Imagine a workforce without labor laws. Large corporations would still retain control of major products, creating a nightmare for the American people. Workers would be drastically underpaid for their grueling work; children would still feel forced to work to contribute to the support of their families. Now imagine a world without food safety laws. Meatpacking companies could put ingredients in the product without labeling. They may also include toxic chemicals without major governmental and legal repercussions. Not many realize it, but these two simple laws are taken for granted. Barrack Obama explains it perfectly: “It was the labor movement that helped secure much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage. The pillars of middle-class security all bear the union label.” Although the Union played an important role in ensuring labor laws and food safety requirements, there was one person who gave the much-needed huge push to achieve even more human rights. That person is the author and human rights activist, Upton Sinclair. Without the literature of Upton Sinclair the United States would not have the same human rights as it does today. Upton Sinclair lived in a troubled world as a child. He was born in 1870 in New York, during the Long Depression. As its name suggests, the Depression was long, but it was not as economically catastrophic as the Great Depression (Long). The Depression had a terrible impact on the Sinclair family. Poverty continually plagued them, threatening to push them back from the brink of starvation (Simkin). There was another pressing issue the family needed to address: Sinclair's father, Sinclair Sr., was an alcoholic (Simkin). Sinclair Sr. had trou...... middle of paper ......tion. Without him the reaction would never have started. He was also the first to meat packing companies and their product quality (Upton). Without Sinclair's detective work, the findings could have been discovered much later, meaning a more scandalous impurity could have developed. Sinclair was of fundamental importance in his time. Upton Sinclair's impact on society was so immense that human rights and food regulation would not have been the same without him. There was no author like him in his time. He had to go against his society. He defended his opinions, even when people told him they weren't good. Think about it: if Upton Sinclair hadn't spoken his mind, there might still be inadequate standards in human rights and food preparation. Never take them for granted, because great progress can always come from a minor decision.