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Ida Tarbell
series by Ida Tarbell (The History of the Standard Oil Company,
also in 1902). Combining careful research with sensationalism, these articles set a standard for the deluge of muckraking that followed -
John Dewey
John Dewey was a leading advocates of this new pragmatism."They defined "truth" in a way that many Progressives found appealing. James and Dewey argued that "good" and "true" could not be known in abstract as fixed and changeless ideals. Rather, they said, people should take a pragmatic, or practical, approach to morals, ideals, and knowledge. They should experiment with ideas and laws and test them in action until they found something that would produce a well-functioning democratic society." -
Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells, editor of the Memphis Free Speech, a black newspaper, campaigned against lynching and the Jim Crow laws. Death threats and the destruction of her printing press forced Wells to carry on her work from the North -
Lincoln Steffens
An Irish immigrant, Samuel Sidney McClure, founded McClure's
Magazine in 1893, which became a major success by running a series of muckraking articles by Lincoln Steffens (Tweed Days in St. Louis, 1902) -
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was formed in
1874. Advocating total abstinence from alcohol, the WCTU, under the leadership of Frances E. Willard of Evanston, Illinois, had 500,000 members by 1898.' -
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger advocated birth-control education, especially
among the poor. Over time, the movement developed into the Planned Parenthood organization. Women made progress in securing educational equality, liberalizing marriage and divorce laws, reducing discrimination in business and the professions, and recognizing women's rights to own property -
Interstate Commerce Act
Interstate commerce is a federal law created to regulate railroads -
Sherman Antitrust Act
Outlawed "combinations in restraint of trade." -
How the Other Half Lives
The most popular series of muckraking articles were usually collected and published as best-selling books. Articles on tenement life by Jacob Riis, one of the first photojournalists, were published as How the Other Half Lives (1890) -
National American Woman Suffrage Association
In 1890, two of the pioneer feminists of the 1840s, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony of New York, helped found the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to secure the vote for women." "A western state, Wyoming, was the first to grant full suffrage to women, in 1869. By 1900, some states allowed women to vote in local elections, and most allowed women to own and control property after marriage. -
Anti-Saloon League
The Antisaloon League, founded in 1893, became a powerful political force and by 1916 had persuaded 21 states to close down all saloons and bars. Unwilling to wait for the laws to change, Carry A. Nation of Kansas created a sensation by raiding saloons and smashing barrels of beer with a hatchet -
Eugene V. Debs
One of the Socialist party's founders, Eugene Debs, was the party's candidate for president in five elections from 1900 to 1920. A former
railway union leader, Debs adopted socialism while jailed for the Pullman strike. He was an outspoken critic of business and a champion of labor. -
Square Deal Policy
in the first economic crisis in his presidency, Roosevelt quickly demonstrated that he favored neither business nor labor but insisted on a Square Deal for both. -
Anthracite Coal Strike
In the first economic crisis, strike of anthracite coal miners, Roosevelt demonstrated that he favored neither business nor labor." Roosevelt tried to mediate the labor dispute by calling a union leader and coal mine owners to the White House, and they refused. To ensure the delivery of coal to consumers, he threatened to take over the mines with federal troops. " The owners accepted findings of a special commission, which granted a 10% wage increase and a nine-hour workday to the miners -
elkins act
The ICC had greater authority to stop railroads from granting rebates to favored customers." 'The Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to suspend new railroad rates and oversee telephone, telegraph, and cable companies -
Department of Commerce and Labor
Department established by Roosevelt to deal with domestic economic affairs. Later split into two departments for better management -
Northern Securities Antitrust
The trust that he most wanted to bust was a combination of railroads, Northern Securities Company. The Supreme Court upheld Roosevelt's action in breaking up the railroad monopoly. Roosevelt later directed his attorney general to take antitrust action against Standard Oil and other large corporations. Roosevelt made a distinction between breaking up "bad trusts," harmed public and stifled competition, and regulating "good trusts," which through efficiency and low prices dominated a market -
the jungle
The Jungle, a muckraking book by Upton Sinclair,
described in horrifying detail the conditions in the Chicago stockyards and meatpacking industry. -
meat inspection act
provided that federal inspectors visit meatpacking plants to ensure that they met minimum standards of sanitation -
pure food and drug act
forbade the manufacture, sale, and transportation of adulterated or mislabeled foods and drugs -
triangle shirtwaist fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist fire in a New York City high-rise garment factory took 146 lives, mostly women. Sparked greater women's activism and motivated states to pass laws to improve safety and working conditions in factories." "One consequence of efforts to protect women in workplace was that legislation kept women out of physically demanding but higher paying jobs in industry and mining. Later, many in women's movement wanted these restrictions lifted so that women could compete as equals -
Progressive (Bull Moose) Party
Liberal Democrats, who thought Truman's aggressive foreign policy threatened world peace, formed a new Progressive party that nominated former vice president Henry Wallace." "Southern Democrats also bolted the party in reaction to Truman's support for civil rights. Their States' Rights party, better known as the Dixiecrats, chose Governor J. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina as its presidential candidate -
underwood tariff
lowered tariffs for the first time in over 50 years. To compensate for the reduced tariff revenues, the Underwood bill included a graduated income tax with rates from 1 to 6 percent -
17th amendment
required that all U.S. senators be elected by popular vote. -
federal reserve act
Rejecting the Republican proposal for a private national bank, he proposed a national banking system with 12 district
banks supervised by a Federal Reserve Board. After months of debate, Congress finally passed the Federal Reserve Act in 1914. Ever since, Americans have purchased goods and services using the Federal Reserve Notes (dollar bills) issued by the federally regulated banking system -
federal trade commission
The new regulatory agency was empowerer to investigate and take action against any "unfair trade practice" in every industry except banking and transportation -
clayton antitrust act
This act strengthened the provisions in the Sherman Antitrust Act for breaking up monopolies. Most important for organized labor, the new law contained a clause exempting unions from being prosecuted
as trusts. -
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act
This measure, long favored by settlement house workers
and labor unions alike, was enacted in 1916. It prohibited the shipment in interstate commerce of products manufactured by children under 14 years old. However, the Supreme Court found this act to be unconstitutional in the 1918 case of Hammer v. Dagenhart -
18th amendment
strictly prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages,
including liquors, wines, and beers -
19th amendment
Its ratification as the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 guaranteed women's right to vote in all elections at the local, state, and national level -
robert la follette
On April 6, an overwhelming majority in Congress voted for a declaration of war, although a few pacifists, including Robert La Follette and Jeanette Rankin, defiantly voted no for the war." " In Wisconsin, Follette established a strong personal following as the governor who won passage of the "Wisconsin Idea"-a series of Progressive measures that included a direct primary law, tax
reform, and state regulatory commissions to monitor railroads, utilities, and business such as insurance
