US History - The Progressive Era

America was moving further and further from the effects of the Civil War and the Second Industrial Revolution was fueling progress throughout Europe, but especially in the United States. Reconstruction of the South ends in 1877, and the North continued industrialization on a massive scale. The Indian wars were over, with most American Indians moving onto reservations, or assimilating into the U.S. general population. The Westward expansion of the 19th century was nearly complete, with Arizona becoming the last of the 48 contiguous states to be admitted the union on February 14, 1912. Alaska and Hawaii will become states in the 1950s.
The First Industrial Revolution from 1790 to 1850 saw many changes to the United States. Changes in farming, mills, and factories, and transportation in the form of steamboats and railroads changed the political, social, and economic landscape of America. However, the American Civil War created new technologies as well as medical advances such as amputation to save a person's life from an otherwise death sentence because of infection. After the Civil War (post 1865), technology advanced a fast pace, and historians call this a Second Industrial Revolution from about 1870 to 1920. All of these dates are approximate since inventions and technology is a process as often has no exact date because development of a technology or invention builds upon previous works.
As a result of the technological advances and inventions America experiences an economic boom, but with positive advances come negative social, economic, and political effects.
Let's explore those positive and negative effects in a time period known as the Progressive Era!
