Blog #5: Response to Chapter 6, "Muckraking"

The Muckrakers played a huge role in our history if it weren't for them society would still be denoted by robber barons and corrupt politicians. These reporters provoked political, industrial, and social change by describing the horrid details to create a new style of magazine writing. Consequently the rise of the magazine was instrumental in the success of muckraking. Muckraking was called "The Literature of Protest." The first Muckraker was in 1902 name Lincoln Staffers, he began writing journals. He wrote articles exposing the "illegal and unscrupulous practices" among state government officials. He went through public records and interviewing city officials. Another famous Muckraker was Ida Tarbell known as the queen of the Muckrakers. In 1906, congress passed the Hepburn Act, "which made the penalties for preferential arrangements by railroads so severe that the practice quickly ceased." Muckrakers were an important part of history.