History Unit IV 17-523-8;538-0 11032009

Upton Sinclair

One of the most famous of the muckraking journalists of the Progressive era. He wrote a book called The Jungle, about the meat packing industry. President T. Roosevelt invited Sinclair to the White House, then Roosevelt formed a Commission to study the problems Sinclair had written about. The book was a direct impetus for the passage of the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.

Pres. T Roosevelt and Square Deal

Progressive reforms during his presidency; TR was an activist president; he used the power of the Presidency speak to the American people and Congress about progressive ideas and reforms. Using what is known as the "bully pulpit" he also pressured Congress to pass many pieces of reform legislation (see other cards). Examples = his administration brought suit 44 times using the Sherman Anti-trust Act and its update; other reforms included food safety, product safety (e.g medicines); labor reforms, etc.

1902 coal strike

large scale strike of PA coal miners for better wages and better working conditions. Important point is that Roosevelt's administration intervened and settled the strike. This set a public policy precedent that if a strike threatened public welfare (e.g. health and safety of people) the federal government would and could step in to mediate, arbitrate, and settle a strike.

Interstate Commerce Commission ICC 1887

The ICC was passed before President T. Roosevelt's tenure in order to set rules and enforce them regarding commerce that crossed state lines in the US. Roosevelt used the law in relation to the railroads--e.g. against railroads for unfair fee setting. ICC lasted until 1995

Meat Inspection Act of 1906

required the meat operators to have better sanitary conditions in meat packing factories and began the inspection by federal inspectors of all meat processed and sold in US. This act set a process that was unchanged until the 1990s.

Pure Food and Drug Act

this act established the FDA and mandated that medicines were labeled correctly and didn't contain illegal ingredients

John Muir

naturalist, writer, and advocate for the preservation of wilderness. Muir believed forests were sacred and that the wild lands should be preserved by the federal government for their beauty and not used for resource extraction. Famous in getting Yosemite National Park established as a federal park, not a state controlled park. Muir's legacy is the establishment of National Parks for preservation.

Gifford Pinchot

First professional forester in the US government, he was appointed by Roosevelt as the head of the US Forest Service. Pinchot believed in conservation of forests, not preservation. Pinchot believed in the use and management of natural resources and in extraction of those resources from public lands. Pinchot's legacy is the managed use of public lands e.g. national forests and other national lands for timber, grazing, hunting, minerals extraction, etc.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Black intellectual leader who started the N.A.A.C.P. National Association of the Advancement of Colored People in 1909; he wanted the full integration of African Americans into American society (opposite of Booker T. Washington -- e.g. estab. Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute --separate education for black people etc.).

Carrie Chapman Catt

She built on the legacy of the women who had worked for nearly seventy years for the right of women to vote--e.g. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. She was President of the N.A.W.S.A. - National American Women Suffrage Association at the time of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment giving women the right to vote. Catt founded the League of Women Voters--which is still active today.

Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914

Strengthened the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by prohibiting companies from acquiring stock from another company if that stock acquisition would lead to the creation of a monopoly.

Federal Trade Commission FTC 1914

During President Wilson's term; investigated violations of regulations and unfair business practices. The FTC still exists today.

Federal Reserve System 1923

During President Wilson's term; set up Federal Reserve System of the Central Bank and regional banks - basis of US banking system. The Federal Reserve System is still used today in US

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 1911

NYC one of largest factory fire disasters ; due to unsafe building (e.g. lack of fire escapes, exits, etc.) about 150 immigrant workers died in the fire. This disaster began the push for fire safety (in addition to 1906 EQ and fire in San Francisco). The American Society of Safety Engineers was a response to this fire as the American Society of Civil Engineers had been to the 1906 CA EQ and fire.

Sixteenth Amendment 1913

established Federal Income Tax on earnings of individuals and corporations

Seventeenth Amendment 1913

Provided for the direct election of US Senators by the people of each state; rather than US Senators being elected by the state legislature of each state

Eighteenth Amendment 1919

prohibition of alcohol manufacture, sale, and transportation; along with Volstead Act. (only amendment repealed - by Twenty-first Amendment in 1933)

Ninteenth Amendment 1920

women suffrage; e.g. women given right to vote