Chapter 17, Section 3: Teddy
Roosevelt’s Square Deal
Objectives:
1. To trace the events of Theodore Roosevelt’s
presidency
2. To show how Roosevelt used the power of his
office to regulate business
3. To identify laws passed to protect citizens’
health and preserve the environment
4. To summarize Roosevelt’s stand on civil rights
Roosevelt’s Childhood
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Born into a very wealthy New York family
Had asthma & was a frail child, often sick
Drove himself to accomplish physical feats
Mastered marksmanship & horseback riding
Went to Harvard University where he boxed &
wrestled
• Very ambitious & entered the life of politics
Theodore Roosevelt
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Was the Mayor of New York
Was Police Commissioner of New York
Was Assistant Secretary of U.S. Navy
Was Governor of New York
Became McKinley’s VP running mate
Eventually became President after McKinley was
assassinated
Theodore Roosevelt
• Did things his way & the political bosses
could not control him
• They thought it would better to get him out of
the governor’s position so they would be able
to run their political machines
• Hatched a plot to “kick Roosevelt upstairs where he
could do no harm”, and nominated Roosevelt as
McKinley’s Vice President in 1900
• Republican’s realized Roosevelt was one breath
away from becoming the most powerful person in
the government
Theodore Roosevelt as President
• Became president in 1901
• While president he boxed with professional, one of
whom blinded him in his left eye
• Rode 100 miles on horseback just because he could
• Went on bear hunts & was said to have sparred with
a bear cub: a toymaker marketed a new product
called the Teddy Bear
• Was bold, had a dynamic personality & was hugely
popular which helped him advance his programs
Roosevelt’s Thinking
• He thought it was the responsibility of the
federal government for our nation’s
welfare
• Thought government should assume
control whenever states proved incapable
of dealing with problems
• “The President is the steward of the
people and can assume he has legal right
to do whatever the needs of the people
demand.”
Theodore’s Roosevelt’s Square Deal
• Roosevelt would see to it that the common
people received what he called a Square Deal
• This term was used to describe the
various progressive reforms in the
Roosevelt administration
• Roosevelt believed that modern America
required a powerful federal government
• If big business victimized workers it was the
Federal government’s job to intervene
Roosevelt & the 1902 Coal Strike
• 140,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike
• Wanted a 20% pay raise, 9 hour work day, & right to
organize a union
• Mine operators refused to bargain or even meet with
them
• George Baer brought religion into it and said he felt a
religious duty to defeat the strikers – Pres. Roosevelt
thought he was an idiot
• Roosevelt gets them to use a federal arbitration
committee to help settle the disagreement
• Workers received a 10% pay raise, 9 hour work day, but
forfeited all of the workers belonging to the union, &
could not strike for 3 yrs
Federal Arbitration: A New Principle
• From then on when a strike threatened the
public welfare, the federal government could
intervene
Trust Busting
• Good trusts = had a conscience
• Bad trusts = greedily abused the public
• Did not want to destroy the trust because that
would destroy the national economy
• Pres. T. Roosevelt filed 44 anti-trust suits
against companies who established monopolies
• His goal was to gain federal regulation
over companies
Railroad Regulation
• Interstate Commerce Act – prohibited the setting up
of “pools” in which wealthy rail owners divided up
the business in a given area & shared the profits
• ICC – set up to enforce the above law, but had little power of
railroad owners
• Elkins Act of 1903 – made it illegal for rail official &
shippers to give or receive rebates And once a
railroad had set it’s rate, it could not change it.
