During the years of 1900-1920 the United States had experienced an era of change which led to new political reform. This era was known as the Progressive Era which focused on eliminating corruption in the government.They also sought regulation of monopolies and corporations through antitrust laws. Progressives were very successful when it came to limiting the power of trusts and monopolies, Child labor, and controlling what consumers consume and how its been manufactured. but had some limited when it came to African American lives. Progressive wanted to limit the power of the monopolies but they weren't looking on destroying them. Progressive didn't like the fact that the monopolies have the right to put whatever prices they wanted and …show more content…
Children were great little worker that could fit almost every where, get paid super low wages and just work to help their families. It was proven that more than 1 million kids had worked in America between ages 10-15.(Univ of virginia) None of these little kids were going to get an education due to their social class and on the need to help feed their family. They were “Permitted to work 8 hours shifts, six days a week” (Doc G) The outcome of kids working at factories were terrifying. The children would smoke drink because it would be common for factories workers to do this. They had a mindset to do these thing because that how they were tough their whole life. There was no time for improvement or to get educated. In (doc C) Jane Addam is worry on how we let “admiration of modern industry” make us forget the main focus the “children themselves.“ The purpose of this excerpt is that money and wealth are great but the problem behind all the money are important human being . Company can't just block the harshness and terrible treatment of the kids and get hustled just because their families need food. Europe had this same problem during the industrial revolution, that was child labor as well. They had longer working hours, about 12-15 hours day and if children would get tired and stop the …show more content…
Before this meat in[ection act came along the workers of the meat factory would throw meat on “damp and soggy,” floor and would still use that meat and packet it and sell it to American. (Doc B) They would shoved the dirty meat and didn’t care about safety of American. In fact the workers them self were dirty,they were “ utter ignorance of cleanliness or danger to health.” Because of such packeting skills, there came a lot of death because people would get sick and not know why and die. After all this mess, the FDA came into play. The people now had a chance to know what toxic ingredients that were in were in the food. The purpose of this document is to show America the what kind of bad killing food we were eating which cause disease or even
During the Progressive Era, pressure from labor, suffrage, and conservation movements profoundly changed the course of American history. Many of the reformers' ideas clashed with the male-dominated, capitalist economic structure present at the turn of the century. Some of the intended reforms opposed the current system, but the level of social unrest necessitated change. Businessmen and activists alike initiated the reforms during the Progressive Era. Government, due to the intention of calming the common man and quieting the seemingly more and more vocal middle class, supported them.
Meat Inspection Act of 1906 was the first of the legislation of the federal government in that time. The act made meat consumption healthier, and it saved numerous lives. It even made working conditions more tolerable in the plants. Kolko wrote about reality, what really happened in that time and the readers could understand comprehensively about American history, especially Progressive Era.
Often, children were forced to work due to money-related issues, and the conditions they worked in were terrible. Children worked in coal mining, such as at Woodward Coal Mining in Kingston, Pennsylvania (Doc. 7). Children were used to make the process of producing products cheaper, and they were paid low wages; the capitalists hired children just to keep the process of making products going and to make profit. One cause of child labor in harsh conditions was the unfateful fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City in 1911. Teenaged immigrant girls that were employed there worked under sweatshop-like conditions. The building they worked in was inadequately equipped in case of a fire, for the doors were locked, leaving no exit for the girls, and the single fire escape collapsed with the rescue effort; as a result, when the fire started, they were unable to escape. 145 workers were killed, but the company owners were not penalized harshly for this tragedy. This further demonstrates that capitalists were able to get away with the harsh conditions that they put their laborers, especially child laborers, through for their own benefit, which is making more money and using any means to get it, even if those means are low wages and harsh working
The Effects of American Reform Movements in the 1900s Living in the United States of America is all about opportunity. The opportunity to get a good job, make money, and lead a life of good quality; in other words, the opportunity to live, live, and live the Pursuit of Happiness. However, the opportunity for many people was not around throughout the 1800s. Certain groups of people did not hold the basic rights that were guaranteed by the Constitution. In fact, most of the people that had opportunity were the wealthy white men, and few other people ever had any chance to lead a good life.
The first of the legislation of the federal government in this time was the Meat Inspection Act of 1906. The Meat Inspection Act required the federal inspection of meats that were headed for interstate commerce and this gave much power to the big bosses of the Agriculture Department. The powers that this act endowed to the big bosses of the Department of Agriculture was to set the standards or the sanitary conditions. This Act basically gives the government the power to say what is sanitary and safe and what is vile and rank. The Meat Inspection Act was brought to the attention of the political hierarchy in great part to the novel written by Upton Sinclair. Upton portrayed the meat packing industry of Chicago as vile and disgusting. He expressed hideous images of rats and feces and other things very unfit for the food that they were eating. President Roosevelt read the book, The Jungle, and was totally convinced and he acted very quickly. In this, he sent a few federal agent to go investigate this convincing claim to see if it existed, they reiterated his disgusting results. Thus the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 was passed by the Congress and by Roosevelt on its way to becoming a part of the incredible regulations of the Progressive Era.
