The five decades between 1870 and 1920 were a period of tremendous change, marked by the fading of the Gilded Age and the rise of the Age of Reform. The country that had been exhausted by the carnage of the Civil War and the failure of Reconstruction began to revive with tremendous industrial growth aided by the expansion of the railway network. We will explore how three reformers—William Jennings Bryan, Robert La Follette and Eugene Debs—forced political changes benefiting large segments of society and creating greater freedom and wealth for many, but not all, people.