Progressism For All

During the progressive era, many people attempted to bring out the governmental reforms and to correct injustices in American life. The Progressive Era was the period of social activism and political reform in the United States during the 1890s to the 1920s. The main goals of the Progressive movement was trying to eliminate the corruption by exposing political machines and bosses and many more. Muckrakers helped during the Progressive Era because they were writers who investigated and published stories of the truths of corruption. Corruption was everywhere, it was in the local government, education, medicine, industries, churches, and many other areas. Many people who wanted to improve or change for the better where called reformers. Reformers wanted to improve many things like child labor, women suffrage, corruption in the industries.

Upton Sinclair is known as a muckraker, he wrote a book The Jungle and it was about the corruption of the meat industry. In his novel he stated that the workers were forced to make food out of old and spoiled meats. The spoiled meat was either canned or chopped up and made into sausages. (Doc B) After The Jungle was published in 1906, it caused a lot of people to worry about what they were eating and what else they were ingesting was made out of. During this time, president Theodore Roosevelt made the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. Roosevelt also passed the Meat Inspection Act in 1906 too. These acts were passed because of the novel The Jungle written by the known muckraker Upton Sinclair. (Doc L)

Many industries during this time wanted to use child labor because they knew they could get away with paying them less than all the other workers. These children either came from orphanage...

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...ove the society by passing acts to help the people in America

Susan B. Anthony was a well known social reformer. Susan B. Anthony supported Women's Suffrage. She used the United States Constitution well known quote “We the People” to support the demand that women should be give the right to vote. The way she made her argument was that she said: “‘We, the people of the United States…’ It was we the people; not we, the white males citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people- women as well as men.” (Doc K) She used this quote to say that according to the preamble of the United States Constitution everyone should have the same rights as everyone else in America.