•Muckrakers were journalists and photographers who raked up muck (filth) and exposed these abuses of wealth and power to the public. •They wanted to expose corruption in industry, cities and government. •They believed if the public would see or read it for themselves…..there would be an outcry and people would want to improve conditions …..and demand the government to make reforms.

“Digging up the dirt” = Investigative Journalism

Lincoln Steffens: The Shame of the Cities

Ida Tarbell: The History of Standard Oil

Jacob Riis: How the Other Half Lives

Upton Sinclair: The Jungle

John Spargo: The Bitter Cry of the Children

Thomas Nast: Political Cartoons

Famous Muckrakers

Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle, exposed the filthy, unsanitary working conditions and corruption in a meatpacking

company in Chicago

                                    

                                                                

After reading The Jungle, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt brought about reform by proposing and signing into law the:

Meat Inspection Act of 1906All meat sold must be inspectedPure Food and Drug Act, 1906

Federal inspection of all packaged foods and drugs.

Contents of food and drug packages must be listed on labels.

Led to the formation of today’s Food and Drug Administration

After reading The Jungle, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt brought about reform by proposing and signing into law the:

Meat Inspection Act of 1906All meat sold must be inspectedPure Food and Drug Act, 1906

Federal inspection of all packaged foods and drugs.

Contents of food and drug packages must be listed on labels.

Led to the formation of today’s Food and Drug Administration

John Spargo

The Bitter Cry of the Children

Exposed child labor in the factories and education for children.

Helped bring about reforms that ended child labor and increased enrollment in schooling.

Jacob Riis

How the Other Half LivesExposed living conditions of the urban poor; focused

on tenements (run down apartments).

New York City passed building codes to promote safety and health.

In the 1880s, Americans were worried about trusts. Trusts were made up of businesses that joined together so they could reduce competition and control prices—like the Meat Trust, The Railroad Trust, The Sugar Trust, etc. Because of that, in 1890, Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Then they went after companies like Standard Oil and the U.S. Steel Corporation.

Ida Tarbell exposed the ruthless tactics of the Standard Oil Company through a series of articles

published in McClure's Magazine. In Standard Oil v. U.S. (1911), the company was declared a monopoly and broken up.

What is a monopoly?Mono-onePoly-manyOne company controlling all of an industry. Like when Standard Oil Company controlled almost all of the oil in the United States. That meant it controlled the supply, the prices, who could sell oil, and even who could buy oil!

Thomas Nast’s political cartoons helped expose corruption by New York City's political machine, Tammany Hall, led by Boss Tweed.

Tweed was eventually convicted of embezzlement (stealing public money) and died in prison.