📘
Enduring Issues Graphic Organizer: The Progressive Era
(1890–1920)
Name: ___________________________
Date: ___________________________
Enduring Issue: The Role and Responsibility of Big Business
📍 Enduring Issue Definition:
Big Business means large companies that have a lot of money and power. During the Progressive
Era, people started to ask, “Should these companies be allowed to do anything they want, or
should the government step in to protect workers and citizens?”
🧠 Historical Context:
Sentence Starter:
A big problem during the Progressive Era was
_______________________________________________.
Many people moved to cities and worked in factories. But
_________________________________________.
This led to __________________________________________ (ex. bad working
conditions, unsafe food, child labor, etc.).
📄 Document Evidence:
📘 Document 1: Jacob Riis (Tenement Housing)
Sentence Starter:
Jacob Riis showed that poor people lived in
__________________________________________________.
He said this caused problems like
________________________________________________________.
He wanted the government to
____________________________________________________________.
✅ Enduring Issue Connection:
This shows how big business ignored the health of workers and the government needed to
take responsibility to
__________________________________________________________________.
📘 Document 2: Upton Sinclair (Meatpacking Industry)
Sentence Starter:
Upton Sinclair wrote about
___________________________________________________________.
He showed that meat was
____________________________________________________________.
After this, the government made new laws to
__________________________________________________.
✅ Enduring Issue Connection:
This shows that big business did not care about _______________, and the government
had to step in to _______________.
📘 Document 3: Lewis Hine (Child Labor)
Sentence Starter:
Lewis Hine took pictures of
________________________________________________________.
Children worked ________________ hours in dangerous jobs and did not go to school.
Progressives wanted laws to
___________________________________________________________.
✅ Enduring Issue Connection:
Big businesses were using children for cheap labor, but groups like
________________________ fought to make change.
📘 Document 4: President Theodore Roosevelt
Sentence Starter:
President Roosevelt said big companies should not
______________________________________.
He believed the government should stop them when
________________________________________.
Roosevelt thought it was the government’s job to
__________________________________________.
✅ Enduring Issue Connection:
This shows that even leaders believed the government had a duty to protect people from
____________.
🔄 Outside Information (What you know that’s not in the
documents):
Sentence Starter:
I also know that during this time, women like Jane Addams helped by
______________________________.
The government passed laws like the Meat Inspection Act and
_________________________________.
🧩 Summary:
Sentence Starter:
The issue of big business is important because
__________________________________________.
During the Progressive Era, the government and reformers worked to
____________________________.
These changes helped protect
________________________________________________________.
The Progressive Movement was (successful / partly successful / not successful) because
____________.
