Progressive Era - Progressives & Muckrakers

The Muckrakers

The term "muckrakers" was used in the United States during the Progressive Era to describe a group of journalists, writers, and critics who sought to expose corruption, injustices, and social problems in American society. The term "muckraker" was coined by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, who used it to criticize journalists who he believed were too focused on sensationalism and scandal rather than constructive reform.

Despite Roosevelt's criticism, the muckrakers played an important role in the progressive movement by exposing issues such as child labor, political corruption, unsafe working conditions, and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few wealthy individuals and corporations.

Some of the most notable muckrakers of the era included:

Upton Sinclair, who wrote the book "The Jungle" in 1906, exposing the unsanitary and dangerous conditions in the meatpacking industry. This would lead to Federal legislation including the Meat Inspection Act (1906), and the creation of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1906.

Ida Tarbell, who wrote a series of articles exposing the monopolistic practices of the Standard Oil Company. Her articles among other muckrakers would eventually lead to the Supreme Court case of Standard Oil of New Jersey v. The United States (1911) in which the court ordered the breakup of the Standard Oil monopoly along geographical lines.

Lincoln Steffens, who wrote a series of articles and books exposing political corruption in American cities. These works were collectively published as The Shame of the Cities (1904).

Jacob Riis, who documented the living conditions of the urban poor in his book "How the Other Half Lives." This was a study on the Tenement Housing in New York City involving immigrants coming to America for the American Dream and work in factories.

Through their investigative journalism, the muckrakers helped to create public awareness of social problems and contributed to the political and social reforms of the Progressive Era.

The Progressives

Some of the key figures associated with the progressive movement included intellectuals, politicians, and social activists. They included:

Theodore Roosevelt, who served as the President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 and was known for his support of progressive reforms such as trust-busting and conservation. Theodore Roosevelt via executive order or proclamation issued nearly 10 times more executive orders than his predecessor. Many lands started out as preserves, but were expanded by later presidents and made into national forests. A cornerstone of his actions focused on the issue of conservation, and Roosevelt set aside more national parks and nature preserves than all of his predecessors combined. At the time, Roosevelt's executive action was controversial, and many of his actions were brought before a court.

Jane Addams, a social reformer and activist who founded Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago that provided social services to the urban poor.

Robert La Follette, a Wisconsin Governor and U.S. Senator who supported a range of progressive reforms such as direct election of senators and the regulation of corporate monopolies.

W.E.B. Du Bois, an African American intellectual and civil rights activist who helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Margaret Sanger, a birth control activist who founded the American Birth Control League, which later became Planned Parenthood. Sanger's efforts are controversial today. She believed in the Eugenics movements which believed that your race was determined by biology. Today, we know that race is a social construct and not biologically-based. Sanger placed her birth control clinics in poor and mostly black neighborhoods. The effects of these clinics have stained her reputation as being a racist along with Democrat President Wilson who segregated the government and armed forces along racial lines.

Ida B. Wells, an African American journalist and suffragist, was another influential female muckraker. She had been born into slavery in Mississippi in 1862, and in the 1890s became involved in anti-lynching activism. In 1892, she published Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases, which detailed the systematic disenfranchisement of Southern blacks and even some poor whites. Wells was very influential in the early movement for civil rights, and was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909.

The progressive movement was characterized by its commitment to social justice, democracy, and the promotion of the common good. Its reforms included child labor laws, improved working conditions, women's suffrage, and the regulation of corporations, among others. Overall, the progressives sought to use government power to create a more equitable and just society for all Americans.