Major Figures in Roosevelt’s Cabinet
The Election of 1904
Candidates:
GOP = Theodore Roosevelt (TR)
Demo. = Alton B. Parker (conservative Demo.)
Socialist = Eugene V. Debs
Issue: Corruption in politics, economy & society
Sec. of State = John Hay (1901-1905)
Sec. of War = Taft (1904-1908)
Sec. of Interior = James Garfield (Pres. Garfield’s son) (19071909)
Vice Pres. = Charles Fairbanks
Domestic Policy
The Progressive Era: Political reforms
Foreign Policy
“Big Stick” Diplomacy
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Local, state & national reforms
Reforms were enacted by Congress to address
abuses in business (trusts), the economy, and the
environment
The Square Deal
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TR campaigned on the promise of a square, or fair, deal
for citizens while reconciling this with business.
TR supported legislation that monitored & regulated
businesses.
TR did this with the 3 C’s:
1. Regulation of Corporations
2. Consumer protection
3. Conservation of natural resources
TR was an ACTIVE arbitrator b-w the demands of labor
& the businesses. (Anthracite Coal Strike)
Anthracite Coal Strike (1902)
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TR’s nickname for his foreign policy: the Roosevelt
Corollary (addition) to the Monroe Doctrine
It is in reference to the African proverb: “Speak softly and
carry a big stick, and you will go far.”
Purpose of it is to protect US eco. interests in Latin
America. Latin American countries can make decisions
for themselves as long as they act “reasonable” but if
“chronic wrongdoing” results by them or others (European
countries); the U.S. will intervene as an “international
police power.”
Leads to expansion of the US Navy to “police” Latin
America and more involvement in world affairs.
Taking over Dominican customs duty
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The Dominican Republic was having problems paying off
their debts to Britain & Germany.
So, Britain & Germany decided to send a bit of force to
make them pay.
TR freaked! If the European powers came to Latin
America to collect its debts, they may never leave, which
would violate the Monroe Doctrine.
So, TR issue his Roosevelt Corollary, which stated that
the US would take over and pay all debts of Latin
American countries. This keeping the Europeans on the
other side of the Atlantic.
So, no one can bully Latin America except the US!!!!!
Dominican Republic basically becomes a protectorate of
the US and it aroused great indignation in Latin America.
The United Mine Workers, led by John Mitchell, went on
strike for better wages, less hours, and recognition of
there union.
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Coal Mine owners refused to compromise.
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TR worried country will freeze w/out coal during the
winter and invites labor & owners to White House for
arbitration. Owners refuse to come and TR threatens
force. Owners eventually come. 
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Arbitration results: labor gets raise, less hours, but no
union recognition; owners raise price of coal to pay
higher wages.
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Labor got the better deal because they had never won
before. TR very popular w/ labor “common people”
afterwards. 
Departments of Commerce and Labor created
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Created in 1903. Fed’l bureaucracy is growing!!!!
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Created to settle disputes between labor & b’ness.
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Bureau of Corporations is also created and under the
Commerce & Labor Department. It investigated antitrust
violations in interstate commerce. (Example: Northern
Securities Case)
Arbitration in Venezuela
Northern Securities Case (1902)
Continuation of Philippine-American War
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TR dusts of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) and uses
it to break-up JP Morgan’s rr holding company that had a
monopoly on all rr’s west of Chicago. This was a “bad”
trust. 
This is the 1st time the Supreme Court used the Sherman
Anti-trust Act to break up a trust for restraining trade. 
Industrial Workers of the World formed (1905)
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IWW (“Wobblies”) = Socialist Union
Goal to create one big union (skilled & unskilled labor)
that could overpower corporations and abolish
capitalism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Militant/radical/violent strikes
Leaders = “Big Bill” Haywood
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Venezuela couldn’t pay her debts, either.
Britain, Italy & Germany blockaded Venezuela and even fired
upon its coast.
TR was worried Germany would take over it.
Roosevelt threatened military action against the European
powers, which retreated and later negotiated with
Venezuela.
This incident was a major stimulus behind the Roosevelt
Corollary and the subsequent U.S. policy of Dollar
Diplomacy in Latin America.
