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Muckrakers Of The Progressive Era Essay

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Muckrakers of the Progressive Era The Muckrakers of the progressive era, who are American journalists who attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupted, impacted the progressive reforms by exposing the corruption of working conditions in the meat industry, the living conditions in New York that was caused by the rapid immigration, the growing monopolies and the corrupt political machines that were happening during between the 1890s and 1920s. They have made Americans aware of the corruption and abuses of power during this time period. With the help of the muckrakers, we now have different and effectives acts that we still use today. In the early twentieth century, Upton Sinclair, who is the author of “The Jungle”, exposed the unsanitary of the working conditions in the meat industry during the progressive era. The mass-production method was tended to replace skilled workers …show more content…

Lincoln Steffen is a New York reporter who first launched a series of articles called, Tweed Days.”, in St. Louis. “Lincoln Steffens detailed the corruption, bribery, graft, and malfeasance he found in such cities”(Steffens). When he published a book called, “The Shame of the Cities”, it exposed how political machines were corrupt. “He noted that although many people blamed those who took bribes, few bothered to look at those in the business community who gave out bribes” (Steffens). A main political machine corruption was called the “Tweed Ring”. The “Tweed Ring” was a group of corrupt politicians which included Boss Tweed. Political corruption is the use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain. They managed to steal between $20-400 million dollars. Boss Tweed was eventually arrested and died in jail. Political machines controlled New York City and New York politics, helping immigrants rise up against Americans

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