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The original Progressive movement was the culmination of multiple reform movements motivated by the conditions of turn of the century America, particularly in major cities.

Massive influxes of immigrants led to overcrowding of many urban centers, which resulted in poor sanitary conditions and low salaries for menial labor. These meant deplorable conditions for the lower urban classes. Also, these conditions fostered alcoholism, cultural strife, and other social problems.

Meanwhile, decades of corporatist economic policy (that is, collusion between the State and Industry to plan the economy) had led to general oppression of the working class and seeming omnipotence for major corporations.

At the same time, many European nations were growing extremely powerful and held world wide empires that included parts of Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East.

Progressives hoped to address these problems through a "scientific process" of using State power at all levels to control aspects of the economy for the national and popular interest, coerce social trends into more acceptable norms, and produce a world-power United States. Progressive presidents like Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson greatly expanded the power of the State over the economy and personal lives of citizens, while building American military might and influence.

While the lofty aims of Progressives are often praised, in hindsight, many of their reforms failed to solve problems: often they were repressive, ruined economic growth, and established a difficult role for the US in world affairs. Examples of Progressive works include the Federal Reserve, the income tax, the Spanish-American War, US involvement in World War I, and Prohibition.

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