Movements In History

Throughout United States history, there have been times when movements or programs have developed in response to demands for political, economic, or social reform. Two of these times were during the Industrial Era when progressivism took place and The Great Depression when the New Deal took place. Both of these happened in different time periods, but both of them involved movements in response to demands for reforms.

From 1900-1920 the United States was still in the industrial Era. During this time ruthless monopolies were threatening Capitalism by creating trusts and bonds which eliminated competition in the business world. This was hurting the American consumers because if there was no competition and one company owned a good that good's price would be raised so high that most consumers could not afford it, but had to buy it to survive. During this time period Progressivism took place. This time period was when progressives or urban dwellers, fought to get rid of monopolies and improve the economy. Muckrakers were progressives that wrote about the evils of the monopolies, so these progressives had a lot of power. One muckraker named Upton Sinclair wrote a book titled The Jungle which exposed the evils of the meat packing industries. President Theodore Roosevelt read Sinclair's book and promised to stop the meat packing industry from poisoning the meat. Teddy did this by signing the Meat Inspection act of 1906 giving the federal government the right to inspect the meat. the progressivism movement began because the monopolies had to be stopped and the only way that was going to happen is if the government would get off the policy of Laissez faire and start making reforms and laws to stop them.

During the Great Depression there was a time called the New Deal that took place from 1933-1945, this time was a time where Franklin Roosevelt tried to get the country out of the Depression. During this time FDR set up programs to put money into