The Golden Age Was before the Era of Progress

The gilded age in America started after the Civil War and ended just prior to World War 1. In this time period, the economy and population grew immensely. However, the Gilded Age was not all beneficial. The Gilded Age was also a time of great corruption in the US. This time period, was followed by the Progressive Era, which could also be called “the clean up duty” of the Gilded Age.

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Progressives aimed to clean up the mess that the Gilded Age created.

For example, during the Progressive Era, the meat packing industry was exposed, and corrected by passing two acts that provided standards for sanitation and health in the industry. Additionally, American women finally won a battle they had fought for almost a century, they were granted suffrage. Lastly, The United States gave Prohibition a chance, which was then followed up by the reversal of America’s Temperance. All in all, the presidents of the Progressive Era were extremely influential which led to the Progressive Era being one of the most significant time periods in America’s storied past.

The meat packing industry was a major problem of the Gilded age. The meat packing industry was similar to the standard oil, steel, and railroad industries in the sense that they were all big corporations whom were attacked by reformers during the Progressive Era. In specific to the meat packing factories, the floor was disgusting, and there were countless diseases that could be spread through packing meat in such dirty conditions. The government allowed industries such as meat packing to become corrupt because the government practiced laissez-faire during the Gilded Age. This means that the government was hands off. The government was hands off because these big businesses acquired great wealth. However, with Theodore Roosevelt as the President, change was coming. In 1904, the workers of Chicago meat packing factories found their working conditions to be unbearable. In order to combat this, the workers went on strike. Although the workers went on strike, the factories did not make any changes, instead they proceeded to hire strikebreakers in order to keep the factories running at usual. In late 1904, a man by the name of Upton Sinclair, a 26 year old white male who was a graduate of the University of Colombia, wrote a book called The Jungle. This book would change food sanitation forever. This book unveiled the atrocities that took place in meat packing factories to all of America.

President Roosevelt thought that these conditions were disgusting and knew a change had to be come in order to change the sanitation of meat in America. In 1906, Teddy Roosevelt passed the Meat Inspection Act. This act allowed inspectors to enter factories and make sure all the meat was safe to eat and labeled correctly. Shortly thereafter, The Pure food and Drug Act was also passed in 1906. This act required livestock inspection before slaughter and inspection of carcasses after the slaughter. The Pure Food and Drug Act also set sanitation standards for all slaughterhouses and meat packing factories. These acts led citizens to have more confidence in the meatpacking industry which was previously slammed by Upton Sinclair. These acts led the meat packing business to boom in the early 20th century.

Another problem that was fixed during the Progressive Era was Women suffrage. However, unlike the meat packing industry, The Women’s Suffrage Movement lasted about a century before a national change was made. Women’s voting rights became a very hot topic after the Civil War, specifically after the 15th amendment was passed. This amendment allowed all

African Americans to vote, however women were still deprived of the right to vote. Many women activists saw this as a window of opportunity to achieve women’s suffrage. Women’s activists even offered to side with racist southerners in order to balance out the votes of black males. This led to dissension between women’s suffrage activists, however this feud would be overcome in 1890, when the National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed. The first president of this organization was Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The original belief of women’s suffrage activists was that women should be able to vote because they are created equally as men. This evolved into the belief that women should be able to vote because they were different.

Women’s suffrage was helped immensely by the grass root ideals. This means that a problem was fixed locally and maybe statewide, which led to the reform going nationwide. Some western states started fully allowing women to vote in 1910. However, southern and eastern states refused to budge. World War 1 helped women’s suffrage because this was their opportunity to show that are just as worthy as men to vote. They were able to do this because most men were off at war. As a result, women were forced to work in factories to help war efforts. President Woodrow Wilson decided to change his point of view on Women’s suffrage from opposing to supportive. On June 4, 1919, the 19th amendment was passed by the United States Senate. Now this controversial amendment was so close to be passed, all it needed was to be ratified by the states. The amendment needed to be ratified by two-thirds of the states. In march or 1919, 35

states had approved this amendment. Only one state away, Tennessee was the deciding state. The deciding vote came down to a man named Harry T. Burn. Even though he was did not agree with this amendment, his mother made him vote to approve it. It became official on August 26, 1920. Women were officially able to vote. A few months later, the flood gates opened as almost 8 million females went to vote in the 1920 presidential election between Warren Harding and James Cox. Which was won by Warren Harding as he became the United States’s 29th president.

Prohibition was highly advocated for by the drys. Groups that fell under this category included the Anti saloon league and The Women’s Christian temperance union and many others. These groups thought that alcohol was America’s great curse. Prohibition is also considered to be grass root. In 1846, Maine passed the first ever prohibition law. Many states would follow prior to the Civil War. By the start of the 20th century, there were many temperance groups throughout cities all over the United States. Another huge component of Prohibition was women because many people thought that alcohol was a very common reason of divorce. Another reason temperance grew was because factory owners thought that if their workers were not drinking they would be able to work more efficiently and for longer periods of time. Temperance activists also thought the ban of alcohol would lower crime rate. When America entered World War 1, President Woodrow Wilson created a temporary prohibition in order to save the grain required to

make alcohol for food for troops fighting in the war. Later in the same year, Congress passed the 18th amendment which made it illegal to buy make or sell alcohol. The amendment easily achieved the required two-thirds state approval.

The enforcement of prohibition was a struggle as it was a task of the Internal Revenue Service this burden was then put on the justice system, however was still impossible to enforce completely. Prohibition was easier to enforce in rural towns, however in urban cities, it was virtually impossible. In the very early stages, there was slight success, such as much less arrest for drunkenness. However this would not last long, Bootlegging would start to become very popular. Bootlegging is the illegal manufacture of alcohol. This would lead to a rise in crime rate. A very infamous example of a man taking advantage of prohibition was Al Capone. Capone made about 60 million per year off the illegal manufacturing and selling of alcoholic products. There are countless negative effects of prohibition. For example, many jobs were lost due the factories and breweries closing. Also, restaurants were closing down because they could not afford to stay in business without being able to sell alcohol. The government paid close to 300 million dollars to enforce Prohibition. Also, the bootleg alcohol was extremely dangerous. There were at least one thousand deaths per year during prohibition due as a result of tainted liquor. Prohibition made criminals out of millions of Americans even prohibition agents and even police officers would often agree to bribes, which is a federal crime. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for President on the platform of ending Prohibition. Roosevelt trounced Herbert C. Hoover in the 1932 election. In 1933 congress passed the 21st amendment which repealed prohibition for once and for all.

The United states took great steps forward towards correcting America’s great follies. The meat packing industry’s lack of sanitation was extremely unsafe to those working in factories and also to those consuming the packaged meat. Teddy Roosevelt did a great job of taking strides at complete food safety by passing the Meat Inspection and Pure Food and Drug Acts. Also, through the grass root method, American women achieved suffrage nationwide. And lastly, The United States attempted prohibition. In each of these examples, whichever side the president was on was the side that prevailed. For example, Shortly after Wilson decided to support women suffrage, the act was passed. Similarly Franklin Roosevelt won the 1932 presidential election and promised an end to Prohibition. Shortly after his election, sure enough, the 21st amendment was passed ending Prohibition. All in all, with the help of extremely influential presidents, The progressive era helped amend some of America’s vices.