Muckrakers In The Progressive Era

The party was formed in 1912 by the urban middle class, who were displeased with all of the corruption in politics. This party was very successful at achieving what the Populists could not. They succeeded at getting laws passed to restrain immigration, set up a postal savings banks, limiting work days to eight-hours, and set up an initiative, referendum, and recall. The Progressives also had several amendments passed, the sixteenth, allowing for the graduated income tax, the seventeen, enforcing the direct primary that was passed by the Populists, the eighteenth, staring the prohibition on alcohol, and the nineteenth, allowing everyone to vote regardless of their gender. Much of the Progressives success was due to muckrakers.

The late 19th century, also known as the Gilded Age, was notorious for the immense amount of corruption within the American government, which led to the publishment of many political cartoons that portrayed this corruption. Some believe that these cartoons had little to no impact on exposing the corruption; however, due to the their coherence, political cartoons played a huge role in exposing the problems with government officials and with capitalism. Therefore, the publishment of political cartoons made a huge impact on how Americans became conscious of this corruption. During this era, political cartoonists, such as Thomas Nast, depicted political figures, such as Boss Tweed, as imperialistic. Tweed had qualities that resembled more of a tyrant rather than a leader in a republic.

It is difficult to say if the conditions were better then or now, simply because both good and bad changes have occurred in the past century, which causes the pros and cons to balance out. Sadly, the working and living circumstances are nearly too horrendous to exist. In fact, it is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. Despite the amount of changes in the industry, working in the meat packing factories proved to be a repulsive job, both in the 1900s and today. Thankfully, these works have inspired millions of citizens to stand up and promote change in this gruesome and cruel

Subject: Zenger discusses the corruption of British government officials in New England, particularly the royal governors. He talks about how they take bribes, of how they cover up deaths of slaves in slave revolts. Zenger speaks of the climb for power in the government, about how many officials will sink to low standards in order to reach the statuses they so dearly covet. On many occasions, Zenger quotes ‘Cato.’ Cato is in fact a pseudonym for two men, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, who have written a series of essays exploiting corrupt government officials and essentially calling many of them out in their papers. The essays were published as a series of articles called “Catos’s Letters,” as publishing the essays under the men’s true names would have put them and their families in potential danger; being a whistleblower was dangerous, even back then.

This film about the controversy of large corporations presented many instances of unethical behavior being conducted by big business. One strong argument given in the film was the early use of the 14th amendment by corporations to classify themselves as people. This bill was originally added to give rights to African-American slaves, but the majority of Supreme Court appeals were from companies demanding individual rights. This was the beginning of private and protected business in America that evolved into privately-owned America of today. Another well supported example was the case of the dangerous hormone Posilac, created by the large chemical corporation Monsanto.

Many people believe that the crime rates increased during the Great Depression. James V. Bennett, the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, states that institutions like Alcatraz were necessary to control the security issues of gangster era criminals. According to Donna Raaphorst, author of Alcatraz- the History of an Island Prison, Raaphorst states, “Bennett and Homer Cummings agreed Alcatraz would alleviate the stress in the rest of the system. Confining the escape artists and the real troublemakers on the Island would result in less regimentation and a freer atmosphere in the other prisons and in American societies” (139). Bennett also claims that existing federal prisons were overcrowded due to the

During the Progressive Era, muckrakers were classified as journalists who worked to expose corruption, whether it was corporate or political, as well as social injustices. Some popular muckrakers in the 20th century were Lincoln Steffens, Ida B. Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, etc. Many of these journalists wrote about the corruption of big businesses, poor working conditions, and much more. Although the Progressive Era ended long ago, there are still journalists the work to expose the problems in the 21st century. Eric Schlosser, an influential journalist, works mainly to uncover the unsanitary and prejudice in the fast food industry as well as other topics such as the trade of marijuana and immigrant workers farming the strawberry fields in California.

Ida did not hesitate to criticize Rockefeller for stooping to unethical business practices in quest for his numerous successes. Her writings were credited with the eventual breakup of Standard Oil, which came after the U.S Supreme Court rule in 1911, that the company was violating the Sherman Antitrust act. The Sherman Antitrust act allowed only Congress to regulate interstate commerce. Ida Tarbell and Ida B. Wells have much more in common than just their names.

Ida Tarbell (1857-1944) was a teacher, biographer, author and editor as well as a pioneer of investigative journalism. She became famous for her serialized political biographies on figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) in McClure 's (1894-1904) and American Magazine (1906-1915) as well as for her reports on the corporate monopoly of John D. Rockefeller 's (1839-1937) business practices in The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904). Her reports on Rockefeller 's business are considered seminal works of investigative journalism, and they led to the dissolution of the Standard Oil Corporation and resulted in President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) labelling newspaper reporters like Tarbell as muckrakers. Despite being an accomplished woman who was considered pre-eminent in her field and a seminal part of the growing woman 's movement in her time, Tarbell was also known for advocating an anti-suffrage position,

In the old times, racism is very prevalent. But it is very alarming that even in this modern era, racial discrimination or racist bullying still persists. It is no laughing matter. Racism has enormous effects to individuals such as depression and anxiety, decline in achievement and opportunity in life and worst,