Preview

Apush

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
306 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Apush
The public’s outcry for change prompted the Progressive Era presidents to take action toward radical reforms. These radical reforms addressed issues from trust busting to constitutional amendments. The Progressive reformers and the federal government improved social, economic, and political conditions in the United States.

Social changes came into effect once light was shed on the poor conditions that many minorities faced. Muckrakers, like Upton SinClair and W.E.B. Dubois, highlighted great injustices that led to government intervention. Upton SinClair’s “The Jungle” made government aware of awful meat packing conditions which prompted Roosevelt to push for the Meat Inspection Act (Document B). W.E.B. Dubois’s “The Crisis” inferred that progressive reform had failed to advance the civil rights of black Americans despite their service during World War I (Document I). One of the many great reforms of the era, the 19th amendment, assured women’s
From 1900-1920 in the United States of America the reformers of the Progressive Era and the Federal Government were effective bringing about reform dealing with reforms to improve the social disgrace of the working conditions, the enthusiasm to be a nation of self-governed people, and the individual interests of presidents despite limitations in the rulings of court cases, the application of reforms reached, and the varying effectiveness of presidents.
Reformers looking to improve the working conditions of the progressive Era made significant headway in their attempted reforms, though they were eventually limited by the decisions of the supreme courts. Muckrakers (people who wrote critiques on society and its faults) like Upton Sinclair wrote pieces of literature that called for reform. In particular Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was one of the sole motivations for Congress to pass the United States Meat Inspection Act of 1906. The federal government took action and implemented the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The young man was known as Upton Sinclair and traveled to Chicago to write about the life of the working class. Sinclair attacked the working conditions of the meat packing industry with newspaper articles but the situation was left unnoticed until a copy of a Sinclair’s publication was sent to President Roosevelt. “The Jungle,” by Upton Sinclair, contained reports of the unsanitary conditions and the horrible images he had witnessed during seven weeks of observing Chicago’s meat packing houses. Sinclair got the attention of the nation, especially with reports that included a section of how meat packing houses treated diseased meat. The report stated that the smell of diseased meat was masked by applying kerosene in order to pass the current standards before reaching the public. The report became a much bigger issue then Sinclair claimed that such meat did in fact reach the public killing more American soldiers than the Spanish-American war. This was a time of muckrakers and Sinclair was considered one of them, having a huge influence on investigations of corrupt industries and exposing to America harmful meat products, thus resulting in new government regulations and laws. Sinclair’s reports and horrible descriptions of filth and blood also influenced a decrease of almost half…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The last major reform was consumer protection. During the progressive era, there were a lot of unsanitary places. One of the worst was the food industry. Muckrakers would expose corruption in the government. The most famous muckraker would be Upton Sinclair. Sinclair exposed the meat-packing industry. He wrote a…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were many successes that came with reformation in the areas of industry. Muckrakers used McClure’s, a magazine, to expose the evils of society with journalism. Muckrakers included, Ida Tarbell, who targeted standard oil, Thomas Nast, who went after Boss Tweed, Jacob Ries,who sought help for immigrants, and Upton Sinclair whose descriptive passage on the meatpacking industry called, “The Jungle” exposed many horrors and allowed inspection. It was found that meat scraps were being shoveled from dirty floors into machines for chopping, and this was a way of gathering dirt, splinters, floor filth, and the diseases of the workers (Document B). The father of the Muckrakers was Lincoln Steffen, who targeted the government as a whole. Along with this there was also false advertising in industry and false food and drug labels. When muckrakers brought this to peoples attention a Pure Food and Drug Act was passed to prevent any more deceiving products in industry. Some other issues that Progressives tried to eliminate were working…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dbq Progressive Era

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The progressive era was a thirty-year period in which the United States was completely reformed. Actions were taken to improve working conditions for laborers and women. President Roosevelt and Wilson were both reformers for the rights and voice of the people. Theodore Roosevelt used his presidency to put regulations of businesses and make sure the government is still higher than corporations. Individual Reformers and the government in the progressive era went through a great deal to bring about change in the united states, with teddy Roosevelt’s trust-busting and political reform, improvement of laborers and goods, and the restrictions of child labor and women rights.…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reform DBQ Essay

