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Woman's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union advocated complete abstinence from alcohol and tried to incite reform in line with their religious values. -
Interstate Commerce Act
The interstate commerce act was the first federal attempt to regulate railroads and established the interstate commerce commission. It was meant to regulate railroad rates but wasn't entirely enforced. -
How the Other Half Lives
John Riis's book exposed the conditions of the New York City slums and the lives of those who lived in them and helped incite sympathy for reform. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act banned trusts that restricted trade and was meant to limit monopolies. However, it was often used against labor unions. -
National American Woman Suffrage Association
The National American Woman Suffrage Association was lead by Carrie Chapman Catt, who argued for suffrage as an extension as a woman's responsibility to care for their families and the wellbeing of the public. -
Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells was a southern editor of the Memphis Free Speech and frequently wrote campaigning against lynchings and Jim Crow laws. When her office was destroyed, she continued her work in the north. -
Anti-Saloon League
The Anti-Saloon League lobbied for U.S. prohibition. Worked both in politics and to promote awareness of the negative effects of alcohol socially. -
John Dewey
John Dewey was a philosopher who believed in "learning by doing" and "education for life" and helped found progressive education practices. -
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger advocated for the legalization and popularization of birth control. She founded the first U.S. birth control clinic and started the American Birth Control League. -
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs was the leader of the American Railroad Union and also the candidate of the Socialist Party, which called for radical reforms, for five elections, and was outspoken against big business and for labor. -
Anthracite Coal Strike
Miners were tired of terrible conditions and went on strike. Because the country really needed its coal, Theodore Roosevelt summoned both sides to the White House and made them compromise. -
Ida Tarbell
Ida Tarbell wrote The History of the Standard Oil Company, which was both a factual and sensationalist account exposing unfair practices and muckraked the company. -
Lincoln Steffens
Steffens published Tweed Days in St. Louis, a muckraking article criticizing the corruption in the city. -
Northern Securities Antitrust
Roosevelt attacked the Northern Securities Trust, a railroad company which sought to monopolize the northwest. The court upheld Roosevelt's antitrust suit and ordered for them to be dissolved. -
Elkins Act
The Elkins Act allowed the interstate commerce commission to impose heavy fines on railroads offering rebates/those who accepted them. -
Department of Commerce and Labor
Established by Roosevelt, the Department of Commerce and Labor was meant to handle the domestic economy and regulating business practices, address labor issues, and assure fair trade/aid commerce. It was later broken into two separate departments. -
Robert La Follette
Robert La Follette established a series of progressive ideas in his homestate, the "Wisconsin Idea", including railroad regulation, direct primaries, and tax reform. -
Square Deal Policy
Roosevelt's policy was to ensure fairness for consumers, workers, and businesses; a "square deal" was his campaign slogan in 1904 which got him elected. -
Meat Inspection Act
The Meat Inspection Act made it a crime to sell meat that was poor in quality or misbranded and required inspections to ensure that conditions were sanitary. -
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle exposed the terrible, unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing industry and contaminated meat. It lead to many of the food/meat reforms. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act regulated the manufacturing and branding of medicine and food to ensure it was safe and accurate. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was an industrial diaster in which many people died, leading to legislation for improved factory safety. -
Progressive (Bull Moose) Party
The Progressive Party advocated for trust/industry/business regulation, government reform, women's suffrage, and other progressive causes. They nominated Roosevelt as their 1912 candidate. -
17th Amendment
The 17th amendment made it so that senators were directly elected by the people of their states, rather than by state legislature. -
Underwood Tariff
The Underwood Tariff lowered tariff rates and also enacted a graduated income tax. -
Federal Reserve Act
The Federal Reserve Act established the Federal Reserve System of regional banks and a Federal Reserve Board to regulate currency and credit. -
Clayton Antitrust Act
The Clayton Antitrust Act expanded upon the practices covered by the Sherman Antitrust Act, including price discrimination and interlocking directorates, and also exempted labor unions from being considered trusts/legalized strikes as peaceful assembly. -
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission was created to enforce antitrust acts and policies in protecting consumers and eliminating monopolies. -
Keating-Owen Child Labor Act
The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act sought to end child labor by prohibiting the interstate sale/shipping of products made by anyone under fourteen years old. -
18th Amendment
The 18th Amendment established prohibition by prohibiting the sale, production, and transport of alcohol. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment made it so that women could vote, and prohibited state and federal governments to deny anyone the right to vote due to their sex.