Philippine-American War (1899-1902)
1901 = US captures Aguinaldo (Filipino insurgent);
concentration policy similar to Gen.Weyler in Cuba 
1901 = Insular Cases = Constitution doesn’t follow the
flag
1902 = Lodge Committee; TR declares the war over
Taft =Gov.Gen. of Philippines to organize a civilian gov’t
Panama Canal Zone
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Canal needed through Central American isthmus for faster
travel & to protect our new territory (Philippines, Puerto
Rico, Guam & Hawaii)
Panama was part of the country of Columbia.
A French Canal Company had already tried to build a
canal there but it failed. US planned to buy the company
out and finish the job.
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Conservation:
1. Newlands Reclamation Act (1902)
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150 million acres were added to the national forest
reserve
Fed’l gov’t sold semi-arid land in the West & used the $
from the sales to build dams for rivers, canal systems &
irrigation to make the land better, so people from urban
areas would move there.
2. National Monuments Act (1906)
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Also called the Antiquities Act
Original purpose to protect Native American ruins &
artifacts on fed’l lands in the West
It gave the Pres. The power to create National
monuments, even for scientific interests.
TR used it to make the Petrified Forest (AZ) and the
Grand Canyon National Monuments. 
190 million acres of forest federalized & protected;
Pinchot insisted trees be planted when cut down;
millions of acres of land set aside to protect resources.
Panamanian Revolution (1903)
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TR tried to negotiate a deal with Columbia to buy the
Panama Canal Zone but Columbia wouldn’t bargain in
good faith.
Roosevelt ultimately decided, with the encouragement of
Panamanian business interests, to help Panama declare
independence from Colombia in 1903. The US blocked the
sea borders of Panama, so that Columbia couldn’t help.
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A brief revolution, of only a few hours, followed the
declaration, and Colombian soldiers were bribed $50 each
to lay down their arms. On November 3, 1903, the
Republic of Panama was created, with its constitution
written in advance by the United States.
Hay – Buena Varilla Treaty (1904)
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3. Gifford Pinchot
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Head of the U.S. Forest Service (conservationist)
He is famous for reforming the management and
development of forests in the United States and
advocated the scientific conservation for the planned use
& renewal of the nation’s forest reserves.
Later will be fired by Pres. Taft in the Pinchot-Ballinger
Controversy, which upsets TR. 
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Panama Canal (1904-1914)
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4. White House Conference on conservation (1908)
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Governors for most of the states came together to work
on conservation and to implement it.
National conservation policy created.
Interstate Commerce Commission strengthened
-Elkins Act (1903) = rr regulation
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strengthened the ICC (created ay the Interstate
Commerce Act of 1887) by imposing heavy fines on rr
offering rebates and on the shippers accepting them. The
railroad companies were not permitted to deviate from
published rates.
-Hepburn Act (1906) = rr regulation
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Scholars consider it the most important piece of
legislation regarding rr in the first half of the century.
Gave the ICC power to set max. rr rates
ICC orders binding; that is, the railroads must either
obey or contest the ICC orders in federal court.
Anti-rebate provisions were toughened, free passes were
outlawed, and the penalties for violation were increased.
ICC gained the power to prescribe a uniform system of
accounting, require standardized reports, and inspect
railroad accounts.
Shortly after the Panamanian revolution, this treaty was
signed which gave the US the Panama Canal.
The U.S. paid $10 million to secure rights to build on and
control the Canal Zone to extend ten miles on either side
of the canal route in perpetuity; Panama was to receive a
payment of $10 million and annual rental payments of
$250,000.
B/c of U.S. support for Panamanian secession, relations
with Colombia remained fragile until Washington paid
that country $25 million in restitution, or "canalimony,"
under the Thomson-Urrutia Treaty of 1921.
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Engineering achievement; its completion shortened the
route of freighters between San Francisco, California and
New York City by 8,000 miles
1906 = TR visited it (1st pres. To leave country)
Col. Wm. Gorgas exterminated yellow fever 
Cost $400 million
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
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Japan attacks Russia, since Russia had been in Manchuria,
and proceeded to administer a series of humiliating
victories until the Japanese began to run short on men.
Japan has defeated a world power!!!!!! AWWWhhh.
