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The Progressive Era Dbq Analysis

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Corporate greedy and corrupt politicians were specific problems and injustices that were present in American life during the late 1800s and early 1900s however these were addressed during the progressive era with laws and regulations. Throughout the gilded era corrupt politicians and corporate greedy allowed the upper class and businessmen to take advantage of the working class. This means that a majority of the population were hurt during the gilded age whereas a small percentage benefitted. As seen in document 1, living conditions were crowded, dirty, and unsafe. This was caused by the lack of regulations and laws which allowed businessmen to get away with paying their employees unethically low wages without benefits. This lack of regulations and laws also enabled business to cut corners, which lead to unsafe product, such as spoiled meat as seen in document 2, and child labor, which is seen in document 3, in order to save money. During the gilded era, corrupt politicians added to the problems and injustices. Document 4 shows this using a comic. In the comic it shows that the “bosses of the senate” were the politicians which were backed up by big business and corporations. This relationship between politicians and businessmen consisted of businessmen supporting the politicians financially and in return the politicians …show more content…

Journalists and authors, such as Upton Sinclair from document 2, can be credited with exposing the corruption during the gilded age. Sinclair was know as a muckraker and his purpose in writing books such as The Jungle was bring light to what was happening in these factories. His work played a key role in the progressive era by holding these business men accountable. The Progressive Party also played a key role in the progressive era. Based on their platform, it is shown that their purpose is to benefit the working class by laws and

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