Ap Us History Dbq

Between the years of 1900 and 1920, reformers and the national government partially brought reform to a national level due to economical, political, and social interruptions. The period of social activism and political reform in the United States was known as the Progressive Era, however society still needed reforms even after that period. Theodore Roosevelt became our president after William Mckinley's assassination, however his enforcements and actions weren't accidental. He successfully enforced his "Square Deal" policy, in which he aggressively restricted big businesses from forming a monopoly which led him to be known as a "trust-buster" (Doc. A). The expanding power of the executive branch and strengthen power of the Interstate Commerce Commission was a result of the Northern Securities Case in which a railroad holding company violated the Sherman Anti-trust Act. This particular case was the start of a series of trust-busting suits. The Sherman Anti-trust Act was an important tool for the dissolvement of monopolies, but Roosevelt, also, created more permanent regulation that helped him like the Hepburn and Elkins Act which regulated railroad rates and added more power to the ICC. Another Act that came into affect much later was the Clayton Anti-trust Act under Wilson's presidency. The act was very similar to the Sherman Anti-trust Act because it supplemented it (Doc. E). It kept regulatory authority to the federal government and was a result of Roosevelt stubborn fought wars between big businesses.
The involvement in reforming companies also meant that there needed to be a reform in labor and corporate activities. Very well known reformers contributed to this reform, many wanted an end to child labor. Before the case, a majority of states had laws that regulated child labor and in 1916 Congress passed the Child Labor Act under the Commerce Clause to influence child labor practices. The Hammer v. Dagenhart case brought forward that the Commerce Clause did