Muckrakers Of The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era from 1901 to 1917 and lasted through the three republican presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson, was a reform movement that focused on limiting the power of big business, improving democracy, and strengthening social justice in the United States. Progressives were mostly concentrated on exposing the corruption in government, helping overcome the fear of immigrants, and to get Americans to be politically active again. The majority of Progressives lived in cities, went to college, were social activists, and belonged to the middle class. Both men and women were successful in fighting the corruption in the United States, but women were less eminent in certain topics because their stories

would relate more to women than to men.
Progressives want to fix the government system by introducing reforms that would be able to fix those problems. They felt society should be cohesive and all should benefit from it. Many progressives believed using science and rationality would shape society idealistically while keeping the basic system of democracy and capitalism. They were not keen on the idea of Social Darwinism but wanted everyone to have a communitarian view about society. Progressives also believed that if an honest government had just laws and was committed to democratic values than human condition could improve.
The most influential progressives were the Muckrakers, investigative reporters and writers, who covered injustices, mainly corruption, in society so changes can be made.

The name “Muckrakers” was coined by Theodore Roosevelt when he made the speech “The Man With the Muckrake” in 1906, which was also a reference to Passage by John Bunyan. Many muckrakers focused on the topics of injustices caused by an increase of immigrants, growing populations in cities, big business that was unregulated, and political machines. Some examples of muckrakers include Jacob Riis who wrote How the Other Half Lives, he described the appalling living conditions in New York CIty slums where most immigrants lived; Ida Mae Tarbell wrote A History of the Standard Oil Company, where she attacks the business practices of John D. Rockefeller; Henry Demarest Lloyd wrote Wealth Against Commonwealth, he describes concerns on big business and corrupt governments; Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, he described the horrible conditions in the meatpacking

industry.  
Theodore Roosevelt also was a progressive and his most famous reform policy was the Square Deal.

This began when the Anthracite Coal Shortage in 1902 caused by a strike of workers demanding better working conditions and less work hours with the same pay. Roosevelt decided to step in and intervene, he called both the mine owners and the labor representatives to the White House where he threatened the owners by sending federal troops  after they refused to negotiate. After everyone agreed, Roosevelt called the settlement a “square deal”, which was used to mean everyone fairly gained from the settlement. Roosevelt’s domestic program, which was named after the settlement, balanced interests to make it equal for all parties involved including the public, which he did by creating the Hepburn Act, Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act, and the Elkins Act. He also created the US Forest Service to protect the

environment.
At the local level of government, reform leaders became popular in cities throughout the nation. They fought to get rid of city bosses and corrupt companies. Municipal reforms believed that systems should be improved instead of abandoning it. Reforms constructed commission plans with city managers, city council, and city departments including fire, police, and sanitation departments. Reformers also made it possible for cities operate their own gas lines, electric power plants, and transportation systems. Municipal reformers gave cities an opportunity to progress and advance industrially.
Women during the Progressive Era were fighting for their suffrage. They used militant approaches to get women to vote by using parades, mass pickets, and hunger strikes. Many groups were created during this time like the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Woman’s Party, to get a suffrage amendment in the Constitution. After much dedicated fighting, especially on the homefront during World War I, Congress gave a two-thirds majority vote to support the suffrage amendment, which was ratified in 1920 and became the nineteenth amendment.