Portsmouth Treaty (1905)
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Japan & Russia ask TR to negotiate the treaty to end the
Russo-Japanese War
At Portsmouth, New Hampshire, both sides met, and
though both were stubborn (Japan wanted all of the
strategic island of Sakhalin while the Russians disagreed),
in the end, TR negotiated a deal in which Japan got half of
Sakhalin but no indemnity for its losses.
Neither Russia nor Japan felt like they received a “square
deal” and b/c of this America lost two allies. 
Now, TR is worried about Japan!!!
Nobel Peace Prize (1906)
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TR wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his mediations in the
Russo-Japanese War and in his mediations in some North
African disputes as well. 
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Consumer Protection:
The Jungle published (1906)
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Written by muckraker, Upton Sinclair
Exposed the corruption of the meatpacking industry
Socialist novel = message is that socialism is the only
effective tool to fight capitalism & the only tru remedy
available to the poor masses of U.S.
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
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All food & drugs (medicine) must have label with
ingredients.
forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of
adulterated food products or poisonous patent medicines
Agreements with Japan:
1. Gentlemen’s Agreement (1907)
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Meat Inspection Act (1906)
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TR read The Jungle was suspicious of Sinclair's socialist
attitude and its conclusions, and so sent labor
commissioner Charles P. Neill and social worker James
Bronson Reynolds, men whose honesty and reliability he
trusted, to Chicago to make surprise visits to meat
packing facilities. Despite betrayal of the secret to the
meat packers, who worked three shifts a day for three
weeks to clean the factories prior to the inspection, Neill
and Reynolds were still revolted by the conditions at the
factories, and at the lack of concern by plant managers.
Following their report, the Neill-Reynolds Report,
President TR became a supporter of regulation of the
meat packing industry.
USAD will inspect meat processing plants that conduct
business in interstate commerce.
3 requirements: (1) mandatory inspections of livestock
before & after slaughtering (2) sanitary standards for
slaughterhouses & meatpacking plants (3) USAD has
authority to do this all the time.
After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the city decreed
that due to lack of space, Japanese children would have to
attend a special school. The Japanese parents wrote
Japan’s foreign minister and it became an international
issue.
TR settled this with a series of informal agreements
between the US and Japan.
Japan agreed not to issue passports to citizens for travel to
the United States, thus eliminating immigration.
In exchange, schools in San Francisco, California, agreed
not to discriminate against students of Japanese descent.
2. Root-Takahira Agreement (1908)
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Agreement made after TR’s Russo- Japanese settlement in
order to prevent TR’s conciliatory moves from being
interpreted as signs of weakness.
This is a contract b-w the US & Japan.
Both countries pledged to respect each other’s territorial
possessions in the Pacific and to uphold Hay’s Open Note
Policy in China.
Great White Fleet (1907-1909)
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16 US battleships of the Atlantic fleet went on a 14 month
voyage around the world.
The battleships were freshly painted white.
TR sent them to show the world how strong the US was.
The ships stopped by Japan to show them we were strong
NOT weak and they should respect us.
Voyage for PEACE, so we wouldn’t have war.
Lochner v. New York (1905)
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Set back for labor & unions 
Conservative Supreme Court loves laissez-faire eco. & it
does NOT believe in gov’ts power to regulate the eco.
(NOT progressive)
The court says that a state can NOT make a law limiting
the hours a (male) baker can work in a week b/c it
violates the 14th Amend. “right to free contract” of the
due process clause.
Muller v. Oregon (1908)
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Oregon passed a law limiting the hours women &
children could work in a week. The law is challenged.
Brandeis (Progressive) was hired by Florence Kelley to
be the defense attorney and he won. He become famous
because of this case & is later appointed to the Supreme
Court under Wilson. He is the 1st Jewish SC justice.
Brandeis created the “Brandeis brief” for this case. The
brief was filled with scientific & social science data
backing up his reasoning that women were the weaker
sex and that it was the state’s duty to protect them.
The Supreme Court agreed with Brandeis and said the
law did NOT violate the 14th Amend. b/c women were
inherently weaker & the law was necessary & proper to
protect their health and the health of their unborn
children.
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