Progressive Legislation timeline

By Mi Papi

  • Hepburn Act

    Hepburn Act
    The Hepburn Act of 1906 gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to regulate railroads. Passed following several unpopular price increases by rail companies, The Hepburn Act allowed the government to set "fair, just, and reasonable" rates for the railroads.

  • Pure Food and Drug Act

    Pure Food and Drug Act
    In fact, the nauseating condition of the meat-packing industry that Upton Sinclair captured in The Jungle was the final precipitating force behind both a meat inspection law and a comprehensive food and drug law.

  • Meat Inspection Act

    Meat Inspection Act
    This public indignation was increased by Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle (Sinclair, 1906), in which he described the horrendous working conditions and poor sanitation in Chicago slaughterhouses. This led to the enactment on June 30, 1906 of the comprehensive Meat Inspection Act of 1906 (P.L.

  • 16th Amendment

    16th Amendment
    Amendment Sixteen to the Constitution was ratified on February 3, 1913. It grants Congress the authority to issue an income tax without having to determine it based on population.

  • 17th Amendment

    17th Amendment
    The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
    When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

  • 19th Amendment

    19th Amendment
    When New York adopted woman suffrage in 1917 and President Wilson changed his position to support an amendment in 1918, the political balance began to shift. On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment, and 2 weeks later, the Senate followed.

  • 18th Amendment

    18th Amendment
    The amendment came as a result of roughly a century of reform movements. Early temperance advocates aimed to reduce alcohol consumption and prevent alcoholism, drunkenness, and the disorder and violence it could result in. Theses early efforts promoted temperate consumption with hopes for eventual prohibition.

  • Clayton Antitrust Act

    Clayton Antitrust Act
    Prohibits anti-competitive mergers, predatory and discriminatory pricing, and other forms of unethical corporate behavior.