Dbq Progressivism

“Only as [one] recognizes his duties as a member of society can he secure the greatest opportunities as an individual.” An American phenomenon, Progressivism began in the early 19th century and revolutionized the idea of urbanization and industrialization (book). Due to its prosperous economy, the United States began to see the rise of business and income rates, and by 1900, approximately thirty percent of the population lived in cities. Upper and middle class Americans enjoyed the emergence of leisure time and the developments in technology, but the poor were not as fortunate. Thousands of immigrants and rural families moved to cities enticed by the American dream of prosperity with little education or wealth. They lived in over-crowded tenements, …show more content…
Children who did not work were considered a burden to their family, because they spent precious money on school, clothes, and food, ultimately depriving the family of necessary resources to survive. Therefore, as soon as any child reached the proper age, which was often as young as eight or nine, they went to work in environments such as mills and factories. Children toiled to catch shrimp, often slicing their hands and feet, picked cotton, made artificial flowers, and other small but laborious tasks. Because children worked in unhealthy conditions, they became more susceptible to disease. More horrific however, are the high rates of laming accidents and deaths caused in the work place. This can be traced to the malnutrition children suffered, therefore subjugating them to physical weakness and lack of attention while dealing with dangerous machinery (The Progressive Movement). John Spargo presents the appalling conditions in which children worked. They sit in “cramped positions” for hours on end and grow “deformed and bent-backed like old men” (Bitter Cry of the Children). He continues to explain the life ending injuries boys endured: “Sometimes there is a worse accident: a terrified shriek is heard, and a boy is mangled and torn in the machinery, or disappears in the chute to be picket out later smothered and dead” …show more content…
In response to The Jungle, president Roosevelt ratified the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 which required workers to inspect meat before it was shipped anywhere. Furthermore, this act allowed Agricultural Department officials to implement more sanitation precautions, especially in the meat packing factories. Roosevelt also passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, outlawing the sale or shipment of misbranded or altered drugs, foods, and liquor. With this act, the Food and Drug Administration began its overseeing of companies within the food industry, headed by Harvey Washington Wiley, chief Chemist of the Bureau of Chemistry in the Department of Agriculture (textbook). Similarly, the Progressive leaders made changes regarding work hours. In the Bunting vs. Oregon case, the Supreme Court passed legislation for a maximum ten-hour work day for both men and women in 1917. President Wilson contributed by passing the Adamson Act, requiring a maximum eight-hour work day. Progressivists sought to also drastically improve the social conditions of children. In 1906, northern reformers supported child labor activist, Edgar Garner Murphy in creating the National Child Labor Committee, an organization dedicated to the betterment of the young working children. They assumed the responsibility of creating awareness of the detrimental effects labor had on children. Equally

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