Reform Movements Throughout the 19th century, the US made the transition from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy. An industrial economy is the process in which a society transforms itself from a primarily agricultural society into one based on the manufacturing of goods and services. Industrialization increased the efficiency of production and provided many jobs. It also allowed some businessmen to become extremely rich. However, people attained their riches through exploiting their workers and industrialization led to the overcrowding of cities. It took individuals determined to illustrate the problems, and the government to solve problems of the exploitation of workers and the overcrowding of cities throughout the industrial
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The problems of workers would not be solved by simply joining unions. Some journalists recognized the corruption in society and wanted something to be done about it. These people became known as the Muckrakers. One famous Muckraker was Upton Sinclair. His most famous work was The Jungle, a book portraying hard working conditions in meat plants. In addition to writing about the unsafe working conditions in the plants, Sinclair also wrote about how unsanitary the meat was. Sinclair wrote the book hoping people would denounce capitalism, and see that socialism would be the cure for society 's ills, However, the message that got through to the people was the unsanitary condition of the meat. The book inspired Teddy Roosevelt to create the Food and Drug Administration and pass the meat inspection Act. The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 is a United States Congress Act that works to prevent adulterated or misbranded meat and meat products from being sold as food and to ensure that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. However, the conditions the workers were placed in was still ignored by the …show more content…
Urbanization is a population shift from rural to urban areas. With factories becoming rampant, cities where jobs could be found, An immigrant influx also contributed to urbanization, immigrants were most likely to find jobs in the cities. An immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country. The living conditions in the cities were extremely difficult, large amounts of people living in tenements led to an increase in the spread of disease. Tenements are substandard multi-family dwelling in the urban core, usually old and occupied by the poor and usually didn 't have plumbing or electricity. Higher percentages of people living in cities also led to a higher crime rate, which was made worse by the tension between the “old” immigrants and the “new” immigrants. “Old” immigrants was the immigration that took place from 1776 to 1890. Most of these immigrants came from Northern and Western Europe. “New” immigrants came to America from areas that had not traditionally supplied settlers to the US. Most of the immigrants came from southern Europe and Eastern Europe such as Italy, Russia, Poland and Greece, as well as Asian locales such as China and Japan. Most Americans didn 't like the immigrants because there was a language barrier and they believed that the immigrants took their jobs because they would work harder for a lower wage. For the poor in the cities, life was
The problems of workers would not be solved by simply joining unions. Some journalists recognized the corruption in society and wanted something to be done about it. These people became known as the Muckrakers. One famous Muckraker was Upton Sinclair. His most famous work was The Jungle, a book portraying hard working conditions in meat plants. In addition to writing about the unsafe working conditions in the plants, Sinclair also wrote about how unsanitary the meat was. Sinclair wrote the book hoping people would denounce capitalism, and see that socialism would be the cure for society 's ills, However, the message that got through to the people was the unsanitary condition of the meat. The book inspired Teddy Roosevelt to create the Food and Drug Administration and pass the meat inspection Act. The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 is a United States Congress Act that works to prevent adulterated or misbranded meat and meat products from being sold as food and to ensure that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. However, the conditions the workers were placed in was still ignored by the …show more content…
Urbanization is a population shift from rural to urban areas. With factories becoming rampant, cities where jobs could be found, An immigrant influx also contributed to urbanization, immigrants were most likely to find jobs in the cities. An immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country. The living conditions in the cities were extremely difficult, large amounts of people living in tenements led to an increase in the spread of disease. Tenements are substandard multi-family dwelling in the urban core, usually old and occupied by the poor and usually didn 't have plumbing or electricity. Higher percentages of people living in cities also led to a higher crime rate, which was made worse by the tension between the “old” immigrants and the “new” immigrants. “Old” immigrants was the immigration that took place from 1776 to 1890. Most of these immigrants came from Northern and Western Europe. “New” immigrants came to America from areas that had not traditionally supplied settlers to the US. Most of the immigrants came from southern Europe and Eastern Europe such as Italy, Russia, Poland and Greece, as well as Asian locales such as China and Japan. Most Americans didn 't like the immigrants because there was a language barrier and they believed that the immigrants took their jobs because they would work harder for a lower wage. For the poor in the cities, life was