Progressivism refers to a political philosophy that became particularly popular during the early years of the 20th century. During these years, the middle class and the working class began demanding more rights and protection. People became concerned with the power and the success of large factories and corporations, and with the way they treated their workers.
There are a lot of vestiges left from this time period. Nowadays, we often take for granted the fact that children are protected from dangerous labor or that workers have the right to weekends and a fair wage. We also enjoy a higher participation of women outside of the workplace. Some of the institutions and laws that have roots in this era is the right to health care, minimum wage, child labor laws and public education. These institutions have had a great power because they have completely transformed the way we live and benefitted many generations of Americans.
After the slavery was abolished in the south, the type of
cheap labor that the plantations rely on is through sharecropping. This is
considered to be a form of agriculture in which the tenant has been allowed by
a landowner in using his or her land but in exchange of sharing the crops that
the tenants produced on the land.
