheap ingredients and putting misleading labels on their products. The Act assisted in protecting the rights of the consumer from misleading labels and inaccurate quantities.
The Meat Inspection Act was another important reform in the Progressive Era. The Act was meant to control the poor working conditions in the slaughtering houses. The conditions in the Chicago meatpacking plants led to the introduction of the law. The law ensured that the factories maintained high working standards for the benefits and those of the customers.
The other reform that took place during the Progressive Era is the formation a council- manager model of government. It was a model that resembled the parliamentary form of national government (Frederickson, Gary and Curtis 4). It combined the power of the managerial leadership and the strong power of the political leadership. The increased corruption and inefficiency of work in the local government led to the need for a new system of local government. It was a hybrid of two forms of government - the commission form and that of the mayor. Some of the proponents of this type of government argue that it allowed administrative and supervisory responsibility to be centralized. In conclusion, many reforms were carried out during the Progressive Era, and they had a lot of positive influence on the history of America.
Works Cited
Frederickson, H G, Gary A. Johnson, and Curtis H. Wood. The Adapted City: Institutional
Dynamics and Structural Change. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2004. Print.
Friedman, Lawrence M, and Harry N. Scheiber. American Law and the Constitutional Order:
Historical Perspectives. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1988. Print
Ourdocuments.gov. "Welcome To Ourdocuments.Gov". N.p., 2016. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
OpenStax College. “U.S. History”. Houston, Texas: 2014. Print.
The Armory Show at 100. "An Amendment For The Progressive Era | The Armory Show A100". N.p., 2013.
