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Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first major act restricting immigration to the United States. It was put into place because there were economic fears, on the West Coast, native born Americans blamed Chinese workers for their unemployment and declining wages. -
Interstate Commerce Act
In 1887, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, making the railroads the first industry subject to federal regulation. Congress passed the law largely in response to public demand that railroad operations be regulated. -
Jane Addams-Hull House
Hull house was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois that was cofounded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House opened to serve recently arrived European immigrants. -
Muckrackers
The Muckrackers were reform-minded journalists in the Progressive Era in the United States who exposed established institutions and leaders as corrupt. They typically had large audiences in popular magazines. The Muckrackers played a highly visible role during the progressive era. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act was a legislation that outlawed trusts-groups of businesses that team up or form a monopoly in order to dictate pricing in a particular market. The Act's purpose was to promote economic fairness and competitiveness and to regulate interstate commerce. -
Plessy V. Ferguson
A case in which the Court held that state-mandated segregation laws did not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
McKinley Assassinated
William McKinley became the third U.S. president to be assassinated after he was fatally shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. On September 5, a record crowd of 116,00 filed into the World's Fair to watch McKinley give a speech. -
Coal Miner Strike - 1902
The Coal Strike of 1902 was a strike by the United Mine Workers of America in the anthracite coalfields of eastern Pennsylvania. Miners strike for higher wages, shorter workdays, and the recognition of their union. -
Ida Tarbell - "The History of Standard Oil"
It is an expose about the Standard Oil Company, run at the time by oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, the richest figure in American history. -
The Jungle Published
The Jungle was an expose of conditions in the Chicago Stockyards. Because of the public response, the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act was passed in 1906, and conditions in America slaughterhouses were improved. -
Food and Drug Act
The Food and Drug Act of 1906 prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce and laid a foundation for the nation's first consumer protection agency, the FDA. -
Federal Meat Inspection Act
The Federal Meat Inspection Act prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock and derived products as food and ensured that livestock were slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. -
Muller v. Oregon
Muller v. Oregon, one of the most important U.S. Supreme Court cases of the Progressive Era, upheld an Oregon law limiting the workday for female wage earners to ten hours. The case established a precedent in 1908 to expand the reach of state activity into the realm of protective labor legislation. -
Taft Wins
As U.S. president from 1909 to 1913 and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1921 to 1930, William Howard Taft became the only man in history to hold the highest post in both the executive and judicial branches of the U.S. government. From early in his career, Taft aspired to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
The Triangle shirtwaist factory fire killed 146 garment workers, most of them young immigrant women in New York City. It was a critical event in the history of the U.S. labor movement, the New Deal, the development of occupational safety, and the New York City Fire Department. -
Teddy Roosevelt's - Square Deal
The Square Deal was President Theodore Roosevelt's domestic program, which reflected his three major goals: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection. These three demands are often referred to as the 'three Cs' of Roosevelt's Square Deal. -
Department of Labor Established
The Department of Labor is a United States executive department formed in 1913 to help workers, job seekers, and retirees by creating standards for occupational safety, wages, hours and benefits by compiling economic statistics.
