Chapter 21, Section 4
“The Progressive Presidents”
Teddy Roosevelt’s
Square Deal
• Square Deal – a nickname for Pres.
Roosevelt’s policies that attempted to
balance the interests of businesspeople,
laborers, and consumers
– 1902 Coal Miners Strike – he
threatened to take over the mines
unless managers and strikers agreed to
arbitration (first time govt. intervened
in a strike and didn’t side with
business)
– First president to successfully use the
Sherman Anti-trust Act to break up
monopolies and trusts
– TR supported laws regulating
businesses
• 1903 Elkins Act authorized the
Interstate Commerce Commission
to impose heavy fines on railroads
that offered rebates, and upon the
shippers that accepted these
rebates
• 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act
“The Jungle”
• Muckrakers helped build support for
President Roosevelt’s efforts to
regulate big business
• Upton Sinclair’s novel “The Jungle”
published in early 1906 about
immigrants working in a meat-packing
plant shocked the nation with its
description of unhealthy practices
there
• Pure Food and Drug Act – law passed
by Congress in 1906 that prohibited
the manufacture, sale, and transport
of mislabeled or contaminated food
and drugs
• Meat Inspection Act – law passed by
Congress in 1906 that authorized the
Dept. of Agriculture to inspect and
condemn any meat product found
unfit for human consumption
Roosevelt &
Protection of the
Environment
Teddy Roosevelt with
John Muir at Yosemite
National Park
• T.R. was very worried about the loss of
natural resources
• 2 schools of thought on protecting the
environment
– Preservationists like John Muir
believed that nature should remain
untouched so people could enjoy its
beauty
– Conservationists like Gifford Pinchot
of the Forest Service thought
resources should be protected so
they would be plentiful for future use
• Roosevelt preserved more than 200
million acres of land, created Wildlife
refuges, and protected national parks
like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon in
Arizona were protected
John Muir
• John Muir – was a Scottish-born
American naturalist, author, and early
advocate of preservation of
wilderness whose activism helped to
preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia
National Park and other wilderness
areas (also one time UW student)
• The Sierra Club was founded by Muir
and is now one of the most important
conservation organizations in the US
• One of the most well-known hiking
trails in the U.S., the 211-mile John
Muir Trail, was named in his honor as
was the Muir Woods National
Monument near San Francisco
Presidency of
William Howard
Taft
• Teddy Roosevelt did not run for
reelection in 1908
• The Republican candidate Taft won
the presidency in 1908, promising
continued Progressive reforms
(such as business regulation and
opposition to socialism)
• As president, Taft upset
Progressives by not aggressively
pursuing reforms (he felt that TR
had claimed too much power as
president)
• Taft passed the Payne-Aldrich
Tariff of 1909 which raised many
tariffs
– Roosevelt and Progressives
furious with Taft as they saw
high tariffs leading to higher
prices for consumers
Election of 1912
• Both President Taft and Teddy
Roosevelt sought the
Republican nomination for
president
• Taft won and TR and the
progressive Republicans split
from Taft and the conservative
Republicans
• Progressive Party – name for
TR’s new party (nicknamed the
Bull Moose Party) which sought
to further reform govt. and
society
• With the Republican vote split,
the Democratic Party candidate,
Woodrow Wilson, won the
election without a majority of
the votes
Presidential Election of 1912
Woodrow
Wilson’s
Reforms
• In his inaugural address, focused
on the social well-being of
working-class Americans
• 16th Amendment – allowed federal
government to impose direct taxes
on citizens’ income
• Underwood Tariff Act of 1913 –
lowered tariffs, and introduced
first income tax
• Federal Reserve Act – 1913 law
that created the national banking
system to regulate the economy
• Clayton Antitrust Act – 1914 law
that strengthened federal laws
against monopolies and trusts
• Federal Trade Commission –
created in 1914 and had the power
to investigate unfair trade
practices