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Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
An active temperance organization whose goal was to promote temperance. -
Interstate Commerce Act
US federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry and its monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did not empower the government to fix specific rates -
How the Other Half Lives
An article published by Jacob Riis on tenant life that was aimed at informing people about the "dirty" realities of political parties and the scandalous conditions in factories and slums. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
A law created that outlawed the creation of monopolistic business practices. -
Ida B. Wells
Devoted her efforts to campaigning against lynching and the Jim Crow Laws -
Anti-Saloon League
A non-partisan organization that focused on the single issue of prohibition. The Anti-Saloon League of America was one of the most prominent prohibition organizations in the US. The Anti-Saloon League hoped to reduce alcohol consumption, if not outright prohibit it, by enforcing existing laws and by implementing new ones. This organization also sought to eliminate bars, taverns, and saloons, believing that these businesses promoted the consumption of alcohol. -
Eugene V Debs
One of the founders of the Socialist party. A former railway union leader who adopted socialism while jailed for the Pullman strike, Debs was an outspoken critic of business and a champion of labor. Socialist ideas such as public ownership of utilities, the eight-hour workday, and pensions for employees were accepted. -
National American Woman Suffrage Association
Argued for the vote for women as a broadening of democracy which would empower women, thus enabling them to more actively care for their families in an industrial society. -
Margaret Sanger
American leader of the movement to legalize birth control. -
John Dewey
A leading American advocate who advocated the new philosophy of pragmatism. He argued that the "good" and the "true" could not be known in the abstract as fixed and changeless ideals. Rather, people should take a pragmatic, or practical, approach to moral, ideals, and knowledge. They should experiment with ideas and laws and test them in action until they found something that seemed to work well for the better ordering of society. Progressive thinkers adopted this philosophy. -
Progressive (Bull Moose) Party
Citizens active in the progressive movement were middle-class residents of U.S. cities who were disturbed about what might happen to American democracy from such conditions as unrest among the poor, excesses of the rich, corruption in government, and an apparent decline in mortality.
Platform:
Pragmatism
Scientific management -
Ida Tarbell
Wrote "The History of the Standard Oil Company". Combining careful research with sensationalism, this article set a standard for the deluge of muckraking that followed. -
Square Deal Policy
Theodore Roosevelt's Square Deal policy took neither the side of business nor labor. As a result of Roosevelt's Square Deal, a 10 percent wage increase was granted and a nine-hour day to the miners, but didn't grant them union recognition. -
Anthracite Coal Strike
Anthracite Coal miners went on a strike that lasted through most of 1902, if the strike continued, Americans feared that - without coal - they would freeze to death when winter came. Roosevelt tried to mediate the labor dispute by calling a union leader and coal mine owners to the White House. The owners finally agreed to accept the findings of a special commission, which granted a 10 percent wage increase a s 9 hour day to the miners (but did not grant union recognition). -
Department of Commerce and Labor
The United States Department of Commerce and Labor was a short-lived Cabinet department of the United States government, which was concerned with controlling the excesses of big business. -
Robert La Follette
A Progressive governor who introduced his state to a new system by bypassing politicians and placing the nominating process directly in the hands of the voters. This method for nominating party candidates by majority vote was known as the direct primary. By 1915, some of the direct primary was used in every state; however, the effectiveness in overthrowing boss rule was limited and some southern states used it as a way to exclude African Americans. -
Lincoln Steffens
Wrote "The Shame of the Cities". Caused a sensation by describing in detail the corrupt deals that characterized big-city politics from Philadelphia to Minneapolis. -
Northern Securities Antitrust
Roosevelt was the first president to enforce the Sherman Antitrust Act. The trust he most wanted to bust was a combination of railroads known as the Northern Securities Company. Reversing its position in earlier cases, the Supreme Court upheld Roosevelt's action in breaking up the railroad monopoly. -
The Jungle
A muckraking book by Upton Sinclair that described in horrifying detail the conditions in the Chicago stockyards and meatpacking industry. The public outcry following this novel caused Congress to enact two regulatory laws. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
Forbade the manufacture, sale, and transportation of adulterated or mislabeled foods and drugs. -
Meat Inspection Act
Provided that federal inspectors visit meatpacking plants to ensure that they met minimum standards of sanitation. -
Elkins Act
Gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to suspend new railroad rates and oversee telephone, telegraph, and cable companies. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned, killing 145 workers. It is remembered as one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history, as the deaths were largely preventable. The tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous sweatshop conditions of factories, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers. -
17th amendment
Required all U.S. senators be elected by popular vote. -
Underwood Tariff
Substantially lowered tariffs for the first time in over 50 years. To compensate for the reduced tariff revenues, the Underwood bill included a graduated income tax rate of from 1 to 6 percent. -
Federal Reserve Act
Ever since the passing of this act, Americans have purchased goods and services using the Federal Reserve Notes (dollar bills) issued by the federally regulated banking system. -
Clayton Antitrust Act
Greatly strengthened the provisions in the Sherman Antitrust Act for breaking up monopolies. Most important for organized labor, the new law contained a clause exempting unions from being prosecuted as trusts. -
Federal Trade Commission
The new regulatory agency was empowered to investigate and take action against any "unfair trade practice" in every industry except banking and transportation. -
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act
A short-lived statute enacted by the US Congress which sought to limit the working hours of children and forbid the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor. -
18th amendment
Prohibited the manufacturing, sale, and transportation of alcohol. -
19th Amendment
Guaranteed women's right to vote in all elections at the local, state, and national levels.
