Blog Post 2: During the first year of WWI I do believe the United States remained neutral. We didn’t want to get involved at all. Wilson during this time continuously sent strongly worded letters to the German warlords telling that we didn’t want to intervene. Although we were upset with Germany for continuously sinking our boats and invading neutral Belgium, we continued to mind our business. It was possible for the United States to stay out of war because we tried to remain calm and wait until it was absolutely possible to go in. Although we may have wanted to help many times we needed to stay strong to help later.
This remarkable woman is named Margaret Sanger. She was born September 14th, 1879. She was a birth control advocate, sex educator, and a nurse. She is well known for a book she wrote named, “What Every Woman Should Know.” This book advocates birth control. This particular article is her defending birth control. She is explaining how birth control is something that is necessary especially for those who don’t want and can’t afford to have as many children as they do. She calls children slaves, which they essentially they are because all children helped their parents work. During this time period, birth control was still illegal but she worked through technicalities in the law to complete abortions. She later went on to find the American Birth Control League which we now know as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She was a medicinal reformist and her works helped the science breakthrough of the Progressive Era.
This is the Colorado Insane Asylum. This asylum is located in Pueblo, Colorado. It was later established in 1879 and in 1917 renamed the Colorado State Hospital. This was the first public mental hospital which stated out with only 11 patients. This hospital helped advocate the medicinal reform. Opening a public asylum meant that people were being treated for whatever insane habits or sickness that they had. This was another scientific breakthrough in the Progressive Era. One small step for the crazies, one giant step for science!
The assembly line, invented by Henry Ford in 1908, allowed workers to produce in mass production. By having each part of the job separated for one individual to complete the task, finishing the product was much more effective. It took less time because one person only had to focus on one task instead of assembling the whole product on their own. The repetitiveness of it all allowed the workers to be faster and efficient. This process, thus, granted companies to produce more products for export, therefore, gaining a huge sum of money in return. The system also introduced many job openings as many workers were needed to perform a particular part of the job. Most jobs were so simple, that no further instruction from the basics was needed. The simplicity of the tasks allowed immigrants to work and ease in to the new life. The assembly line was the root to mass production as it increased accuracy and efficiency and created many jobs for Americans as well.
This is Wilbur and Orville Wright Brothers Diary and Journal Entries. These brothers created the first airplane. In the entries, they are discussing the plane’s progress. Throughout the entries they began discussing the random testing of the engine and other parts of the plane. In one of the entries they tell of a trip around a building the plane made.
In 1976 Graham Bell came up with a design for something that was not thought of. He sketched his design and plans for the telephone that has changed in America. This changed the way of communication in the progressive era. Instead of having to use the telegram that took days to transfer a message it only would take a couple of minutes.
Progressivism began in the 1890s as a movement that attacked the political, social, and economic inequalities. This was also the time when inventors in the science field made breakthroughs. During this period, there were many scientific debates, scientific reforms, inventions, and new foundations. Scientific discoveries of the progressive era were motivational and are the basis for today’s modern day science.
There were many scientific debates occurring in this time period. One of the biggest was over evolution. Many scientists had debates with each other and had debates with religious leaders. The debating was mostly over whether evolution was real or not and should they teach it in school. Evolution was a new theory that was a very popular subject. Religious people, however, did not believe in the theory because the Bible discussed the creation and held no evidence of evolution. These debates caused major heat between the two groups.
Many scientific reforms were occurring as well. One of the major reforms was medicinal. Birth control was not legal during that period. People were having to many children and the unwanted children would only become slaves to their parents. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that birth control was actively used thanks to the major advocate Margaret Sanger. Margret Sanger along with many others conducted abortions illegally. Eventually she opened her own birth control clinic but was arrested. She is also the founder of what we know as Planned Parenthood.
Lastly, there were also some amazing inventions during that time period. For example, the zipper was invented by Whitcomb L. Judson in 1891. Medical gloves were invented in 1894 by William Stewart Halsted. Wing warping was invented by the Wright Brothers in 1904 and flew the first sustained flight in 1903. The first car and the assembly line was created by Henry Ford in 1901. Wilhelm Rontgen created the x-ray in 1895. There are so many more inventions that are still here today.
Science was extremely important in the Progressive Era. Everything that was made in this time period is what we see and experience today, only it is updated. For science, the Progressive Era was like it’s five hour energy that kept it going and made it do absolutely amazing things with no crash.
Essential question1
The progressives believed that a strong government action was the only way to tackle social and economic problems of industrialization because private companies were being unfair to their workers. They weren’t given the adequate treatment they deserved. Children and Women were treated poorly. They felt a good education, better working conditions, and a safe environment would help resolve some of the problems. Also the economy was low. On their own people wouldn’t be able to fix the economy. They needed to be reassured by the government that the economy would be helped. The approach differed from traditional American on voluntary solutions to social problems because most in power didn’t know of the sad environment many lived in. They wouldn’t have stepped in, but they did. The common people didn’t have the power to step up and go against the big businesses like the government.
shskelseyloudermilk 