big businesses. But with the advent of the Progressive Era, things were about to change. Reformers like Theodore Roosevelt made the breakup of the trusts and conservation top priorities. Roosevelt took on J.P. Morgan in the Northern Security Company case. Roosevelt himself made a distinction between "good" and "bad" trusts. Bad trusts used their enormous power to exploit consumers and raise their prices. Roosevelt also felt that to efficiently battle the "bad" trusts and protest the public, the United States Senator needed to be elected by direct vote of the people, not by their cronies. Roosevelt's speech clearly illustrates his opinion on this subject. He obviously felt strongly about what he felt was the meaning of true democracy and wished for the United States to follow the guidelines of it by enabling the citizens to elect the United States Senators through a popular vote.
             Progressives included several different particular groups that banded together to attemp
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