• Hepburn Act: limited distribution of free railroad
passes
• All helped the government gain power in regulating the
railroads
Protecting Citizens & the Environment
• Promoted laws to protect citizens from unsafe
food & drugs, and the environment from
pollution
• Thought compromise was the key to benefit
public heath & the environment
Protecting Health
• Roosevelt read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair &
knew he needed to make a change
• Appointed a commission of experts to report on
the accuracy of Sinclair’s description
• The commission backed Sinclair’s reports
• Roosevelt passed The Meat Inspection Act in 1906
– it dictated strict cleanliness requirements
• This act supported the progressive principle of
government regulation
• Negative side of this act: government paid for the
inspections & companies did not have to label their
canned goods with date of processing info
Pure Food & Drug Act
• Pure Food & Drug Act was passed in 1906
– it halted the sale of contaminated foods
or medicines and called for truth in
labeling
• Before passage of this law, manufacturers
advertised that their products accomplished
everything form curing cancer to growing hair,
children’s medicine sometimes contained
opium, cocaine & alcohol
Conservation & Natural Resources
• Americans had shortsightedly exploited their natural
environment: leveled forests, plowed up prairies, cattle
overgrazed, coal companies cluttered the land with coal
dumps, untreated sewage & industrial waste was being
dumped into rivers
• Roosevelt said, “Our resources are not endless!”
• He banned Christmas trees in the White House
• Set aside 1.5 million acres of water-powered sites
& another 80 million acres for U.S. Geological
experts to explore for minerals & water
resources
• He established over 50 wildlife sanctuaries &
several national parks
Conservation & Natural Resources
cont…
• Roosevelt hired Gifford Pinchot as head of
the U.S. Forest Service
• Together they established The Newlands Act;
money from the sale of public lands in the
West funded large-scale irrigation
projects
• This act established that the federal government
would manage the precious water sources in the
West
Roosevelt & Civil Rights
• Father was a northerner, mother was a southerner
• Was not a supporter of civil rights for African
Americans
• However did support a few individual African
Americans
• Appointed an African American as head of the
Charleston, SC courthouse
• Met with Booker T. Washington
• Roosevelt did little to advance the goal of racial
equality for blacks
Homework
• Complete questions 3 & 4 on page 511
• Complete the geography skills builder question
using the map on page 509
• Due Tomorrow!!!
President William Howard Taft
Objectives
• To summarize the Taft presidency
• To trace the division in the Republican party
• To describe the election of 1912
William Howard Taft
• President from 1909-1913, Republican Party
• Only President to be a Chief Justice on the Supreme
Court
• Largest President at 6’4” and 325lbs
• First President to own a car, throw the 1st pitch on
opening day of the baseball season, play golf
• First President whose funeral was broadcast on
radio
• A good friend of Teddy Roosevelt – hand
picked by Roosevelt to be his successor
William Taft cont…
• Was a judge in Ohio, a judge on the U.S. Court of
Appeals, a lawyer, & a law professor at
Cincinnati Law School
• Married to Helen “Nellie” Herron who was very
ambitious and wanted to be First Lady
• Hated campaigning
• He was a cautious president
The Payne-Aldrich Tariff
• Taft campaigned on a platform of lowering tariffs –
a staple of the Progressive agenda
• Introduced the Payne-Aldrich bill which would
lower rates on many manufactured goods
• The Senate changed the bill to only lowering
rates on hides, birdseed & sea moss
• Instead of vetoing the bill, Taft passes it
• Many of his progressive supporters are outraged
• Addressed the people in a speech & made it worse
Disputing Public Lands
• Appointed Richard Ballinger (a wealthy Seattle
lawyer) as Secretary of the Interior
• Richard Ballinger disapproved of
conservationist controls on western lands
• He removed 1 million acres of forest and
mining lands from the reserved list
• Approved the sale of millions of acres of coal
rich land in Alaska to Seattle businessesthey then sold it to New York businesses
including J.P. Morgan
• Again, Taft’s supporters were outraged
Disputing Public Lands cont…
• There was a congressional hearing regarding
Ballinger’s actions and Gifford Pinchot (head of
U.S. Forest Service) testified against him
• Trying to protect his administration
(Ballinger) Taft fires Gifford Pinchot
• Again, his supporters are outraged
• The Republican Party starts to split
The Republican Party Splits
• Taft’s cautious nature makes it impossible for
him to hold together the two wings of the
republican Party
• Progressives: sought change
• Conservatives: did not want change – keep the
status quo
• Split over Taft’s support of political boss Joseph
Cannon who was also Speaker of the House of
Representatives
Republican Party Splits over Joe
Cannon
• Joe “Uncle Joe” Cannon was a poker playing, rough
talking, tobacco chewing politician.
