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The Age of Reform Web Guide: 1890-1945
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by Jeff Bloodworth
Gannon University
Erie, Pennsylvania
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Introduction
Driver's licenses and social security numbers are everyday reminders that the state and federal government plays an ongoing role in the lives of all Americans, even those of AP high school students. What students probably do not appreciate is the tremendous struggle reformers had to undertake to make government responsive to the needs of the American people. In the first half of the twentieth century, the "age of reform" witnessed three separate reform movements that changed the scope and breadth of government, rendering it responsible for the business cycle, social welfare, and the regulation of American life. Consequently, over the course of 55 years American government was transformed from a Jeffersonian vision of a weak and decentralized state, into Alexander Hamilton's dream of a strong and expansive state.
The Web sites detailed in this Webliography will supplement students' understanding of Populism, Progressivism, and the New Deal -- movements that comprise the "age of reform." These three reform movements fundamentally transformed American life and are central to understanding the United States in the twentieth century. The Webliography features a variety of online supplements rendering these episodes more explicable and relevant to AP history students.
 Part I: Populism
Part II: The Progressive Era
Part III: The 1920s
Part IV: The New Deal
Jeff Bloodworth is a doctoral student in American history at Ohio University.
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