Progressive Era

Progressive

             The Progressive Era was very eventful, and we discussed the events between 1907 and 1929. There were three timelines we looked into: US history, the 14^th amendment, and the 15^th amendment. The first amendment inspired the Patterson vs Cole case which was when the journalist sued for being thrown in jail because the first amendment didn’t reach state and local levels. The mutual film came next, this was a case that revolved around a movie that was made saying that whites were being repressed. This later led to the Speech Action Dichotomy, meaning that since speech was protected, speech and action could be protected. Therefore, meaning that the movies can say and do as they please. In 1918, the sedition act was passed, which led to much controversy. The sedition act made it a crime to criticize the government. Which is why in 1919 four guys sued saying that it violated the first amendment. The government left them in jail for it, disagreeing with their claim, because they spoke out against the government. All four of them were communists or socialists and spoke out against war. Clear and Present danger test was too broad that the government could always win, so the Abrams Holmes case gave way for future cases. Holmes’ marketplace idea was not letting the “government squish ideas, each person can decide for themselves.” Then William Taft became the most important chief justice because he changed the court ideas and passed the judiciary act, which led to Certiorian. Certiorian meant that the supreme court could choose what cases they wanted. This led to increased power and prestige for the courts.  Although there have been advances is the court systems and courts have become fairer, there are still issues. To this day, the government still uses the espionage act to throw whistle blowers in jail and threaten journalists.


Source: Notes via Professor Smith