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The United States during the early decades of the nineteenth century sought to reform the United Staes and expand democratic ideas. There were many major reform movements that looked to expand democratic ideas, which include: establishing free (tax supported) schools, improving the treatment of the mentally ill, controlling or abolishing the sale of alcohol, gaining equal rights for women, and abolishing slavery. The reformers went out to “reform” the time period to greater the democratic ideals of the United States and make it a better place to live for the people, by the people.…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the 19th century and during the early 20th century, America’s working class endured hazardous and unsanitary labor conditions. After a long day of work, industrial laborers would return to their homes that offered anything but comfort. Many of the workers, especially immigrants, lived in slums, where their needs were not met and disease spread easily. It took a group of journalist called muckrakers, such as Jane Addams and Upton Sinclair, to bring attention to labor and living conditions and make a difference. President Theodore Roosevelt coined the name muckrakers, because they “raked the mud of society” by uncovering and reporting the nation’s issues. Jane Addams cofounded Hull-House, which attracted reformers that were committed to social service, challenged boss rule and the…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After of a brutal time of political corruption, unhealthy food manufacturing, extensive periods of labor and so much more, America broke through the Gilded Age and began its journey to a new and improved life. The next chapter for America was the Progressive era, where reformers tried to fix all the wrong that happened during the Gilded Age. The question is, where they successful? The reformers of the Progressive Era were successful in fixing major problems from the Gilded age. They did this by implicating federal food and drug laws, adjusting eligibility of labor, and adding state voted senators.…

    • 99 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Muckraker Essay

    • 1498 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The concept of muckraking cannot be fully comprehended without understanding the relationship between the muckraking phenomenon and the reforms occurring in the early 1900s. The Progressive Era and muckraking, for the most part, go hand in hand. These whistleblowers such as Ida Tarbell or Lincoln Steffens helped expose the injustice and corruption that was occurring in the nation where all men were created equal. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle highlighted the underbelly of the Chicago meatpacking industry both in regards to the work conditions as well as the quality of meat provided to the public.…

    • 1498 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    apush

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages

    On a North American continent controlled by American Indians, contact among the peoples of Europe, the Americas, and West Africa created a new world.…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Progressive Era changed government legislation, through means of public understanding, and manipulating the concerns of the people. By allowing the problems of loose and unfair safety regulations to emerge into public consciousness, people had little choice but to discuss them, and decide what's most ethical and economical for their country to flourish without the common man being treated dishonorably. While, "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair was only pragmatically a critique of the meat-packing industry, it was, at heart, a call to socialism. His critique brought light upon a problem hidden underneath a camouflage of public focus. That is to say that society at the time thought so little of the meat-packing industry that very few would question the asepsis of it's production.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Attack on the Meatpackers

    • 2488 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Today we often take for granted the government legislation that protects our health. Investigative reports on television even go to great lengths to show us when the health guidelines are being violated. In other words, we assume the food available for us to eat is safe. The federal government, however, was not always so involved in such issues. You may want to review the section in your text about progressivism before analyzing this excerpt from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.…

    • 2488 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Progressivism Dbq

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Progressive Era was a time of huge advances and reform by the federal government and reformers that led the way to where America is today. The battle for women’s rights had been going on for many years but seriously picked up wind during this time period and finally reached some long sought after goals. With industry booming, labor conditions were in desperate need of change and caught the eye of both reformers and the federal government. Even though much time had passed since the Civil War, race relations were still strained and many African-Americans joined the crusade for equal rights and made it a major issue of the time. During the Progressive Era, reformers made many advances in women’s rights, labor conditions, race relations, and big business and trusts but faced challenging limitations on the way to their goals, and therefore turned to the federal government, who although effective in many reforms also failed in certain areas.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States of America experienced several reform movements from 1825 to 1850. The reformers sought to improve religion, rehabilitation of criminals and mental patients, education, slavery, and women’s rights. Each demonstrated democratic ideals to the extent that the reformers sought to incorporate the values of liberty and equality into their reform movements to improve the quality of life but did so at the expense and dismay of others.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Meat Packing Industry

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages

    At the turn of the twentieth century "Muckraking" had become a very popular practice. This was where "muckrakers" would bring major problems to the publics attention. One of the most powerful pieces done by a muckraker was the book "The Jungle", by Upton Sinclair. The book was written to show the horrible working and living conditions in the packing towns of Chicago, but what caused a major controversy was the filth that was going into Americas meat. As Sinclair later said in an interview about the book "I aimed at the publics heart and by accident hit them in the stomach."# The meat packing industry took no responsibility for producing safe and sanitary meat.…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Jungle Essay

    • 1529 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Throughout Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, the inhumane and disgusting treatment the working men and women was shown to the eyes of the American people. Although what the book is most recognized for is creating the Pure Food and Drug Act, an act that gave consumers protection from dangerous and impure foods, the many various horrors the lower working class had to go through was something that deserved more recognition. Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, gives an insight on how it was nearly impossible for someone of lower class to work and survive in the various big cities in America.…

    • 1529 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays