The Progressive Era was a time, between the Civil War and the start of the first world war, for development and growth for the American people. Muckrakers were journalists and news reporters that broke certain news coverage that Americans were not aware of. These journalists lead to the reform of many of the tragedies seen throughout the time period proving that the Progressive Era did address the issues that were brought upon the working class. The modification of the meat packing industry, the destruction of monopolies, and the circulation of the situations that occurred in the slums is examples of exactly what the muckrakers had done to raise awareness. 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 …show more content…
She was the writer of the novel The History of Standard Oil which depicted how John D. Rockefeller was a corrupt man who wished to take over the whole industry of the oil company. “To know every detail of the oil trade, to be able to reach at any moment its remotest point, to control even its weakest factor—that was John D. Rockefeller’s ideal of doing business.”3 This here showed society how the inner working of the monopolies such as the oil companies and possibly the steel companies worked. The awareness that was raised by Tarbell lead to the restrictions that certain businesses must follow in the Clayton Anti-trust Act of 1914. The act states that businesses must follow a certain price restriction as well as condition sales on exclusive deals.4 Ida Tarbell raised awareness of the complications with the monopolies and their control over the American people and helped institute the new act that regulates these