Shortly after the Civil War Era ended, there was a movement where the response to Americas problems can be solved by providing a quality education and a clean environment. Most of these efforts included efforts to outlaw the sale of alcohol, regulate child labor and sweatshops, scientifically manage natural resources and give immigrants a path to citizenship They fought to expose the greed of corporate america, encouraged people to vote. Mostly they were looking towards the future. Ever wonder who came up with idea of initiative, referendum and recall. The idea that the vote of the people can overrule the legislature. This idea will give a voice to the american people. In 1900 Republican Robert M La Follette Sr was elected governor of Wisconsin. Drawing on the ideas of other reformers to make politics more democratic, La Follette successfully pushed the legislature to pass measures instituting direct primary elections. This gave voters more power to select their elected officials. He supported measures that doubled the taxes on the railroads, broke up monopolies, preserved the state's forests and protected workers' rights. The presidential election was coming up in 1904, VP Theodore Roosevelt ran and won that year. Roosevelt signed bills that created meat inspectors, so cattle and swine can be safe to eat. He was not afraid to break up railroad monopolies such as the Northern Securities Company. He took the politics of Bob LaFollette nation wide. In 1912 President Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Reserve, It also gave the newly established system legal authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes aka US Dollars. President Wilson signed a bill that created a eight hour work day, with more overtime pay for any additional hours worked. This helped end the railroad strike and avoided economic disaster. In 1920 The kind of philosophy led to the monumental achievement that gave women the right to vote. If you remember those Know Nothings movement, which their main main purpose was to create a society of nativism. Where public policy was determined by views of secret societies. Where the problems of america were blamed on immigrants. However, governors like Bob La Follette and Presidents like Wilson and Roosevelt had a different vision a vision . A society of forward thinking, where woman could vote and people had more power of who they elect. These people called themselves progressives. Still today, Bob La Follette is a progressive hero in Wisconsin.
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