Primary Sources
VOCAB
Muckrakers
Acts
Reforms
100
What issue is this image addressing?
monopolies strength and control over government
100
What are trusts?
a group of companies that get together to control a specific industry.
100
What issues was Ida B. Wells exposing? What reforms would she have wanted?
1. exposing the horrors of lynching and the lies that perpetuated them
2. anti-lynching laws
100
What did the Pure Food and Drug Act do?
Made it so food and medicine had to label their ingredients
100
What is a muckraker? What are they attempting to do?
muckrakers are investigative journalists who expose corruption, unfair practices and problems in society.
200
What issue is Upton Sinclair addressing in this excerpt?
"There were the men in the pickle rooms, for instance, where old Antanas had gotten his death; scarce a one of these that had not some spot of horror on his person. Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints in his fingers would be eaten by the acid one by one. Of the butchers and floorsmen, the beef boners and trimmers, and all those who used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb; time and time again the base of it had been slashed, till it was a mere lump of flesh against which the man pressed the knife to hold it." -Upton Sinclair
the dangerous conditions of the meatpacking plant employees.
200
What are monopolies?
a large company that controls an industry or sector, giving it the power to set prices for its goods and services.
200
What issues was Jacob Riis exposing? What reforms did he want?
1. exposed poor living conditions, sanitation, ventilation, overcrowding
2. building codes, tenement housing reforms, access to windows and fresh air
200
What did the Meat Inspection Act do?
made it so the government would inspect meatpacking plants to make sure they followed proper care for the food
200
What reforms did labor unions want?
1. safer conditions
2. shorter work day
3. stop child labor
4. compensation for on the job injuries.
300
What issues does the commission say led to the devastation at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory?
"Fire drills are not held, save in rare instances, exits are unmarked and the location of the stairways and exterior fire-escapes is often unknown. Access to the stairway and outside fire-escapes is obstructed by machinery, wooden partitions and piled-up merchandise, while in some cases the fire-escape balcony is at such a distance from the floor as to make it almost impossible for women employees to reach it without assistance. In some cases the window leading to fire-escapes are not large enough to permit the passage of grown persons readily. Automatic or manual fire-alarms are hardly ever provided, except in the larger fireproof buildings." - New York Factory Investigating Commission (1912)
1. lack of fire drills
2. unmarked exits & unknown
3. access to exits being blocked
4. fire escape out of reach
5. fire escape being blocked
6. lack of fire alarms
300
What is a labor union? What do they do?
1. a group of employees who get together to use collective bargaining with the business owner
2. demand higher wages, better working conditions, use collective bargaining and strikes
300
What issues did Thomas Nast expose? What reforms would he have wanted?
1. exposed political corruption and political machines in NYC
2. reforms to stop political corruption
300
What did the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 do?
tried to break up monopolies to allow more free trade and competition and allow small businesses to thrive
300
What 2 reforms were made in response to Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle?
1. Pure Food and Drug Act
2. Meat Inspection Act
400
What issue is Ida Tarbell addressing in this excerpt?
"a remarkable scheme, the gist of which was to bring together secretly a large enough body of refiners and shippers to persuade all the railroads handling oil to give to the company formed [the new trust] special rebates on its oil, and drawbacks [refunds] on that of other people. If they could get such rates, it was evident that [other companies] could not compete with them long and that they would become eventually the only refiners. They could then limit their output to actual demand, and so keep up prices." - Ida Tarbell
The Standard Oil Monopoly scheming to get themselves profitable railroad rates to drive their competitors out of business and then be able to raise prices once they are in control of the industry
400
What is the Progressive Movement?
A movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s that advocated for the government to take a role in bringing about social and economic reform
400
What did Upton Sinclair work to expose? and what was the result?
1. exposed the horrible working conditions and horrible food quality in the meatpacking industry
2. Pure Food and Drug Act
Meat Inspection Act
400
What did the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 do?
strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 by closing loopholes so the government could regulate and break up monopolies
400
What types of reforms were passed in response to the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire?
1. laws around fire safety, inspections, and stricter standards for workplace safety
2. improving fire routes, fireproofing equipment and mandatory fire drills
500
What problem is Ida B. Wells addressing?
"The government which had made the Negro a citizen found itself unable to protect him. It gave him the right to vote, but denied him the protection which should have maintained that right. Scourged from his home; hunted through the swamps; hung by midnight raiders, and openly murdered in the light of day, the Negro clung to his right of franchise with a heroism which would have wrung admiration from the hearts of savages. He believed that in that small white ballot there was a subtle something which stood for manhood as well as citizenship, and thousands of brave black men went to their graves, exemplifying the one by dying for the other." - Ida B. Wells
lynching and other forms of intimidation being used to stop African Americans from being able to exercise their civil liberties.
500
What is a political machine? What did political machines do?
1. an institution in an urban city that controlled policies, voting trends, and economic aspects of their communities.
2. they used bribery and intimidation to get votes, did fraudulent voting, stole money for themselves and also built important infrastructure for the cities.
500
What issues was Ida Tarbell working to expose? What were the reforms that she would have wanted the most?
1. exposed monopolies and the Standard Oil Company's corrupt practices that stamped out competition and harmed the consumer
2. Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914
500
What did the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 do?
created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate the Rail Roads and attempted to prevent monopolistic and discriminatory pricing
500
Which two reforms attempted to regulate monopolies and trusts?
1. Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
2. Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914