Roosevelt & Taft
Chapter 6 Lesson 2
Theodore Roosevelt
• President at age 42
• International affairs – Social
Darwinism
– Nations were in competition
and only the strongest would
survive
• Domestically – Progressive
– Gov. should balance the needs
of competing groups
Appling U.S. Constitution
• Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution states
that “The Congress shall have Power . . . To
regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and
among the several States. . . .”
U.S. v. E.C. Knight (1894)
• Knight owned 98% of sugar industry
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act could not be applied
because the sugar was manufactured within a
state
Northern Securities v. United States
• J.P. Morgan’s railroad holding company
– Northern Securities
• 1902 Roosevelt sued under the
Sherman Antitrust Act
– Restraint of Trade
• 5-4 decision
• Roosevelt won – hailed as
“Trustbuster”
Coal Strike of 1902
• 1902 – Mine Owners vs. 150,000 members of
the United Mine Workers (UMW)
• Wanted increased pay, reduced hours, union
recognition
• Arbitration – a settlement negotiated by an
outside party
– Mine owners refused until Roosevelt threatened
to order the army to run the mines
Department of Commerce and Labor
(1903)
• Roosevelt was not completely against all Trusts
• Best way to keep trusts in line was to keep the
public informed
• 1904 – Investigating U.S. Steel
– “Gentlemen’s agreement”
– Open files for the DCL to look at
– DCL would privately tell them the issues to fix
them
• Roosevelt will make this deal with other companies
Hepburn Act - 1906
• Gave ICC power to set railroad rates
• 1920’s ICC begun setting rates at levels
intended to ensure the industry’s profits
Samuel Hopkins Adams
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Writer who exposed medicine business
Cure many ills
Alcohol, colored water, sugar
Caffeine, opium, cocaine, etc.
Dr. W. H. Wiley – Dept. of Ag.
– Dangerous preservatives – formaldehyde and borax
• Meat Inspection Act (1906) Today the USDA
– Set standards of cleanliness in meatpacking plants
• Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) Today the FDA
– Prohibited the manufacture, sale or shipment of
impure or falsely labeled food and drugs
Roosevelt’s Conservation Acts
• Newlands Reclamation Act (1902)
– Dry Western States
• Federal funs from public land sales to pay for
irrigation and land development projects
• US Forest Service
– Regulate timber
– 5 new National Parks and 51 fed. Wildlife reserves
William Howard Taft
• Roosevelt’s Secretary of War
• Beat William Jennings Bryan (3rd straight loss)
• Lower Tariff rates
– Divided Republican party
• Progressives – favored tariff reduction
• Conservative – maintain high tariffs
– Payne-Aldrich Tariff – hardly cut tariffs and raised
them on certain goods
Taft
• 1909 – Replaced Secretary of the Interior (James R.
Garfield) with Richard A. Ballinger
• Garfield was aggressive conservationists
• Ballinger was a conservative corporate lawyer
• Ballinger tried to open a million acres of public land
to private development
• Gifford Pinchot (US Forrest Service) accused
Ballinger of planning to give lands in Alaska for his
own profit
• Fired in 1910 for insubordination
Taft
• In 1910 Taft:
• Set up the Bureau of Mines to monitor the
activities of mining companies
• Expanded national forests
• Protect waterpower sites from private
development
Roosevelt vs. Taft
• In 1907 Roosevelt approved the purchase of the
Tennessee Coals and Iron Company by US. Steel
• 1911 Taft declared that deal violated the
Sherman Antitrust Act.
• Roosevelt decided to run against Taft for
Republican nominee in the 1912 elections