The late 19th to the early 20th centuries saw a series of beneficial reforms by lawmakers for the working class. According to Chudacoff, Union rights to ‘organize, bargain, and strike’ were advocated by rising democratic leaders (p172) and they fought for government regulation of large businesses, as well as government ownership and regulation of public utilities like transportation and services due to the monopolistic nature of corporations. Legislators also advocated for inheritance, intangible property, and graduated income taxes in order to shift tax weight onto the wealthy and contribute to a redistribution of wealth. (p173) Today, reformations in legislature that affect the working class, like the recent union crisis in the state of Madison, Wisconsin, continue to be a debated issue that has evolved to meet the demands of the changing pace of the economy.
