1900 Election
Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909
(Republican)
“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, who comes short
again and again; who knows great enthusiasms; who
spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows
in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at
the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and
timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. “
Rise to the Presidency
• Former Harvard graduate,
cowboy, police commissioner,
NY assemblyman, Rough
Rider
• Nominated as Vice President
to remove him from office as
Governor of NY
• McKinley’s assassination in
1901 by Leon Czolgosz many Republicans worst
nightmare
“That damned cowboy”
• Strong beliefs / willing to
compromise
• Believed in direct action
• Disliked the courts, frustrated by
Congress
• Saw Constitution as an
obstruction
• Greatly increased the power of
the Executive Branch
- power of the “bully pulpit”
Roosevelt – Reformer?
Progressive philosophy - Three C’s
(Control of Corporations,
Consumer Protection,
Conservation)
Control of Corporations
• Progressive philosophy - “Square
Deal” for the working man
• 1902 Coal Strike - 1st time a
president sided with labor
• Northern Securities case - TR used
the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break
up a monopoly (JP Morgan!)
• Roosevelt distinguished between
“good” and “bad” trusts –
Gentlemen’s Agreement with
Corporations
• 1906 - Hepburn Act empowers the
ICC to regulate the railroads
Consumer Protection
• 1906 -Meat Inspection Act
and Pure Food and Drug
Act
Response to Upton
Sinclair’s the Jungle
• Pure Food and Drug Act
– Created the Food and
Drug Administration
– Required licensed
physicians to sign
prescriptions for
medicine
– Warning labels on
addictive drugs
Conservation
• Created 5 National
Parks
• Newlands Act - sold
public land to build
dams and canals to
conserve water
• 1906 - Antiquities Act increased national
forests 190 million
acres
• US Forest service - led
by Gifford Pinchot
prevented illegal use
of public lands
William H. Taft
• Progressives did not see Taft
as a supportive of their policies
– he abandons them
• Still pushes 90+ anti-trust suits
• Biggest suit – Standard Oil v.
USA
– Court breaks up Standard Oil
– Adopts “Rule of Reason” –
monopolies are allowed if they
are reasonable
– Suit against US Steel – biggest
company, Roosevelt is
outraged!
• Final straw for Roosevelt –
Taft’s Sec. of Interior Ballinger
fires Pinchot over a dispute
between trusts and
corporations
Election of 1912
New Freedom – New Nationalism
New Freedom
New Nationalism
Roosevelt
Use antitrust suits
Against “bad trusts”
Activist Role
Of the Federal
Government
Progressive Reform
Laws – not courts –
Should protect people
From harms caused by
Corporations
Use Antitrust suits
Wilson
Use antitrust suits
Against ALL trusts
Triple Wall of Privilege:
Banking, Trusts, Tariffs
Woodrow Wilson - Democratic Progressivism
Prime Minister style –
– President should lead Congress in
making laws
– Wilson delivered message to
Congress in person
The Triple Wall of Privilege
– Tariff – Underwood Tariff Bill cuts the
tariff
– Impact: new tax structure focused on
domestic income
– Banking – Federal Reserve Act
– Impact: creates the Federal Reserve
Board with currency control
– Trusts – Clayton anti-trust (“labor’s
Magna Carta”)
– Impact: updated the Sherman Act
• new weapons against the trusts
• guaranteed union rights (strike
rights, picketing)
Wilson’s Progressivism
• More Progressive Reforms
– Federal Farm Loan Act – credit to
farmers at a low interest rate
– Keating-Owen Act – limits child labor
(struck down in Hammer v.
Dagenhart, 1918)
– Workingmen’s Compensation Act –
disability payments to federal
workers
Limits of Wilson’s Reforms
– African Americans had little influence
over Wilson
– Suffragettes were dismissed by
Wilson