Although Teddy Roosevelt has enjoyed a reputation as a spokesman of Progressivism and the "Great Trust-Buster," more trust prosecutions (a total of 99) occurred under William Howard Taft than under Roosevelt.⁶⁶

By 1900, just 1% of American corporations controlled a full third of the nation's manufacturing.⁶⁷

Among the democratic reforms that Populists and Progressives both demanded—and won, by 1900—was the secret ballot. Until the 1880s and 1890s, political parties actually printed their own ballots, also known as "tickets," which listed only the party's candidates. These ballots were distributed to loyal party members who simply dropped the tickets in the ballot box on election day. Under this system, voter fraud was rampant (tickets were commonly inserted in ballot boxes on behalf of dead or nonexistent citizens) and party bosses could monitor the votes of their constituents to enforce party discipline. The secret ballot was printed by the government, distributed at the polls, and filled out in private and helped to break some of the party control and voting fraud.⁶⁸