TR and the Modern Presidency
Section 6.1
Do Now:
• Smart Board Activity:
How is this quote indicative of T.R.
as a progressive and a president?
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points
out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer
of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs
to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face
is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives
valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and
again, because there is no effort without error or
shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms,
the great devotions, who spends himself for a
worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end,
the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the
worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and
timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
Today we will be able to identify those
actions that T.R. took that made him a
truly modern and progressive president by
examining his beliefs about conservation,
his actions during the Northern Securities
Case, his action during the strikes he
faced, and his reaction to The Jungle.
Conservationist vs. Preservationist
• Concerned about wasteful use of
resources
• Gifford Pinchot (Chief Forester)
proposed planned management
(conservationist) of resources
• John Muir of Sierra Club proposed
preservation
• TR took a pragmatic approach
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Text
Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890, first measure passed by the
U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts; it was named for
Senator John Sherman. Prior to its enactment, various
states had passed similar laws, but they were limited to
intrastate businesses. Finally opposition to the
concentration of economic power in large corporations
and in combinations of business concerns led Congress
to pass the Sherman Act. The act, based on the
constitutional power of Congress to regulate interstate
commerce, declared illegal every contract, combination
(in the form of trust or otherwise), or conspiracy in
restraint of interstate and foreign trade. A fine of $5,000
and imprisonment for one year were set as the maximum
penalties for violating the act.
Northern Securities v. United States
(1902).
• Holding company owned
by JP Morgan
• Controlled RR rates (1902)
• TR ordered Justice
Department to use
Sherman Antitrust Act
against RR monopoly in
Northwest
• Supreme Court ruled
(1904) that it must be
dissolved
• Gave TR label of a trust
buster
Describe TR’s actions during the Anthracite
Coal Strike of 1902
• 1902 140, 000 coal miners went on
strike
• Goal of United Mine Workers
– 8 hr. work day
– 20% pay raise
– Union recognition
• Company refused any negotiation
• TR threatens to nationalize the coal
mine
• Outcome
– 9 hr. work day
– 10% pay raise
– No Union recognition
TR Regulate business?
• Department of Commerce and
Labor (1903)
• Created to regulate business
and enforce economic
regulations
How did TR strengthen the Interstate
Commerce Act?
• Elkins Act of 1903
– Amended ICA of
1887
– Forbade rebates,
defined unfair
discrimination and
reinforced
adherence to
publish rates by
interstate shippers
• Hepburn Act of 1906
– Gave ICA authority
to determine RR
rates and prescribe
bookkeeping
methods
– Prohibited free
passes and forbade
rr companies to
carry goods
produced by
themselves
Upton Sinclair and The Jungle
How did TR attempt to protect the
consumer?
• Meat Inspection Act • Pure Food and Drug
Act of 1906
of 1906
– Forbade
– Authorized
manufacture, sale
Secretary of
adulterated foods
Agriculture to
and drugs and the
inspect all meat
mislabeling of
products for human
products
consumption
– Caused by public
outcry from The
Jungle by Upton
Sinclair
Judging Roosevelt
President
William
Howard
Taft
P27wht.wmf
•Hand picked by Roosevelt
Avid "trust buster"
•Had a falling out with TR
over conservation
•Sided with “Old Guard”
Republicans