With America's current and ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor and the constant threat of the disappearance of the middle class, the Progressive Era stands out as a time when the middle class had enough influence on the country to start its own revolution. Before the Progressive Era most Americans lived on farms, working from before sunrise to after sundown every day except Sunday with tools that had changed very little for centuries. Just three decades later, America was utterly transformed into a diverse, urban, affluent, leisure-obsessed, teeming multitude. 

随着美国目前和不断扩大的贫富差距以及中产阶级不断消失的威胁，进步时代脱颖而出，成为中产阶级对国家有足够影响力开始自己革命的时代。在进步时代之前，大多数美国人都生活在农场里，每天从日出前到日落后工作，除了星期天，工具几个世纪以来几乎没有变化。仅仅三十年后，美国就彻底转变成了一个多元化的、城市化的、富裕的、热衷于休闲的、人口众多的国家。