PROGRESSIVE ERA THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION
By
Jason Strawbridge
Irina Popova-Nowak
His 105 Comtemp U.S. History
May, 4 2012
In this assignment I will discuss two major turning points in American history between the Progressive Era and the Great Depression.
The Women’s suffrage movement was one major historical turning points of the Progressive Era. Many pushed for the franchise for all women and through their efforts the Nineteenth Amendment to the constitution provided full women suffrage. The stock market crash of October 1929 began in the United States but quickly turned into a worldwide economic slump.
The United States was converting from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy. America became the richest nation and a culture of consumerism. Socially, change was brewing in order to protect and empower every citizen in America. Politically, laws were enacted to allow people who normally didn’t have a voice to be heard. Culturally, America was developing into a music, sports, and entertainment powerhouse. Economically, the automobile's popularity brought tremendous economic prosperity. As advertising campaigns were generating thousands of new consumers.
The contrast between East and West had become striking. Leading suffragists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were Easterners, thought their home states would be the first to accept women's suffrage (Old West, 1889). The American Women Suffrage Association (AWSA) led by Lucy Stone main goal was to induce individual states to give the vote to women. The National American Women Suffrage Association campaigned for a federal amendment to enfranchise women. However, by much surprise some years previously Wyoming had entered the Union as the first state to grant women full voting rights. The West was known to have a high sex ratio, meaning that there were more men than women. Some historians suggest western men may have been rewarding pioneer women for their critical...