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The Muckraker's Impact On The Progressive Movement

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The Muckrakers, were investigative journalist who succeeded to exposed the social ills of citizens and corruption of both corporation and politics, and they had a huge impact on the success of the Progressive movement. Without the muckrakers the progressive movement would have not achieved the well-known status they had. These crusading journalists exposed bribery and corruption at city and state level, as well as in Congress. They called attention to the exploitation of child labor, the revulsion truth of lynching, and the cruel business practices employed by capitalists. The muckraker’s journalism resulted in legislations and reforms that had long-lasting effects. Magazines were the leading channels for muckraking. Samuel S. McClure and John Sanborn Phillips started the bestselling McClure's Magazine in May 1893, which stood up against corporate monopolies and crooked politicians, while exposing the terrible working and living …show more content…

He intended to show the public the horrifying effects capitalism had on workers in the Chicago meatpacking industry. He hoped his exposing would cause reforms. In his book, Sinclair described how workers labored long hours in cold, and cramped conditions. How they caught diseases, lost fingers, nails, and even limbs by acid, and unsanitary locations. However the public’s outcry was more focused on Sinclair uncovering of the products being sold to the general public, rather than workers plight. The reason for this is because The Jungle described how the meat packing industry produced spoiled meat that they covered with chemicals, had rats inside their warehouses that left piles of excrement everywhere, and skin, hair, stomach, ears, and nose were ground up and packaged as cheese. Within months of Sinclair’s book being published, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act to stop these shocking and appalling

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Muckraker 's Goal was to expose , understand, and promote changes.

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And workers were dying from diseases spread from the rotting meats and rat refuse. After Upton Sinclair published “The Jungle,” many American citizens were disgusted and angered by the quality of the meat they were consuming. This led citizens to demand congress to consider a “Pure food and drug bill.” This bill however, did not contain rules for keeping the meat packing history clean and free of disease. So Roosevelt, disgusted by the factory conditions eventually passed the “Meat Inspection Act of 1906,” which forced meat packing factories to have higher standards of meat that are not spoiled and/or diseased by rats and

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Sinclair worked undercover in a meatpacking plant to gather information firsthand, before he began writing the book. Its influence on the labor practices and regulations governing the food industry cannot be understated. It tackles subjects as varied as the poor living conditions of the immigrants, exploitation of cheap labor by industrialists, and the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking plants and stockyards of Chicago. The descriptions of the disgusting processes that were conducted in the meatpacking plants made for shocking reading and turned the book into a bestseller. The President Teddy Roosevelt ordered an investigation into the lack of sanitation in meatpacking plants and caused the creation of legislation governing the food industry in the form of the Food and Drugs Act of 1906.

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The role of the muckrakers during the Progressive Era was to expose the problems and political corruption along with investigating and reporting the news that was true so all can be aware. The way the muckrakers worked to change the ills of society and big businesses was by exposing people and the companies for what they were doing and to bring the information to the people. Three famous muckrakers during the Progressive era include but not limited to Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, and Jacob Riis. Upton Sinclair, known for his article called the jungle. It exposed the unsanitary conditions in the United States meatpacking industry, and his work led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 and the Meat Inspection Act. This is what

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I think it was on the grounds that he needed individuals to see what they were truly purchasing at their neighborhood butchers. He likewise did this to show how awful the conditions were that these men were working in. On the off chance that I was one of Sinclair's readers made me think I would have, most importantly, been stunned this was going on and not very many individuals had thought about it until now. I additionally think I would have been disturbed that I was purchasing meats that originated from spots like this.

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In early 1900, specifically, 1906, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was written. This novel told the story of a Lithuanian immigrant who worked in a filthy Chicago meatpacking plant. It exposed the meatpacking industry by stating their vile practices not only towards their meat but their workers as well. This was a result of the combination of many immigrants in the United States to pursue a better life, and the fact that many big industries were looking for ways to maximize their profit.

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Upton Sinclair, writer of The Jungle, is famously known for what was occurring in the meat packing industry that many of the people eating the food were unaware of. He had gone into the factories and noticed that the employees were working in a factory that had unsafe and harmful working

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During the late 1800s, there were many problems with social life, the economy, and politics. Immigrants moving to America was a big cause that led to Progressive reforms. Reforms had become necessary and were made known by many Muckrakers, or progressive reformers. The president, Theodore Roosevelt, decided government had to be changed from laissez-faire because of the problems without the government's involvement in the economy. The social, political, and economical changes by those known as muckrakers would allow America to become a great reformed nation.

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During the Progressive Era (1890 – 1920) the pen was used to combat social ills and evils and made calls for reform. Progressivism depended upon newspapers and magazines to inform the public about political corruption and social problems. During this period, there was a popular group of Americans known as the Muckrakers. They were the first investigative journalist who sought to expose evils of modern, industrial and urban capitalist society. The muckrakers got their nickname from Theodore Roosevelt, who said that crusading journalists were “often indispensable to... society, but only if they know when to stop raking the muck” (America: A Narrative History, 780).

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Revealing the harsh treatment of meatpacking workers and showing the reality of the disgusting conditions found in butchery shops to the public, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle became an enduring classic by American readers throughout the early twentieth century the prompted the later creation of the Federal Drug Administration. In the early 1900s, America was explosively transitioning from an agricultural society to a thriving manufacturing-based nation. As production demand in factories grew throughout the country, the work force needed to run those factories also expanded. A new type of demanding and dangerous work became prevalent throughout the nation, as immigrants coming into the “Land of Opportunity” found themselves desperate

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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.

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At the turn of the twentieth century a new part of America’s political culture was beginning to emerge due to the country’s advances in technology and specifically in the creation of mass magazine publications. These publications were able to reach largely the country’s growing middle class. These journalists soon noticed that their readers’ yearned for magazine articles that investigated the numerous dilemmas that plagued the American society at that time. The ground breaking journalists were labeled as “muckrakers” by President Roosevelt and often became a source of controversy within America’s political culture. Most muckrakers used their skills of descriptive writing to paint vivid and disturbing pictures of the lives many Americans were

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Immigrant workers were limited of their freedom and constantly exploited due to the fact that they were working in hazardous working conditions, were living in deplorable conditions, and were being harassed under the intimidating power of corrupt politicians. Such miseries the immigrants had to face included the hazardous working conditions where they had to stay for long hours. There was no doubt that workers had either die or were injured as they worked in such environment. In Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, the dangers of working conditions are emphasized through Jurgis’ incident at the meatpacking plant.

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Each muckraker exposed the bad side or corruption dealing to make a change. They made a big impact, they helped uncover the injustices in the way people were working, living, treated. “Between 1903 and 1910 muckraking magazines had exposed corruption in America government and business with great fervor and to great claim”( American newspapers in the 1910s ) .The idea of muckrakers was to exposed the bad corruption, let people be aware of the bad conditions people were being in. “The instances in which it directly contributed to be the breakup of a monopolistic trust or the reform of a corrupt municipal government are depressingly few”( Muckraking ).

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In the early 1900’s, the conditions in the slaughterhouses were ghastly. First of all, the basic surroundings of the workers were horrid. The floors of the killing floors were layered in blood. It smelled bad and was unsanitary. Also, there were blood-curdling screeches of dying animals constantly ringing throughout Union Stockyards ("Slaughterhouse to the World" 5).

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