Changes And Reforms During The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era was a reconstruction period which took place between the years of 1890 to 1920. In this time many changes and reforms were enacted for the people of the United States. This era was driven in part by one of the best and most influential presidents of our country, Theodore Roosevelt. In his two terms he shaped how Americans lived in this country for the better by his program called the “Square Deal” that started in the early 1900’s. Theodore Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” reforms helped improve the conservation of the nation’s natural resources, protect the health of American consumers, and regulate big businesses. Roosevelt’s first reform had to deal with the conservation of natural resources. Many ranchers in the west wanted

One of the biggest problems was the meat industry, European meat markets shut out American meat packers because of the tainted meat (May 81). Then when Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” released, it caused a huge stir in the public when people saw all of the filth in the meat packing plants. After a progressive senator named Alfred J. Beveridge read this muckraking article, he immediately sent it to Mr. Roosevelt. Although the president did not like the style of writing, he stated that it very much “represented” the industry (Lewis

Roosevelt was famous for using was the Sherman Antitrust Act, he stopped robber barons such as J.P. Morgan and John Rockefeller from totally destroying competition. The most notable break up was the separation of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, once split up into four different oil companies, many journalists and historians put it in one of the top 100 events that changed America during the twentieth century. He would go on to stop over 40 trusts in court using this act during his second term in office (Hillstrom 67). President Roosevelt stopped corrupt political machines in New York City, he was able to stop city bosses like Boss Tweed with “good values and hard work,” (Hillstrom 70). Lastly, Mr. Roosevelt took pride in that later on, his work would allow for easier federal regulation in the future. President Taft was able to bust even more trusts than Roosevelt himself (May