Upton Sinclair, a largely unknown fiction writer, became an 'accidental muckraker' when he wrote a novel about the meat-packing industry. It referred to investigative writers who uncovered the dark side of society.įew places had more 'filth on the floor' than the meat- packing houses of Chicago.

He referred to him as a man with a 'muck-rake.'Įven so, Roosevelt had to admit, 'There is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck-rake.' The term 'muckraker' caught on. senators of both political parties for serving the interests of big business rather than the people, President Roosevelt thought Phillips had gone too far. When David Phillips, a progressive journalist, wrote a series of articles that attacked U.S. Roosevelt did not always approve of the progressive-minded journalists and other writers who exposed what they saw as corporate injustices. But he favored government regulation of them 'with due regard of the public as a whole.' 'The corporation is here to stay,' he declared. Roosevelt favored large-scale enterprises. Assuming the presidency in 1901 after the assassination of William McKinley, he remained in the White House until 1909. Theodore Roosevelt was the president when the progressive reformers were gathering strength. The owners of the large industries dismissed all these proposals: They demanded that they be left alone to run their businesses as they saw fit. A growing minority argued in favor of socialism, the public ownership of industries. Others thought state or federal government regulation would be more effective. Some progressives wanted to break up the large corporations with anti-monopoly laws. The progressives differed, however, on how best to control these big businesses.

The progressives revealed how these companies eliminated competition, set high prices, and treated workers as 'wage slaves.' Steel, and the Armour meat-packing company for their unjust practices. Progressives at first concentrated on improving the lives of those living in slums and in getting rid of corruption in government.īy the beginning of the new century, progressives had started to attack huge corporations like Standard Oil, U.S. Known as progressives, the reformers were reacting to problems caused by the rapid growth of factories and cities. His description of diseased, rotten, and contaminated meat shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws.īefore the turn of the 20th century, a major reform movement had emerged in the United States. Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to expose the appalling working conditions in the meat-packing industry. 1)Ĭommunism, Capitalism, and Democracy in China | Upton Sinclair's The Jungle | John Dewey and the Reconstruction of American Democracy Upton Sinclair's The Jungle:

Bill of Rights in Action FALL 2008 (Volume 24, No.

The jungle book upton sinclair