Muckrakers In The Progressive Era

Words: 608
Pages: 3
Open Document
In the Progressive Era, muckrakers had a huge effect on society. There were several muckrakers who helped expose major problems in America. Muckrakers were journalist who wrote to expose the truth. Muckrakers used pictures, articles and even wrote books. Well-known muckrakers Jacob Riis and Upton Sinclair had a major impact on society. Jacob Riis exposed tenement houses in New York in 1890. Upton Sinclair exposed the meatpacking factories in Chicago. Ida Tarbell a female muckraker exposed John D. Rockefeller and The Standard Oil Company. Jane Addams also played a huge part in the progressive era, she created the first settlement house in Chicago. Thomas Nast a well-known cartoonist doing the progressive era had a huge impact also. In the progressive …show more content…
Jacob Riis wrote the book, “How the Other Half Lives.” In the book he informed us about the different living conditions about poor people and rich people. In his book he stated “Long ago it was said that "one half of the world does not know how the other half lives." That was true then. It did not know because it did not care. The half that was on top cared little for the struggles, and less for the fate of those who were underneath, so long as it was able to hold them there and keep its own seat. There came a time when the discomfort and consequent upheavals so violent, that it was no longer an easy thing to do, and then the upper half fell to inquiring what was the matter. Information on the subject has been accumulating rapidly since, and the whole world has had its hands full answering for its old ignorance.” In that quote he expressed how the richer people never once considered the conditions of the poor. Food conditions during the progressive era were very poor and Upton Sinclair exposed them. Upton Sinclair published the book, “The Jungle” explaining the poor conditions of the meat packing factories. The book produced an immediate and powerful effect on Americans and on federal policy. When Sinclair exposed the diseased, rotten, and contaminated meat conditions it shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws. Upton Sinclair was able to get two acts passed after his
Show More

Related Documents: Muckrakers In The Progressive Era

The Role Of Muckrakers In The Progressive Era

Muckrakers did help bring change in the Progressive Era. They helped exposed problems in business and helped make change in America. They went against popular opinion to make change. Yellow journalism acted like it was exposing the truth but it was really only spreading lies and it manipulated people. It caused America to support the Spanish American War. The government in WW1 wanted Americans to support the war so they started to create propaganda. The government successfully changed to public’s…

Words 142 - Pages 1

Muckrakers During The Progressive Era

government to take actions in essential reforms. This time period was called the Progressive Era, where progressives guided the nation to a better life with better living and working conditions. Indeed, it marked a significant adjustment in society of the U.S., which was best demonstrated through the enhancement on social welfare programs, the big businesses reform and the women’s suffrage movement. In the Progressive Era, muckrakers had together raised their powerful voices to capture lives of Americans…

Words 649 - Pages 3

What Is The Role Of The Muckrakers In The Progressive Era

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…

Words 616 - Pages 3

Progressive Era Positives And Negatives

Progressivism Essay The Progressive Era was a period of political reform and widespread social activism across the USA. The main goals of this era was to eliminate some of the problems caused by industrialization, immigration, and urbanization. A lot of positives came out of the Progressive Era, and so did a lot of negatives. A lot of new laws were passed to improve our lives. The Progressive Era did have a lot of positives including women's suffrage, child labor laws, the 17th, 18th, and 19th amendments…

Words 654 - Pages 3

Jacob Riis Progressive Era

The Goals of the Progressive and How Jacob Riis Contributed The Progressive Era took place from the early 1890s and lasted until the late 1920s in the United States of America. This was a time period where reformers and muckrakers helped to solve social problems in major cities across the country that were caused by immigration, poverty and the Industrial Revolution. Muckrakers were people that tried to aggravate corrupt politicians. Reformers were people that made changes to fix things. Together…

Words 335 - Pages 2

Progressivism During The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1890s to 1920s. The main objective of the Progressive movement was eliminating corruption in government, primarily targeting political machines and their bosses. Progressivism began as a social movement and grew into a political movement. The early progressives rejected Social Darwinism, as they were people who believed that the problems society faced such as poverty, violence, greed…

Words 885 - Pages 4

Social Problems During The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era was a period of improving life after the Gilded Age, which was the period when American industrial capitalism came into its own and people began to criticize its associated problems. Progressives during this era then tried to solve these problems through individual and group actions. In the beginning of the 20th century, the population of the US was growing rapidly and Americans had to acknowledge that their economic power was becoming more concentrated, while also having to respond…

Words 330 - Pages 2

Social Reform: The Progressive Era

The Progressive era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States. The era lasted thirty years and helped to solve some of the major issues that were presented during the time. There were many social activists during the period. Their goal was to fix some of the issues in our country. There were many problems presented in American life during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some of the problems were child labor, immigrants, and issues in the legislative…

Words 990 - Pages 4

Susan B. Anthony: The Progressive Movement

The Progressive era was a time of change in the American society. The progressives, struggled to improve American society by working toward equality. Some of these progressives were able to get there point across and create great change in America, but some were not as sucessful as others. Big parts of this era was women’s right, working conditions and racism. The freedom to vote was acquired from many years of hard work. Being able to vote today, is a right that many people take for granted. Until…

Words 226 - Pages 1

Progressive Reformers Dbq

Progressive reformers were successful in producing reform and receiving national attention during the early stage of the progressive movement, but as America entered into the Great War, the government ceased to aid the movement, hence ending the era of reform from 1900- 1920. Up until 1917, the progressive movement was successful in bring federal attention to issues such as monopolies and trusts, the working conditions in factories and the women’s rights movement. Strong reformers and the support…

Words 1280 - Pages 6