Brittany Clark
Am St 100.2 – Writing America
Lesson:
The American Dream – The Progressive Era and The Jungle
Overview:
The excesses of the Gilded Age had many questioning the lack of regulation. The rise of the
Progressive Era saw reform minded citizens seeking change, and journalists willing to expose the
ills of society in their writing. Upton Sinclair’s 1906 book The Jungle set out to expose the
horrendous working conditions (especially for immigrants who could be easily exploited for not
speaking English or knowing customs of the culture), but ended up transforming the conditions
that produced the country’s meat. The impact of this reform is still seen today, as our culture
continually glorifies organic food, and questions the practices that lead to processed food.
Objectives:
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Students will gain a better understanding of how the excesses of the Gilded Age led to
the reforms of the Progressive Era
Students will gain a clearer understanding of some of the specific measures that
produced such reforms by looking at The Jungle
Students will see the impact of a book like The Jungle in today’s society
Notes:
Recap -- Gilded Age
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The Gilded Age was a period of economic growth as the United States
o The unequal distribution of wealth remained high during this period. From 1860
to 1900, the wealthiest 2% of American households owned more than a third of
the nation's wealth
The nation was rapidly expanding its economy into new areas, especially heavy
industry like factories, railroads
o Increased mechanization of industry is a major mark of the Gilded Age's search
for cheaper ways to create more product.
o This mechanization made some factories an assemblage of unskilled laborers
performing simple and repetitive tasks under the direction of skilled foremen
Immigration Boom
o approximately 10 million immigrants came to the United
o the federal government in 1892 opened a reception center at Ellis Island
o Switch away from Western to Eastern Europeans.
Growth in cities
o Chicago (where The Jungle is largely set) grows from 29,000 people in 1850 to
1.7 million in 1900
o This growth is largely due to in the influx of immigrants and others looking for
this low skilled work. Looking for their own American Dream where they might
someday become the next Andrew Carnegie or John Rockefeller.
Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?
 Some of the figures discussed earlier
o Cornelius Vanderbilt – railroads
o John Rockefeller – oil
o Andrew Carnegie – steel
o J.P. Morgan – finance
 While it is true that these men donated large portions of their wealth to universities,
libraries, charities, etc. they began to be seen as “Robber Barons”
o Gaining wealth on the backs of the poor
 They were accused of
o Overworking their employees and paying very low wages
o Squashing competition by any means necessary to create a monopoly
 Large corporations (“Trusts”) dominated their individual industries
 And then raising prices on their goods
o Paying off high level government officials
The Progressive Era (1890s – 1920s)
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a period of widespread social activism and political reform
There was this idea that laissez faire, free market capitalism (the idea that the government
should be kept out of business as much as possible) was not working for everyone
o Out of control monopolies
o Income inequality was outrageous
o A feeling there was nothing those at the bottom could do
Reform movements sprung up for everything: economics, politics, science and education.
o Out of this movement we get
 The rise of labor unions fighting for things like an 8-hour work day
 The Sherman AntiTrust Act which regulated monopolies
 The 17th Amendment, which said that Senators, previously appointed by
state legislators, would now be elected by the people through primaries
 Women’s suffrage and the 19th Amendment granted women voting rights
Newspapers
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Before 1890 the presses were largely owned by political parties
o Political parties realized two thing:
 Easier to get your message out if you own a newspaper
 Easier to sell newspapers with a built-in audience.
o Newspapers were owned and run by party members who were then granted
favorable government appointments for running the party line.
Hearst vs. Pulitzer
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Opposing newspaper magnets
Hearst came from wealth (dad was a senator from CA)
Pulitzer rose up by his bootstraps
If it weren’t for the other person, either would’ve had a newspaper monopoly, certainly in
New York, but possibly in the whole country as they both owned newspapers outside of
the state.
Their rivalry was all about trying to one-up the other guy, and see who could sell more
papers
o At first Hearst undercharges for his papers, forcing Pulitzer to do the same (think
of the Walmart model today)
o Then they started feeding on the sensationalism of Yellow Journalism – blowing a
story out of proportion, or even making stuff up.
 “If it bleeds, it leads.”
 Focused largely on scandals and crimes.
o Eventually, the public gets tired of all of this sensationalism, and so it becomes
about telling the story better, more truthfully.
 After his death, Pulitzer’s heirs established the Pulitzer Prize, which is a
well-respected journalistic award is still given out today.
Raking the Muck
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This is where our book, The Jungle, comes in.
A type of investigative journalism aimed at exposing the ills of society.
Partly in response to yellow journalism, and sensationalist journalism, in feeling that the
public had the right to know what was going on in society, and that these types of stories
weren’t giving them the whole picture. They were more about selling papers than about
exposing the truth.
It should be noted that muckraking still used sensationalism to get the word out.
o Figures like Nelly Bly who went undercover at an insane asylum fed on the
sensational elements to sell her story, while still exposing the truth.
But from this we get works like:
o Ida M. Tarbell exposing the manipulation inherent in creating a monopoly at John
Rockefeller’s Standard Oil company
o Jacob Riis using photographs to expose the living conditions in large cities,
particularly in slums
o Lincoln Steffens exploring the link between politicians and their links to big
businesses.
o Samuel Hopkins Adams exposing the false claims made by patent medicines,
which,
o along with Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle led to the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act.
The Jungle
“I aimed for the public’s heart, and by accident hit it in the stomach.” – Upton Sinclair
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Written in 1906 after a 26 year old Upton Sinclair went undercover working in the
Chicago meatpacking industry.
The book is actually dedicated to “The workingmen of America.”
o Sinclair said [quote], as he intended the book to expose poor working conditions,
especially for immigrants who would come into the country searching for that
American Dream, only to get taken advantage of because they didn’t speak
English or know the customs of the country.
o Instead, the public was more concerned with what was going into their meat and
the conditions in which it was being processed.
It caused President Teddy Roosevelt to look into these conditions and pass the Pure Food
and Drug Act, and the Meat Inspection Act, only 4 months after the book was published.
o He also established the Bureau of Chemistry, later renamed the Food and Drug
Administration to oversee the inspection of these things.
Today we recognize the aspects of the book depicting the struggles of workers, but that
wasn’t readily apparent to the readers, who were distracted with the other parts. And so,
consequently, there was no large public outcry for worker’s rights after the publication.
o Eventually (in the 1930s) labor unions organized and improved the conditions for
working people. But we’ll talk about that more next time.
Video
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Excerpt(s) from book and pictures
Examine the differences in the book and in the video showing today’s conditions
o One of the first things I notice from this video is that it takes her almost a full
minute to put on her protective gear. And not just masks and hairnets. She is
wearing chainmail. Chainmail: the stuff knights used to wear. What does that say
about the working conditions of this job, and how dangerous it is? Do any of the
guys from the previous pictures look like they’re wearing chainmail? Probably
not. And so we can begin to see why Sinclair might have been concerned about
the workers in this industry.
Impact
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The impact of this book goes beyond just Schlesinger’s Fast Food Nation.
o Pink Slime
 2012 ABC news did a report on what kind of fillers and preservatives go
into packaged ground beef.
o Chipotle Commercials in in 2011 and 2013
o Jamie Oliver’s Food revolution
 A show depicting celebrity chef Jamie Oliver as he tried to reform
American school lunch programs. In the first season he visited a city in
West Virginia, which is statistically one of the unhealthiest cities in the
country. In one episode he demonstrated how McDonald’s chicken
nuggets are made from chicken byproducts.
Sinclair and the Jungle allowed us to really question the standards of the food we eat, and
make sure that it is up to snuff. Even if that wasn’t quite what he intended.