History inherently affects our lives. Every decision, great or small, affects the future in some manner. Progressivism is an important example of how reforms made over a hundred years ago can continue to influence our government today. One example of the success of progressive ideas is women’s rights. After 70 years of campaigning, the movement towards women’s suffrage was finally gaining real support in government. Under Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, women once again rose against the government Carrie Chapman Catt lead the National American Woman Suffrage Association through a long and exhausting campaign towards reform, eventually leading to the ratification of Women’s voting rights in 1920. She had this to say about the experience, “It is
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Sinclair was a type of journalist known as a ‘muckraker’, one who looks to specifically investigate and reveal abuses kept hidden during the gilded age. Sinclair set his eyes on the meatpacking industry with The Jungle, providing abhorrent descriptions of the conditions in which American food was kept. The novel caught the attention of the nation and managed to get all the way to President Theodore Roosevelt. While Roosevelt had previously verbalized his distaste for muckrakers, the novel’s lurid descriptions and popularity brought him forward to make a statement, “the specific evils you point out shall , if their existence be proved, and if I have power, be eradicated” (385). So, having the power, Roosevelt and the rest of the federal government took action. The Pure Food and Drug Act (approved in 1906) were the first steps to improving sanitation in food. In order to enforce this act, the organization that would become the Food and Drug Administration was formed. The FDA still exists today, regulating what is able to be sold, imported, and consumed in the United States. The FDA continues to work to make America a safe place to eat, drink, and take drugs. Without these acts and the FDA, it is certainly possible that America would still be eating the ‘meat’ of The Jungle, placing their lives in the hands of business
Sinclair was a type of journalist known as a ‘muckraker’, one who looks to specifically investigate and reveal abuses kept hidden during the gilded age. Sinclair set his eyes on the meatpacking industry with The Jungle, providing abhorrent descriptions of the conditions in which American food was kept. The novel caught the attention of the nation and managed to get all the way to President Theodore Roosevelt. While Roosevelt had previously verbalized his distaste for muckrakers, the novel’s lurid descriptions and popularity brought him forward to make a statement, “the specific evils you point out shall , if their existence be proved, and if I have power, be eradicated” (385). So, having the power, Roosevelt and the rest of the federal government took action. The Pure Food and Drug Act (approved in 1906) were the first steps to improving sanitation in food. In order to enforce this act, the organization that would become the Food and Drug Administration was formed. The FDA still exists today, regulating what is able to be sold, imported, and consumed in the United States. The FDA continues to work to make America a safe place to eat, drink, and take drugs. Without these acts and the FDA, it is certainly possible that America would still be eating the ‘meat’ of The Jungle, placing their lives in the hands of business