Apush Dbq Gilded Age

The Gilded Age highlighted many issues with America's government, economy, and social life. While it may have appeared fine from the outside, the truth is that America was running on the bare minimum amount of regulations, the governments were riddled with corruption throughout and it was not sustainable. Political machines were running parts of the government essentially controlling votes, and lack of economic regulations led to trusts growing out of control. These big businesses had very few rules on how they had to treat their employees, which enabled them to be subject to harsh working conditions. The Progressive movement was a time to move forward and ignited widespread political change which led to social reform and lesser corruption.

Their goal was to make this change during the gilded age. Powerful associations such as the NAACP stood up to these inequalities, such as segregation. Document 5 contains a letter written to President Woodrow Wilson by the NAACP, in which they mention their distaste for the new segregation policies in the Department of Washington. They believe that this policy is unjust, and it is unfair to give departments wholly to colored employees, and as a result, colored workers are stigmatized. However, the workers were aiming to create change by sending the letter directly to the president. Therefore, the reader can tell that the workers are advocating for themselves and aiming to create political change that treats workers more fair. This document is written from the point of view of leaders in the NAACP. This is significant because their interest is promoting and ensuring the advancement of colored people, and they believe that this policy is bringing them in the opposite direction. Sadly, segregation wasn’t the only problem in businesses. During the Gilded Age and the beginning of the Progressive movement, businesses were also preventing the formation of unions, which removed the employee’s main protection. However, the Clayton Act was passed in 1914 which was a step in

Document 2 includes a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt in which he speaks of the danger of trusts and why the government needs to regulate them. This was a fairly new idea as laissez-faire was a popular idea during the Gilded Age, and it was believed that businesses did not need regulations. However, now the president realizes that trusts gain too much power and they need to be supervised and regulated. This was an important understanding to come to, and one of the most important political changes throughout the Progressive Era. The point of view of this document is the president of the United States. This is significant because it highlights how powerful these trusts were, and how important it was that they were regulated since the president of the entire country was telling the people that it was necessary. Similarly, the people also called for more regulation in all businesses, including the police force. Document 6 brings up the issues that the people had with the Detroit Police Department, and what they did to change it. It stated that the people wanted more order and they wanted to be sure that the laws were enforced. The police force gained new regulations, and in turn, became more organized in an effort to solve the people’s problems. This shows that the Progressive movement often led to