Successes And Failures Of The Progressive Era

In September of 1901 President William McKinley was assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt became president. President Roosevelt invoked the Sherman Antitrust Act, which went against the Northern Securities Company, which was a railroad company, and the Supreme Court ordered the company to dissolve. Many of his actions showed his independence from big business. Roosevelt was reelected on the “square deal”. Many of the Progressive reforms came from the Populist program, but populism failed because it was a rural protest. Progressives saw American society as plagued with problems, including poverty, injustice and corruption. Ten million lived in absolute poverty and two million children were working. Twenty five thousand workers were killed a year due to industrial

In 1906 the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed, along with the Meat Inspection Amendment. Federal regulations, inspired by Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, needed to safeguard people’s health. President Roosevelt wanted to develop the nation’s natural resources because he felt they belonged to the people as a whole. It was a struggle but he doubled twice the number of national parks and enlightened ideas directed toward development of a forest service. Labor itself made a lot of gains during the Progressive Era, mostly at the state level; however government gave no support to unions. Labor failed to organize basic industries, while most judges cared about property than human rights and issued injunctions. President Taft was Roosevelt’s predecessor in 1909. Prices were rising so midwesterners blamed it on the Dingley Tariff. President Taft said he would lower tariffs,but “old guard” Republicans raised them instead. Then Taft accepted a compromise that led to little change which offended progressive Republicans. In the next election, Republicans refused to nominate Roosevelt again, so he formed the Progressive Party, also known as the Bull Moose