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Chapter 16 Notes. Problems at the Turn of the Century. Muckrakers. muckraker: a journalist who wrote about social, environmental, and political problems Americans faced in the early 1900s Teddy Roosevelt gave them the name because “ "raked the mud of society .“. State of the Union 1900.
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Chapter 16 Notes Problems at the Turn of the Century
Muckrakers • muckraker: a journalist who wrote about social, environmental, and political problems Americans faced in the early 1900s • Teddy Roosevelt gave them the name because “"raked the mud of society.“
State of the Union 1900 • Rise of industry = rise of urbanization: the growth of cities- Drawn in by jobs and amusements • U.S. becoming an urban, industrial society with an increasingly diverse population • Mechanization = more production • More production= new methods of selling goods • Montgomery Ward and other catalogs • Department Stores
Poor Living Conditions • People lived in slum tenements • New York's Lower East Side, for example, housed 450,000 people in 1900. =than 300,000 people per square mile. • Poor living conditions because of poor infrastructure: the facilities or equipment required for an organization or community to function, including roads, sewage and power systems, and transportation • Lack of fire protection and sanitation
Poor Working Conditions • Factory work boring, strenuous, and dangerous • Unsafe products • No Gov. regulations • Meat- the Jungle • Medicine- Coca Cola
Problems with the Environment • Reduction of Natural Resources • Ranching, farming, logging • extractive industries: businesses that take mineral resources from the earth • Coal, oil, etc. • Pollution • Factories, animal waste, household sewage
Problems in Politics • political machines: an organization consisting of full-time politicians whose main goal was to retain political power and the money and influence that went with it • Tammany Hall: a political machine in New York City- Boss William Tweed • patronage: the practice of politicians giving jobs to friends and supporters • Rigged elections, money from entertainment, helped people for votes, Corruption • Pendelton Act-an 1883 federal law that limited patronage by creating a civil service commission to administer exams for certain nonmilitary government jobs
Social Problems • During the late 1800s, the gap between rich and poor grew wider • African Americans • Not many gains since civil war • Found ways to not allow them to vote • Many moved North • Women • Worked outside the home • Attended college • Families • Public education expanded but many can’t go b/c need children to work • temperance movement: a reform movement calling for moderation in drinking alcohol- Seen as way to improve family life