What Is The Role Of The Muckrakers In The Progressive Era

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The Progressive Era was a time of significant and dramatic social, economic, and political change. A variety of broad and substantial movements would arise around the passionate issues of the era, including woman suffrage, racial equality, and the rights of labor. One of the first of the various groups that began to speak out for reform were crusading journalists who attempted to gather the public’s attention to social, economic, and political injustices. This group of journalists that inspired Americans to take action by presenting social problems to the public came to be known as the “muckrakers.”
Thomas Jefferson, who committed his presidency towards the protection of both civil rights and minority rights, and also believed that the federal government should be “rigorously frugal and simple,” once stated: “Our citizens may be deceived for awhile, and have been deceived; but as long as the presses can be protected, we may trust to them for light.” Jefferson believed that although the citizens of the United States of America had been lied to in the past, as long as the journalists and newspapers could remain protected, that they would “shed light,” or expose, the truth. Based on this quotation and Jefferson’s beliefs, it is likely that he would have
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As seen with two of the more-famous muckrakers, Steffens and Nader, this group has continued to play its role as a light illuminating corruption throughout history in an attempt to benefit the general public. Through their actions, numerous social problems have been resolved and various sources of corruption cleansed. The muckrakers have served in an attempt to better American society, and while the American public may have been deceived in the past, “as long as the presses can be protected, we may trust to them for light”