In the late 1800s some changes in the United States were already starting. Women were starting to fight for their rights; people were less fanatical with the church; things such as industrialization, immigration, and urban growth started to happen rapidly and, there was also a drastic change in economy since south and north unified and, slavery was over. All those changes didn’t happen for free; many problems resulting from it spurred the creation of many reform movements during the next century.
The so called Progressive Era was the era where the consequences of the changes made in the 19th century started to happen. For many, this was the time where reform groups (outgrowth of earlier groups) were reacting to the changes that happened so quickly in the years before.
Progressivism was not a single unified movement, people who called themselves as Progressives did not share the same beliefs. In fact, their goals fell into four categories: social, moral, economic, and political. Some of these goals overlapped; some in fact conflicted. Examples of it are Republicans and Democrats which called themselves Progressives have opposing ideas and beliefs.
Most of the reformers were people from the upper classes that held four basic beliefs such as that, government should be more accountable to its citizens, should curb the power and influence of wealthy interests, should be given expanded powers so that it could become more active in improving the lives of citizens and, it should become more efficient and less corrupt so that they could competently handle an expanded role.
Unfortunately because of public demand, local, state, and federal officials enacted major Progressive reforms in the early 1900s. Still, many changes such as the creation of social welfare programs, and the voters having the power to chose who were going to represent them, were still made by such movements.
In 1914 World War I starts and the USA was announced by president Wilson as neutral in the war, meaning it didn’t chose a side in the fight. That only happened until German send a submarine warfare which helped to push the US into the WWI because then, American troops helped the Allies defeat the Central Powers of the war. As the fighting ended in Europe, President Wilson pressed for a treaty (Peace Treaty) that would bring peace to the postwar world.
The 1920s were a time of rapid social change, in which many young people, particularly women (who had just earned the right to vote), adopted new lifestyles and attitudes. As its rural population decreased, the United States became an urban nation, and traditional values were increasingly challenged. Music, art and literature had a special creative period which was supported by the mass media that was providing information and entertainment to the population as it never did before.
As expected, all those changes started to cause conflicts among people with different beliefs and values. One well known trial, the Scopes trial, was one of the best examples of tradition vs. evolution (as in evolution of actions and people’s mind changing with time) and, how all the changes, though they might seem as good changes for the people, were contradicting traditions so much that it ended up confusing the population in what they really believed.
The trial happened because one teacher in Tennessee, John T. Scopes insisted in teach his students the theory of evolution which contradicted the history of creation as stated in the Bible and, was prohibited by law to be taught in public schools. Scopes trial’s real importance was the fact that it put the country’s modern beliefs and its traditional values in stake because it showed how contrasting they were and, how the population though accepting new/ modern beliefs was still attached to the old traditional beliefs.
In a time of changes, it is hard to keep up and accept all new ways of seeing things. I know that myself because, I live in an era where things are in a constant change. Everyday new technologies are created, concepts are changed due to an abroad system of technologies that enables more deep studies in some areas and, when facing the situation of accepting a new concept and applying it to a real life situation, I, though following the changes that are happening, still have difficulties. I understand and most of the time agree with the new concept I was being taught but, if I was to write an essay I know that, I would keep on going back to the old concept, not because I liked it better but, because that was what I was used and sometimes it is hard to let go of some traditions.
With time, the theory so called “offensive to the Bible” was accepted by society in a scientific way, meaning that both, the history of creation stated by the Bible and, the theory of evolution exist. In a world with wide acceptances and so many new oppositional concepts the least that can exist is two concepts/ histories for the same fact because if people are different, have different beliefs and values, why would they have to accept the same concept or history for something?
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