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AMERICAN HISTORY CH. 16-3 THEODORE ROOSEVELT'S SQUARE DEAL

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ROOSEVELTS VIEW OF THE PRESIDENCY 1898Roosevelt becomes Governor of New York NY Political machine opposed Roosevelt Roosevelt is nominated for Vice-President TAKING OFFICE 1901--President McKinley is assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz Roosevelt becomes President Youngest President ever 42 years old Roosevelt was a hands-on leader, unlike previous Presidents

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BULLY PULPITa powerful platform to publicize important issues and seek support for his policies Roosevelt brought new momentum to the Progressive movement THE COAL STRIKE OF 1902 150,000 PA coal miners struck for higher wages, shorter hours, and recognition of their union As winter approached, Roosevelt realized the importance of settling the strike

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Roosevelt urged miners and owners to accept arbitration ARBITRATIONtwo sides allow a third-party to settle the dispute Workers agreed but owners refused Roosevelt threatened to take over the mines until the owners relented and agreed to arbitration plan Final Decisionshorter workday and higher pay but no recognition of the union Roosevelt pronounced the agreement a square deal

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THE SQUARE DEAL Became Roosevelts campaign slogan in 1904 Each person should get a square deal because they are entitled to no more or no less The needs of workers, business, and consumers should be balanced Limit the power of trusts, promoting public health and safety, and improve working conditions Roosevelt faced no opposition securing his partys nomination He easily defeated his opponent, Judge Alton Parker (D-NY) in the general election

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REGULATING BIG BUSINESS Big business was essential to economic growth, but companies should behave responsibly TRUST-BUSTING 1901J.P. Morgan, James J. Hill, and E.H. Harriman joined their railroads together to eliminate competition Company called the Northern Securities Company 1902Roosevelt directed the Attorney General to sue the Northern Securities Company for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act 1904USSC ruled the monopoly did violate the law and ordered the company broken up

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The ruling encouraged the administration to begin an aggressive trust-busting campaign Suits filed against those trusts that Roosevelt thought were bad for the American public REGULATING THE RAILROADS Railroads commonly granted rebates to their best companies Huge companies paid significantly less to ship products 1903Elkins Actprohibited railroads from accepting rebates All customers would pay the same rates

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Hepburn Act of 1906 strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission ICC allowed to set maximum railroad rates and regulate other companies that were engaged in interstate commerce PROTECTING COMSUMERS Publics dismayed about practices of food and drug industries Food producers tricked the unknowing public into buy old or rotten food by saying it was fresh Drug companies sold medicines that didnt work

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Other companies marketed patent, or nonprescription, medicines containing dangerous narcotic drugs Dr. James Soothing Syrupsooth babies teething pain Contained heroin Gowans Pneumonia Cure contained the addictive painkiller opium Meatpacking industry exposed by novelist Upton Sinclairs book The Jungle Roosevelt directed the Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson to investigate

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Wilsons report was gruesome reading We saw meat shoveled from filthy wooden floors, piled on tables rarely washed, pushed from room to room in rotten box carts. In all of which processes it [the meat] was in the way of gathering dirt, splinters, floor filth, and the expectoration [saliva] of tuberculous and other diseased workers 1906Congress jumps to action MEAT INSPECTION ACTrequired federal inspection of meat shipped across state lines

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PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACTforbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of food and patent medicine containing harmful ingredients. Food and medicine containers had to carry accurate ingredient labels

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ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION Late 1800speople thought the USA had an unlimited amount of natural resources Lumber companies cleared large tracts of land Farmers plowed up the great plains Mining companies clogged rivers and clutter land with refuse 1903Roosevelt joined naturalist John Muir on a camping trip to Yosemite National Park, CA Unfortunately God cannot save trees from foolsJ. Muir THE NEWLANDS RECLAMATION ACT of 1902 Allowed the federal government to create irrigation projects to make dry lands productive

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The Roosevelt Administration launched 20+ reclamation projects GIFFORD PINCHOT was the first to use conservation The conservation of natural resources is the key to the future. 1905U.S. Forest Service created with Pinchot as its chief 150+ million acres of forest land added to national forests The Antiquities Act of 1906created 18 national monuments during these few years Environmental conservation is viewed as Roosevelts legacy THE END