Which movement sought to curb corruption and improve government and social conditions in cities?

• A. Conservation Movement
• B. Socialist Party
• C. NAACP
• D. Progressivism

Answer: (D)

Progressivism focuses on cleaning up city life through smart, accountable government and social reform. Reformers believed urban corruption dominated city politics and that public services were failing neighbors who lived in crowded tenements and faced poor health and working conditions. They pushed for changes to curb corruption—civil service exams to end patronage, nonpartisan or reform-minded elections to weaken political machines, and professional city management or commissions to run city functions more efficiently and transparently. At the same time, Progressives attacked urban social problems by advocating public health measures, housing and sanitation codes, better education funding, and labor protections, including laws affecting child labor. This combination—political reforms to curb corruption and social reforms to improve everyday life in cities—defines the movement, making it the one that best fits the description. Other movements focused on different aims, like resource conservation, worker ownership, or racial equality, rather than the broad urban reform agenda central to Progressivism.