The Progressive Era

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During the years 1906 to 1910, many events occurred that would change the future of the United States. Beginning with the progressive movement and all the way to the massive earthquake of San Francisco. With President Roosevelt at the head of the country, he leads the United States through a time of reform to later pass the reigns to President Taft to finish out the end of the first decade of the twentieth century. These years can best be characterized by the progressive era, with innovations to old products and a literary work that shows why the progressive area is occurring.

During this five year period, there were many changes that occurred in the lives of the Americans. People would push to improve the society as well as the economy, expose corruption, and gain rights for women. This was known as the progressive movement. The progressive movement had begun in 1890 and lasted all the way till the 1920s. The goals were to improve problems with society and the economy. Many writers began to try to expose corruption and other problems. Some of the biggest muckrakers, as they were called, were Jane Addams, Jacob Riis, and Ida Tarbell ("The Progressive Era (1890 - 1920)."). Another muckraker was Upton Sinclair, who wrote to expose the problems with the meat packing industry. He wrote a book called The Jungle. In The Jungle he sheds light on the problems with the meat packing industry. These problems consisted of inspectors being paid to look the other way when they were slaughtering cows with diseases, and using the guts and other waste from the floor to be processed as “potted ham”. Because of the disgusting effect that the book gave people, President Roosevelt had 2 acts pass: Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat...

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