In 1869, the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor (KOL), which initially offered a more reasoned approach to solving labor problems, was established in Philadelphia. At its inception, the KOL included nine tailors whose leader was Uriah S. Stephens. The organization, which believed that its predecessors had failed by limiting membership, proposed to organize both skilled and unskilled workers in the same union. They also opened their doors to African Americans and women. In its early years, the Knights of Labor was a highly secret society since in many areas, union members were immediately fired. The Knights developed ornate rituals, drawn from Freemasonry, to govern their meetings. By the early 1880’s, the group had emerged as a national for

The response group having the most success, in my opinion, would be the Progressives. Several landmark acts were passed regulating bug businesses and trusts (Federal Trade Commission and Clayton Antitrust Acts of 1914), and the currency system was redesigned and permanently nationalized (Federal Reserve Act of 1913). These changes were at the highest governmental levels and continue to affect the lives of millions of Americans every day. The elections process was also changed as a result of progressivism. Finally, municipal, state, and national politics were captured by the progressive plan.

Populism was a third-party movement that materialized in America in the 1890s, generating a spirited energy that also caused a certain alarm near the seats of the mighty. The Populists engaged in a social analysis of contemporary American society that yielded a range of proposed economic reforms. Foremost among them was the Sub-treasury Land and Loan System, which redesigned American banking and proposed a restructured monetary system that would fundamentally alter the power relationships between bankers and everyone else. The Populist concern about "concentrated capital" extended beyond banks to include large-scale business organizations generally. Populist reformers felt that business domination of the political process, through massive campaign contributions to friendly officeholders and persistently effective lobbying in the national Congress and the state legislatures, had proceeded to the point that the practice had begun to undermine the democratic idea itself.

The progressive movement arose as a response to the vast changes brought by industrialization. Progressivism began in the cities, where the problems were most delicate. Dedicated men and women of the middle class background moved into the slums and established settlement houses. Reformers attacked corruption in municipal government and formed nonpartisan leagues to defeat the well-established bosses and their political machines. However, urban reformers were often frustrated because state legislatures, controlled by railroads and large corporations, obstructed the municipal struggle for home rule. The Reformers turned to state politics, where progressivism reached its fullest expression. In state after state, progressives advocated a wide range of

Some topics in this essay:
Civil War, Knights Labor, Reserve Act, Loan System, Watson Georgia, World War, Jennings Bryan's, Democratic Party, Square Riot, Roosevelt Congress, knights labor, child labor, reserve act 1913, federal reserve act, response success, fusion democrats, third party, regulating railroads, trade commission, american society, federal trade commission, government regulation business, system redesigned, pacific railroad,