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Elijah Elam
Mr. Brian
APUSH
8 March 2015
Two Steps Forward..One Step Back
Herbert Croly, an American author who was born in 1869 and died in 1930, once said, “The combination of Federalism and Republicanism which formed the substance of the system, did not constitute a progressive and formative political principle, but it pointed in the direction of a constructive formula.” Theodore Roosevelt took office in
1901, right at the beginning of the Progressive Era and he began the change of
America. He battled with big corporations that looked to take over smaller companies and the corrupt politics. He was not the only one to fight against the bigger corporations and unfold the companies’ bad conditions for its workers. President Teddy Roosevelt started these reforms but it did not end with him, they continued to move forward into
1920.
At the end of the 19th century, going into the 20th century, monopolies were at their highest points. Monopolies were a big success financially for the country as a whole but it failed at the “American” aspect of working in America. They took over the smaller companies which left some people out of a job and they lose their income to a larger company and they couldn’t control their company’s fate. One of the most famous of them all was J.P Morgan. J.P Morgan owned about 40% of the nation’s financial revenue. That was not the only monopoly, some others were John Rockefeller, who

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monopolized oil, and Andrew Carnegie, who monopolized steel. The workers at these large companies had no chance against them by themselves, so the government had to get involved. As shown in Document A, Teddy Roosevelt get rid of the bad trusts of the nation, who only cared about income and cared nothing about the conditions of their workers. The Sherman Antitrust Act, which outlawed monopolistic practices, is an example of the government getting involved with huge corporations. This was one of the first attempts to put an end to the monopolies all over the nation. Even though the government was needed to help the attempts of ending monopolies, corrupt politics would make the case even worse. To help this, as shown in Document D, the 17th
Amendment was created, which helped senators have to be voted into office instead of appointed by political bosses. This was very significant to the progression because corrupt politicians were less likely to serve another term if they had to be voted in, which helps the country move forward with them out of office.
In addition to the monopolies during the Progressive Era, the conditions of some of those monopolies were horrible for the products and the laborers. The financial outcome of the companies may have seemed profitable but it came at a cost. Many children were working in the factories across the nation, meaning they were not in school receiving the necessary education. In Document C it states, “Thousands of city youth will enter factory life at an early age, as early as the state will allow.” Also in
Document D it states, “Children under the age of fourteen and sixteen years have been employed or permitted to work more eight hours in any day, or more than six days in a
week.”