ABSTRACT
The last decade of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century were fraught times in the United States. The industrialization and urbanization that began in the nineteenth century continued to give rise to profound economic, political, and social problems. The key economic development at the end of the nineteenth century was the growth of “trusts” in various areas of American business life. These trusts, later called monopolies, consisted of large corporations that gained control over a particular business or industry. This control enabled them to set prices, regulate production to maintain these prices, and determine wages without regard to consumer demand or the needs of workers. American politics was another arena of progressive era reform. Politicians at all levels of government succumbed to the financial favors that the wealthy could bestow on them in return for a contract or a favorable decision regarding some regulatory or tax issue.
