Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt

10/27/1858-10/27/1858-1/6/19191/6/1919

From: New York From: New York *1901-1909**1901-1909*RepublicanRepublican

Vice president: Vice president: Charles W. Fairbanks Charles W. Fairbanks

PP: Square DealPP: Square Deal

PROGRESSIVISMPROGRESSIVISM

T. Roosevelt

POLITICALPOLITICAL ECONOMICECONOMIC SOCIALSOCIAL

THE SQUARE DEALTHE SQUARE DEAL

DOMESTIC POLICIES

(2) (2) THE SQUARE DEALTHE SQUARE DEAL

1. TR was inspired by the progressive movement2. Called for a “Square Deal” (like a square meal

in the military- just the basics) for capital, labor, and the public

3. Program embraced the three C’si. Control of Corporationsii. Consumer Protection

iii. Conservation of Natural Resources

Political/Social Components of Political/Social Components of the Square Deal the Square Deal

(6) (6) Coal Strike of 1902Coal Strike of 1902

i. Strike in the coal mines of Pennsylvania

ii. Workers demanded improvements in pay and reduction in working hours

iii. Mine owners refused to negotiate

iv. Coal supplies dwindled: forced factories, hospitals, and schools to shut down

v. TR brought representatives of each group to the White House vi. TR threatened to seize the mines and operate them by federal troops if they could not come to an agreement

viii. Owners consented to ARBITRATION (a disagreement between two or more parties is resolved by impartial individuals)

(10) Trust-Busting

2. Department of Commerce & Labori. Created in 1903ii. Organization which was

authorized to look into business operations – started the path to “trust-busting”

Trust-busting under Teddy R.• Roosevelt’s philosophy concerning trusts

(monopolies) – TR thought there were good trusts and bad trusts

• Good trusts looked out for the public while bad trusts were greedy for power

• Over 40 legal proceedings were brought to the US Supreme court against

monopolies under TR• TR’s real purpose behind trust-busting? To prove

that the government, NOT BIG BUSINESS, ruled the country.

Roosevelt struggles with the railroad trusts

Northern Securities Company– a railroad company organized under J.P. Morgan and James J. Hill

• Roosevelt sued them- TR brought a lawsuit against the company on the charges that it held a monopoly of the RRs in the Northwest

• In 1904 the Supreme Court upheld the antitrust suit- agreeing with Roosevelt

Railroad Regulation Begins

(7) Elkins ActIt strengthened the Interstate Commerce

Act of 1887 by imposing heavy fines on railroads offering rebates and on the shippers accepting them. The law was

sponsored by Roosevelt as a part of his "Square Deal", and greatly boosted his popularity. This law also caused nearly all railroads to become defunct for a short period of time.

(15) . Hepburn Act of 1906Hepburn Act of 1906a. strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission by allowing the ICC to truly regulate existing rates of railroads (The ICC received much more power to punish

violators!)

(4) J.P Morgan/ US Steel (1901)Morgan began talks with Charles M.Schwab, president of Carnegie Co., and businessman Andrew Carnegie in 1900 with the intention of buying Carnegie's business and several other steel and iron businesses to consolidate them to create the United States Steel Corporation. Carnegie agreed to sellthe business to Morgan for $480 million. The deal was closed without lawyers and without a written contract. News of the industrial consolidation arrived to newspapers in

mid-January 1901. U.S. Steel was founded later that year and was the first billion-dollar company in the world worth $1.4 billion.

(8) Henry Ford Ford Motor Company

• After two unsuccessful attempts to establish a company to manufacture

automobiles, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903 with Henry Ford as vice-president and chief engineer. The infant company produced only a few cars a day at the Ford factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies.

Conservation Components of the Conservation Components of the Square DealSquare Deal

(5) (5) 1902 Newlands Reclamation Act1902 Newlands Reclamation Act

Washington was authorized to collect money from the sale of public lands in the West and use the in the West and use the funds for funds for the development of irrigation projects; to improve other land

ii. This legislation allowed for dozens of dams to be built across the West

iii. TR inspired many Americans to focus on the nation’s natural resources – in 1902 he banned Christmas trees from the White House

iv. Literature which focused on nature such as Call of the Wild by Jack London (1903) became very popular in the cities

(21) National Conservation Commission

• It compiled an inventory of U.S. natural resources and presents Gifford Pinchot's concepts of resource management as a comprehensive policy recommendation in a three-volume report submitted to Congress at the beginning of 1909. Roosevelt and Pinchot wanted the Commission to continue, but Congress refused further funding.

(12) San Francisco Earthquake

The California earthquake of April 18, 1906 ranks as

one of the most significant

earthquakes of all time.

Today, its importance comes more from the wealth of scientific knowledge derived from it than from its sheer

size.

The maelstrom destroyed 490 city blocks, a total of 25,000 buildings, made over 250,000 homeless and killed between 450 and 700. Damage estimates topped $350,000,000.

(17) Oklahoma• Oklahoma Territory

was an organized territory of the United States from May 2, 1890 until November 16, 1907, when Oklahoma became the 46th state. It consisted of the western area of what is now the State of Oklahoma. The eastern area consisted of the last remnant of Indian Territory.