Teddy Roosevelt: The Square Deal

The Progressive Era Promoting social welfare Promoting moral improvement Creating economic reform Fostering efficiency

Roosevelt’s Rise Born into a wealthy family Asthma sufferer as a child Drove himself to accomplish demanding physical feats Marksmanship, horseback riding (he even wrestled and boxed at Harvard) Roosevelt’s political career took off at an early age. Holding multiple offices at the State level in New York. Grabbed national attention advocating war against Spain in 1898. His volunteer Calvary brigade, The Rough Riders, won public acclaim for its role in the battle at San Juan Hill in Cuba. Roosevelt returned a hero and was soon elected governor of New York.

Roosevelt: A Rough Riding President Impossible to Control New York did not want Roosevelt in State Office In 1900, he was encouraged to run as McKinley’s Vice President However, when McKinley was assassinated in his second term Roosevelt became President, the most powerful man in United States government.

The Modern Presidency Roosevelt acted boldly (just as he had in his childhood) His Leadership and Publicity Campaigns helped create the Modern Presidency Making Roosevelt a model by which all future Presidents would be judged. Roosevelt believed in federal responsibility and a strong central government. If the states could not perform their duties the President (along with the rest of the Federal government) would step in “It is the duty of the president to act upon the theory that he is the steward of the people, and…to assume that he has the legal right to do whatever the needs of the people demand, unless the Constitution or the laws explicitly forbid him to do it.”

Using Federal Power Through Roosevelt’s 44 books about history, he was convinced that the U.S. needed a strong federal government. “A simple and poor society can exist as a democracy on the basis of sheer individualism, but a rich and complex industrial society cannot so exist.” -Teddy Roosevelt

Trustbusting By 1900, Trusts controlled 4/5 of the industries in the United States Some had poor reputations while others maintained good reputations Sherman Antitrust act ineffective Roosevelt ordered the Justice Department to sue the Northern Securities Company which had established a monopoly over the Northwestern Railroads The Roosevelt administration filed 44 antitrust suits; however they were unable to slow the merger movement of business.

1902 Coal Strike Demanded: Refused to Bargain Seen by Roosevelt as: Miners Mine Operators Demanded: 20% raise 9-hour workday Right to organize union Refused to Bargain Seen by Roosevelt as: Extraordinarily stupid and bad tempered The Miners receive a 10% raise, a 9-hour workday, and they must all belong to a union. They, however, cannot strike for three years.

Railroad Regulation Interstate Commerce Act Elkins Act of 1903 Hepburn Act of 1906

Regulating Food and Drugs The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Meat Inspection Act Pure Food and Drug Act

Conservation of Natural Resources Roosevelt realizes that America’s resources are not endless Gifford Pinchot Conservation National Reclamation Act of 1902

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