• Disregarded seniority when filling committee
positions
• Anointed himself head of the Committee of Rules
which decided the bills Congress would consider
• Basically had a dictatorship & often ignored
Progressive bills
• Reform minded Republicans with the help of
Democrats strip Cannon of his power
Republican Party Splits
• They have a midterm election where everyone
gets to vote for a new house leader & Committee
on Rules
• Republican is divided between the Progressives
and Conservatives: they’re upset over cost of
living, high tariffs, and the conservatives think
Taft is against conservation
• The Republicans lose in the House elections and
the Democrats take control of the House of
Representatives for the first time in 18 years
Bull Moose Party
• Roosevelt has been in Africa shooting big game
• When he returns people are calling for him to return
to office as President
• He removes his support of Taft and their friendship
ends as well
• Roosevelt declares he is running for President for a
third term
• Roosevelt gives a rousing speech declaring the
country needed a “New Nationalism” where the
federal government would extend its power for the
“welfare of the people”
Bull Moose Party: Republican
Convention
• At the Republican Convention the Republicans
refuse to seat Roosevelt delegates
• Re-nominated Taft on the Republican ballot
• Roosevelt holds his own convention in August &
forms a third party: the Progressive Party
• The Progressive Party nominates Roosevelt on
for president on their ballot
• The Progressive party becomes known as the
Bull Moose Party due to Roosevelt declaring he
was “strong as a bull moose”
Bull Moose Party: Their Platform
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Direct election of senators
Advocated women’s suffrage
Workmen’s compensation
An 8 hour workday
Minimum wage for women
Child labor laws
Federal regulation of business
Woodrow Wilson
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28th President from 1913-1921
President for 2 terms
56 years old at time of Presidency
Professor & President of Princeton University
Governor of New Jersey from 1911-1913
Only President to have a Ph.D.
No military experience
Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1920
Married twice: Ellen & Edith
Woodrow Wilson: Major Events in
Office
• Seventeenth Amendment ratified calling for direct
election of Senators (1913)
• Federal Reserve Act (1913)
• Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914)
• World War I (1914-1918)
▫ Lusitania Sunk (1915)
▫ United States entered World War I by declaring war on
Germany (1917)
• Treaty of Versailles (1919)
• Eighteenth Amendment ratified prohibiting alcoholic
beverages (1919)
• Nineteenth Amendment ratified giving women the right
to vote (1920)
Wilson’s New Freedom
• Had Progressive ideals
• Thought that trusts should be broken up
(Roosevelt thought that trusts should be regulated)
• Thought businesses should be made smaller,
not that government should get bigger
• Wanted to give greater freedom to average
citizens
• He called his program the New Freedom & planned
his attack on trusts, tariffs & high finance
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
• Sought to strengthen the Sherman Antitrust Act
of 1890
• It declared certain business practices
illegal: companies could no longer
acquire stocks of another corporation if it
led to a monopoly
• The Clayton Act specified that labor unions &
farm organizations would no longer be
subject to antitrust laws-could strike,
boycott & picket now
Federal Trade Commission
• Was a watchdog agency that had the
power to investigate corporations
• Put an end to unfair business competition
& unfair business practices
• Could force a company to “cease and
desist”
• FTC handed out over 400 cease and desist
orders
A New Tax System under Wilson
Underwood Tariff of 1913
• Reduced tariff rates
• Rates dropped from 40% to 30%
• Had to find a way to replace the revenue from the
decrease in tariffs
Federal Income Tax – 16th Amendment
• Taxed profits and earnings
• Taxed larger incomes at a higher rate than
smaller incomes
• By 1917 the government received more money than any
tariff
• Today income tax is the federal government’s
main source of revenue
Federal Reserve System
• Wilson thought the nation needed a way to
make credit more easily available
• Wanted a way to quickly adjust the amount
of money in circulation
• Both money supply & credit availability had
to keep pace with the economy
• Wilson established a centralized private
banking system under federal control
• Federal reserve banks had the power to issue
new paper currency in emergency situations
• Is the basis of the nation’s banking system