The Progressive Era was a period of social and political reform beginning in the post Gilded Age 19th century and lasting through WWI. Industrial and urban growth of early 19th century America while representative of opportunity and future advancement simultaneously posed many difficulties for working class citizens. Prior concerns over the conditions of working class citizens were multiplied and magnified by overpopulated and impoverished urban communities. During this era many new Progressive agendas were introduced with the goal of reforming dated and unregulated policies, the most prominent of these, the birth control movement. The documents from chapter six of Constructing the American Past show that at its core, the birth control debate was a multifaceted social dispute with, religious political and racial influences.
By the time period of 1900-1920 America was almost fully industrialized. At this time, America was going through a Gilded Age where everything looked good on the outer perspective however on the inside, there were many issues within society. The Progressive Era consisted of people who wanted to reform society politically, socially, and economically. Progressive reformers and the federal government were successful in bringing about reform at the national level by gaining some women's rights as well as African Americans trying to better their reputation in society, improving working conditions, and fixing the American economy.
In order to have a better America, The Progressive Era was a time where activist and reformers from various backgrounds, had various agendas and reacting to challenges which faced the country. These challenges were rapid urban sprawl, immigration, corruption, industrial working conditions, growth of large corporations, women’s rights, surging anti-black violence and white supremacy (KKK) in the South. Some positive results of progressive movement were for women given the right to vote, to remove alcohol from communities and the establishment of the democratic voting process. In addition, Progressive activist took up a cause for legislation to address some of the troubling industries in America such as child labor, anti-trust, big business break ups and health and
In an era of addressing social issues and inequality, many African Americans were segregated and divided; they fought for justice but racial tensions still formed. The Progressive Era: a time of major movements of the American population. During the decades between the 1890s and 1920, Americans were faced with many challenges and in turn, they entered a modern era of change. The states and cities were experiencing a newly diverse and urban society. There were new technological advances and industrial economics were growing rapidly since the Civil War. Although, not all innovations made during this time were beneficial. With the large innovations in society and the progressive mindsets, the lives of African Americans dramatically changed. The
These comforts and conveniences included better and more developed homes, cheaper clothes, more tools and utensils to work with, and faster and cheaper travel. One of the most important concerns of this time period is the effect of child labor. Document 7 states: Large machines and rising demand for products quickly led to the growth of the factory system. The building of these factories led to the hiring of massive numbers of child workers, the youngest at 11 to 12 years old.
The progressive reform movement started when people decided to take a stand against the things caused by industrialism, corruption, etc. There were many reforms people were a part of such as women’s suffrage, clean government, labor laws, milk pasteurization, and many more. (Document eight) However just like any other debate there are multiple different ways people describe the progressive reform movement.
Many businesses and factories hired children because they were easier to exploit; they could be paid less for more work in dangerous conditions. Plus, their small size made many children idea for working with small parts or fitting into small spaces. Children as young as four could be found working in factories, though most were between eight and twelve. Despite the economic gains made by the business that employed them, many children suffered in the workplace. The industrial setting caused many health problems for the children that, if they lived long enough, they would carry with them for the rest of their lives. Children were also more likely to face accidents in the workplace, often caused by fatigue, and many were seriously injured or killed. Despite efforts by reformers to regulate child labor, it wasn’t until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that children under 14 were prohibited from
Factories were utilizing children to do the hard work. They employed children as young as five or six to work as many as twenty hours a day. According to Document C, children worked in factories to build up muscles and having good intellect in working rather than getting an education. They became a different person rather than conventional children. There were additionally health issues due to child labor: rapid skeletal growth, greater risk of hearing loss, higher chemical absorption rates, and developing ability to assess risks. Progressive Era reformers believed that child labor was detrimental to children and to society. They believed that children should be protected from harmful environments, so they would become healthy and productive adults. In 1912, Congress created the Children’s Bureau to benefit children. The Keating-Owen Act was passed in 1916 to freed children from child labor only in industries that engaged in interstate commerce. However, it was declared unconstitutional sinc...
Child labor is nothing but cheap labor. The big companies loved cheap labor because then they could make an item for not very much money, and make a huge profit margin. Fried continues to state how cheap the labor was, “One glass factory in Massachusetts was fenced with barbed wire ‘to keep the young imps inside.’ These were boys under 12 who carried loads of hot glass all night for a wage of 40 cents to $1.10 per night.” Unlike, children today who are in bed sleeping by 8 pm each night, these children had to stay up all night working to make just enough income for their families.
Imagine waking up at five in the morning to walk over a mile to a factory where you work until noon where you get a half hour break for lunch, then it’s back to work until nine or ten at night, when you are finally allowed to go home and you are only eight years old. Today that seems unimaginable, but during the early 19th century it was the everyday life of thousands of children whose ages range from as young as five until you died. During the Industrial Revolution many children were required to work dangerous jobs to help their families.