Women's Rights and the New Woman Movement
📌 Women's active involvement in the workplace led to demands for equal rights, most significantly the right to vote.
🏘️ The traditional role confining women exclusively inside the home, associated with the "cult of true womanhood" (piety, purity), began to shift as women sought responsibilities outside the home, often leading social reform movements like temperance.
📚 Increased professional responsibilities often caused women to delay marriage, have fewer children, and gain financial independence, granting them more time for social activities and activism.
♀️ Activists gradually moved from social reforms to direct political activism, culminating in movements like the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the formation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA).

Theodore Roosevelt and Active State Liberalism
🦁 Theodore Roosevelt, influenced by Lincoln, pursued a "third way" ideology known as active state liberalism, blending capitalism with necessary state intervention.
🇺🇸 This approach was based on American exceptionalism and the belief that the government must actively work to improve the lives of the majority.
⚖️ The government's role involved limiting the unchecked power of special interests (big business) to ensure equality of opportunity without stifling success entirely.
💸 Key economic interventions included regulating big business and implementing income tax (16th Amendment) to shift the financial burden away from the working class toward the wealthy.

Progressive Era Trust Busting and Regulation
🔨 Roosevelt used the Sherman Antitrust Act (previously neglected) to break up numerous trusts and monopolies, such as Northern Securities and Standard Oil.
🚂 The Hepburn Act of 1906 empowered the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate corporations crossing interstate lines, targeting large businesses involved in monopolistic practices.
🤝 Reforms like the Clayton Antitrust Act and the establishment of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provided federal regulatory power over corporations.
💰 The Federal Reserve System was established in 1913 (under Wilson) to manage the financial sector and prevent widespread bankruptcies, alongside the 16th Amendment establishing federal income tax.

Political and Labor Reforms
⚖️ The government began siding more with the labor movement, acting as an arbitrator in disputes rather than automatically supporting businesses (as seen in the Gilded Age).
🏙️ Local political reforms included the city manager position (free from party ideology) and the secret ballot to protect voters from intimidation by political machines.
🗳️ Democratic measures like the initiative, referendum, and recall gave citizens direct say in legislation and holding officials accountable.
🧑‍💼 The spoils system was replaced by the civil service system, prioritizing competence and qualifications determined by examinations over political alignment for administrative roles.

Conservation and Environmental Protection
🌳 A strong movement arose to protect large tracts of land from industrialization and urbanization, leading to the establishment of the National Park System starting in the 1870s.
🌳 The movement recognized two sides: preservationists (keeping nature untouched) and conservationists (managing nature for human benefit, like tourism).
🌿 Government institutions like the Bureau of Forestry and the National Forest Service were created to protect natural resources from industrial activity.
🏛️ The Antiquities Act gave the federal government power to preserve historical and cultural sites, marking a broad move toward minimizing industrialization's negative impacts.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ The Progressive Movement fundamentally shifted society by replacing "rugged individualism" with a focus on the community and accepting government regulation of business.
➡️ Key political changes included the 17th Amendment, allowing direct election of Senators by the people, increasing democratic representation at the national level.
➡️ The era established the precedent of federal government involvement in improving working conditions and mediating conflicts between labor and capital.
➡️ The reforms aimed to restore democracy by reducing the influence of money and big business on politics at both local and national levels.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Nov 24, 2025, 22:31 UTC