Unit 7 – The Progressive Era &
Roaring 20s (1890 – 1929)
President Theodore Roosevelt’s
Square Deal
T.R. - The Modern President
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1901 – 43 years old
Harvard Graduate
NY State Legislator
Rancher & Cowboy
Asst. Sec. of Navy
Rough Rider
Governor of NY
Vice President
The Square Deal
• 1902 Anthracite Coal
Strike (PA)
• Owners and Laborers
won a “Square Deal”
• Used Presidency to push
through his ideals
• 1904 Re-elected in a
landslide over Alton
Parker (D) 336-140 (EC)
and 2.5 M popular votes
T.R. the “Trust Buster”
• Created Depts. of Commerce
& Labor
• Elkins Act 1903 (Fines on
RRs) and Hepburn Act 1906
(ICC Police & Price Caps on
RRs, pipelines, ferries, tolls)
• Sherman Antitrust Act used
in 1904 vs. Northern
Securities RR Co.
• 1905 vs. the Beef Trust
Regulating Food and Drug
Industries
• The Jungle (1906) led
to the Meat
Inspection Act (1906)
and the Pure Food
and Drug Act (1906)
• Today the Food and
Drug Administration
(FDA) ensures
consumer safety
T.R. The Conservationist
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Yellowstone, WY (1872)
Yosemite & Sequoia CA (1890)
John Muir (CA Naturalist)
1905 US Forrest Service (Gifford
Pinchot) & closed off 100 Million
Acres for reserves!
• 5 National Parks & 51 Bird
Sanctuaries
• Use it, but Don’t Abuse it! =
TR’s Rational Use Policy
Regulating Water in the S.W.
• Mining & Farming in dry S.W.
led to conflicts over water rights
as private irrigation companies
came in & claimed river beds.
• National Reclamation Act (1902)
– government regulated to build
reservoirs to provide water to
several states.
• Roosevelt & Hoover Dams & LA
Aqueduct
The Taft- Roosevelt Split
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William H. Taft (1909-1913)
T.R.’s “Handpicked Successor”
Taft (321) vs. Bryan (162)
Busted 90 Trusts including U.S.
Steel- TR was furious!
• Payne-Aldrich Tariff (1909) &
Ballinger (Interior) fired
Pinchot (Forestry)
• The GOP was split!
“Big Bill” Taft
The Election of 1912
• Republican Party Split – Taft
vs. T.R.
• T.R. joins Progressive Party
or Bull Moose Party and
campaigns on the New
Nationalism – to continue the
era of reforms such as
women’s right to vote,
workplace protection for men
& women, an income tax, and
8 hour day.
Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom
• Underwood-Simmons Tariff (1913) –
lowered import taxes & 16th Amendment –
created first graduated income tax
• Federal Reserve Act (1913) –bank reform
• Federal Trade Commission & Clayton
Antitrust Act (1914) – Monopolies
• 17th Amendment – Direct Election of Sen.
• 18th Amendment – Prohibition of alcohol
• 19th Amendment – Women Got the Vote
Exit Slip – The Square Deal
Match the Effect on the Right with the Cause on the Left.
1. The Jungle is
published
2. Northern Securities
monopolized RR’s in
the Northwest
3. Miners & Farmers
argue over water
rights
4. Taft & Roosevelt
Split the Republican
Party
A. Newlands
Reclamation Act
passed
B. Roosevelt joins the
Progressive Party
C. Meat Inspection Act
is passed
D. Roosevelt earns the
nickname the
“Trustbuster”