Discuss the themes of Progressive era.

The major theme of the Progressive era was to use the
government as an agency for social welfare; that is to cure the problems society could
not cure on its own. Progressive reformers frequently attacked child labor, corporate
corruption, bossism, etc. Their mantra was that the cure for the ills of democracy was
more democracy. It was during the Progressive Era that the initiative and referendum
became popular; as well as the idea of Prohibition, which later became law under the
18th Amendment. Among the greater accomplishments of the Progressive Era was passage of
the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, which provided for direct election of U.S.
Senators. (They had previously been elected by State
legislatures.)

Typical of the Progressive Era were the
"muckrakers," writers who exposed the ills of society in a rather tabloid way. These
were people such as Upton Sinclair who wrote The Jungle, Ida Mae
Tarbell who wrote A History of the Standard Oil Company (it was
really more of an expose than a history) and Jacob Riis, The Shame of the
Cities in which he discussed the deplorable living conditions of many
immigrant communities in New York.