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The Progressive Era: Politics, Women, and Reform

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    Hi, and welcome back to Heimler's History.
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    In this lecture,
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    we get into the Progressive Era,
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    which is an era of great
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    change in American history.
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    Now, the progressives had many faces
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    and diverse stations in life,
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    but they all agreed on one thing: to use
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    the government as
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    an agent of human welfare.
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    No! [REACTION]
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    Yes.
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    All right, let's get to it.
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    (It's time to kick it old school).
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    [MUSIC]
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    (Take that easy).
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    So, the Progressives had their roots
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    in the Greenback Labor Party of the 1870s
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    and the Populous Party of the 1890s,
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    and as a whole, this movement was very
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    wary of the unrestrained
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    power of capitalism.
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    All of this hands-off,
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    laissez-faire-type governing didn't
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    seem to fit in a new industrial age.
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    The Progressives reasoned
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    that a non-interventionist government was
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    fine for the old days of the Jeffersonian
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    farmer, but now things had changed
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    and grown more complex,
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    and there needed to be a government
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    which could change with the times.
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    And so, beginning in 1902,
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    there was a whole group of photographers
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    and writers who made an industry out
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    of exposing the evils of this new age,
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    and they became known as the muckrakers.
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    Among the most significant
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    of the muckrakers was Jacob Riis,
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    whose photography of the New York City
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    poor uncovered the grinding conditions
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    in which many of the city's poor lived.
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    There was also Ida Tarbell,
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    who published a scathing history
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    of Rockefeller's Standard Oil.
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    And perhaps most famous of all was
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    Upton Sinclair, whose expose on the brutal
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    and unsanitary conditions of a Chicago
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    meat processing plant appalled the nation
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    so profoundly,
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    President Roosevelt included,
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    that Congress hastened to pass new
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    legislation including the Pure Food
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    and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.
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    Now, progressivism wasn't only a movement
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    among writers and photographers, it also
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    had a strong political contingent as well.
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    And we can't really talk about all their
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    different political aims and desires,
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    but essentially the progressivists
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    wanted two things.
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    Number one, they wanted to curb corporate
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    monopolies through the agency
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    of the state, and two, improve
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    the common lot of laborers and citizens.
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    And to this end, the Progressives were
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    able to pass a constitutional amendment,
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    namely the 17th Amendment.
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    Prior to this,
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    the only members of the federal government
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    who were elected by the people were
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    the House of Representatives,
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    but the 17th Amendment changed
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    that and put the election of senators
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    into the hands of the people.
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    And let's not forget the ladies.
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    Traditionally, as you know,
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    the woman's place in American culture was
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    having babies, raising babies,
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    and making everybody in the family
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    a sandwich, because the men have important
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    things to do like, you know, vote
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    and drink prodigious amounts of alcohol.
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    But it's during this age that women start
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    banding together to find the strength
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    enough to tell their men to make
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    their own stinking sandwiches.
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    Most significant during this period was
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    the ground swell of agitation these
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    women caused for the right to vote.
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    Now, the men were not too happy about
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    this, and why would they be since in their
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    view, a woman was just
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    a half-baked version of a man?
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    Now, it wouldn't be until 1920 that women
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    officially had the Constitutional
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    right to vote, but it all began here.
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    Now, one significant area of reform
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    that attracted women was factory reform.
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    You'll recall that during this time,
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    many women started working in factories,
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    and they were a good hire for employers
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    because they only had to pay them
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    about a third of what they paid men.
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    Honestly, I don't understand why women
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    are so discontent during this period.
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    Anyway, a couple of very significant court
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    cases were settled in favor of women
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    during this time,
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    including Muller versus Oregon.
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    Now,
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    this case proved the constitutionality
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    of laws protecting women workers
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    on account of they were
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    weaker bodily than men.
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    Now, we have to be careful not to read our
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    current standards of equality
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    and anti-discrimination
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    laws back into this period.
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    If we do, we'll be tempted to wag our
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    finger at all this, but in reality,
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    women felt this was a legal triumph
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    in their favor and a stepping
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    stone to further their goals.
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    The problem with laws, however,
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    is that they mean nothing sitting on the
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    books in some dusty legal depository.
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    No, laws must be enforced, and sadly,
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    many of these new laws which upheld
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    the rights of women were not.
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    Case in point, the Triangle
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    Shirtwaist Factory in New York City.
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    Now, this factory employed hundreds
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    of women in the garment industry.
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    We already know that factories were dismal
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    places to work, but in addition to all
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    of that, this factory paid no regard
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    for fire safety codes and kept
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    all of its exit doors bolted shut.
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    For what reason, I don't know.
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    Anyway, one night in 1911,
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    a fire broke out in the factory
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    and hundreds of women working
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    there were trapped inside.
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    And when it became clear that there was no
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    way to escape the fire,
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    many women fled to the windows
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    on the eighth floor and jumped.
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    Here's a firsthand account published
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    in the Milwaukee Journal March 27th,
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    1911: "I was walking through
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    Washington Square when a puff of smoke
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    issuing from the factory caught my eye.
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    I reached the building before
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    the alarm was turned in.
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    I saw every feature of the tragedy
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    visible from outside the building.
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    I learned a new sound, a more horrible
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    sound than description can picture.
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    It was the thud of a speeding
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    living body on a stone sidewalk.
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    Thud, dead; thud, dead;
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    thud, dead; thud, dead.
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    62 thud deads."
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    I call them that because the sound
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    and the thought of death came to me
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    each time at the same instant.
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    There was plenty of chance
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    to watch them as they came down.
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    The height was 80 feet.
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    I even watched one girl falling,
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    waving her arms, trying to keep her body
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    upright until the very instant
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    she struck the sidewalk.
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    She was trying to balance herself.
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    Then came the thud, then a silent,
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    unmoving pile of clothing
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    and twisted, broken limbs.
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    It would be the worst human disaster
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    New York City would know
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    until September 11th, 2001.
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    And I don't quote this to shock you,
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    although it is shocking.
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    I tell you this to try to move you out
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    of the cold, rational realm of court cases
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    and factory legislation and to help you
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    feel the horror that these progressives
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    felt, and to help you feel the reason why
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    they agitated for so much new
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    legislation and government intervention.
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    Now, there's more to the Progressive story
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    and we'll get to that in the next lecture,
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    but for now, I will see you next time.
Title:
The Progressive Era: Politics, Women, and Reform
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
BYU Continuing Education
Project:
APHIST-062(BYUIS)
Duration:
06:21

English subtitles

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