In what ways did the progressive reforms succeed, and in what ways did these reforms fail?

Progressives
fought against the doctrine of Social Darwinism and its baleful effects on America. In the late
nineteenth century, a few men became oligarchs, and the country was largely dominated by these
powerful individuals and their massive corporations. Politicians were bought off, and the
interests of the public were typically ignored.

Progressives tried to
diminish the dominance of the wealthy classes through constitutional amendments. The Sixteenth
Amendment (1913) provided for an income tax, and the Seventeenth Amendment (1913) gave people
the right to vote directly for their US Senators.

Progressive reformers also
sought to improve safety standards in factories. As the nation industrialized after the Civil
War, factories appeared in urban areas. These factories were virtually unregulated and working
conditions were hazardous. In 1911, there was a fire in New York's Triangle Shirtwaist Company
factory, resulting in the deaths of 145 workers. Theinspired reforms that resulted in safer
factories.

The fight for women's suffrage had begun in the early nineteenth
century, and victory was finally achieved in the Progressive Era. In 1869, women in the Wyoming
Territory gained voting rights, but further progress was elusive. In 1920, the decisive
breakthrough came with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.

Other
Progressive reforms included child labor laws, antitrust laws, and better food-safety
standards.

The Progressive Era was not a panacea for America, though.
African-Americans did not benefit at all from the Progressive Era; they faced entrenched
discrimination and segregation. Native American were also excluded from the gains of the era.
Finally, the Eighteenth Amendment (1919), which banned the making or selling of alcohol, proved
to be a failure.