Theodore Roosevelt, Progressivism, and the Constraints of American Exceptionalism

7/28/2019 Theodore Roosevelt, Progressivism, and the Constraints of American Exceptionalism

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AMST 4312

5 May, 2012

Professor Salvatore

Theodore Roosevelt, Progressivism, and the Constraints of American Exceptionalism

While variations of the idea of American Exceptionalism have existed since the inception of

the republic, its modern conceptiona domestic faith in the inherent good of democratic capitalism

and a belief in an American responsibility to do good abroadhas its roots in the Republican Party

of the early 20th century. This political attitude distinguished the United States from Europe and

prevented the federal government from taking all but the smallest of steps to adapt to the needs of

an increasingly urban and industrial nation. While the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt would

eventually overcome, at least domestically, the limits of exceptionalism, it is Franklins cousin

Theodore who deserves credit for being one of the first national figures to mount an assault on the

old order. TR may have made little progress in the conception of foreign policy, but his summation

of decades of international progressive thought in his New Nationalism provided a significant part

of the intellectual foundation which showed that the United States could no longer live in isolation;

indeed, it would eventually change the face of the federal government itself. Though TR was

inherently limited by his conception of business monopoly and combination, the New Nationalism

nevertheless bridged his progressive impulses as president to a distinctly modern platform.

By the end of the 19th century, the United States was changing at such a rapid pace that

even the most adroit administration would have difficulty keeping up. Between 1890 and 1900, the

population alone grew by close 20.5 percent, rising from 63 million to 76 million; over the course of

Theodore Roosevelts presidency, this figure would increase by another 21 percent to 92 million.1

This expanding population would eventually put the majority of Americans in cities and the majority

of workers outside of agriculture. In 1900, close to 40 percent of Americans lived in urban areas


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45.5 percent did a decade later.2 Urbanization and an expanding population together helped feed the

rapidly growing manufacturing sector which in 1900 employed almost 22 percent of the workforce.

While the growing population and economic expansion fueled stellar economic indicators,

conditions for the workers themselves were mixed at best. While wages in 1901 had recovered from

the depression of 1893, average annual income was only $508, excluding farm labor; contemporary

estimates of a living wage put the figure at $600 for basic subsistence, a sum which over two thirds

of the adult workforce did not make, not to mention the 1.75 million children between the ages of

10 and 15 who were considered employed.3Robert Hunters groundbreaking 1904 studyPoverty

estimated that as many as 10 million Americans lived below the poverty line.4 Problems in the new

American economy, however, were not limited to wages and child labor. Over the course of the

Roosevelt administration, approximately 20,000 Americans were killed in workrelated accidents

peryear; another 500,000 were injured or maimed annually.5 Poor conditions and low wages also

exacerbated tensions in labor relations. There were over 3,000 strikes and work stoppages in 1901

alone.6

Such problems were not unique to the United States; American reformers in fact often

communicated with their European and South American counterparts on, in the words of Julian

Mack, president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections, how to alleviate suffering

to cure the ills that, by common belief, many of our fellow citizens were inevitably doomed to

bear.7 This transAtlantic partnership produced a voluminous literature on private poverty

alleviation and, eventually, on public policy. Initially, however, these reformers depended mostly on

private charity. When charity failed though, many reformers reached the same conclusion as social

worker Jane Addams did from her work at Hull House, that the poverty and injustice faced by the

working class was, too farreaching to be cared for by any private philanthropy.8


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Unfortunately, recognizing that government intervention was needed and actually

implementing any meaningful, programmatic reform were two wholly separate acts, at least in the

United States. While nations like Germany and the United Kingdom were early adopters of

measures such as minimum wages and social insurance, American reformers were left to advocate

their cause at the state and municipal level; the federal government was unwilling to consider such

laws or to address the large corporate trusts that exploited the situation.9

Federal recalcitrance may be partially attributed to the nature of the Republican Party, the

dominant political organization at the turn of the century. While the GOP originally emphasized

unity between capital and labor, public perception under the administration of William McKinley

was that the partys true sympathies favored capital at the expense of labor; McKinley, for example,

though he demanded, a remedy for the evils involved in [trusts], refused to authorize any use of

the Sherman Antitrust Act.10 Moreover, the Senate was increasingly identified as being in the pockets

of regional business interests. Senator Marcus A. Hanna of Ohio, who was also a close friend and

advisor of President McKinley, typified the Republican view that as far as trusts went, a man had a

right to do what he pleased with his own.11

The end result of these beliefs was a faith that, unlike

Europe, the United States would transcend the problems of urbanization and industrialization

through the expansion of business and without the extension of federal power.

Such was the state of the nation and the Republican Party that Theodore Roosevelt inherited

after the tragic assassination of William McKinley in September 1901. While Roosevelt pledged

McKinleys policies would continue absolutely unbroken, Republican leaders remained wary of the

new president.12 Roosevelt, indeed, came to Presidency having already displayed a reformist streak.

In 1883, as New York State Assemblyman, he had pushed through legislation for better working

conditions for cigar rollers; as Governor of New York, he advocated for transparency in corporate

affairs as an antidote to corruption.13


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power to control them at all.21 By vigorous prosecution of Northern Securities, Roosevelt aimed

not only to overturnE.C. Knight Co., but to establish precedent for federal regulatory authority,

especially over railroads. The success of Roosevelts antitrust action indeed allowed him to push for

the administrative regulations he preferred as opposed to relying on the Sherman Act.

For the rest of his political career, Roosevelt would be more consistent in his beliefs

regarding the combination of capital. Once the principle of federal supremacy was established,

Roosevelt was content to leave the oversight of corporate affairs to the Bureau of Corporations,

established within the newly created Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903, as well as the

Interstate Commerce Commission.22 When the Supreme Court ratified Roosevelts actions in 1904,

Roosevelt praised, the newer and more wholesome doctrine under which the Federal Government

may now deal with monopolistic combinations.23 Additionally, though railroads would continue to

be an issue throughout Roosevelts time in office, the two major pieces of legislation addressing

them, the Elkins Act of 1903 and the Hepburn Act of 1906, expanded the discretionary authority of

the executive branch by increasing the powers of the ICC, thereby fulfilling Roosevelts desire for

increased federal administrative power.24

While an impressive departure from the policy of the McKinley administration, Roosevelts

suit against Northern Securities was a political fight on the ground of his choosing. In September

1902, Roosevelt confronted his first major domestic crisis: a long runningstrike in Pennsylvanias

anthracite coal industry.25 A previous strike two years earlier had been resolved through the

intervention of McKinley and Senator Hanna; then, the coal operators had actually agreed to minor

concessions.26 This strike, however, given the seasonal timing, threatened to cause a serious shortage

of fuel for heating during the approaching winter. Given that such an occurrence would cripple the

nation, the coal operators refused to brook any compromise, believing that they could rely on the

government to eventually break the strike.27


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By the time Roosevelt chose to act in September, the situation was urgent. The strike had

been on since May and coal prices on the East Coast had doubled to $15 per ton. Roosevelt

struggled to justify intervention as public pressure to end the strike mounted. Eventually, he

summoned John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers, and the presidents of the railroads

that owned the mines to Washington on October 3, 1902, writing, the failure of the coal supply has

become a matter of vital concern to the whole nation.28 At the meeting, Roosevelt attempted to

play the role of mediator, with the ultimate goal of resuming production immediately.29 Mitchell

suggested that Roosevelt name a tribunal to determine the issues which have resulted in the strike

and offered that if the coal operators accepted the tribunals verdict, so too would the union. The

operators counter offer was to call Mitchell an outlaw, demand that the UMW be dissolved as a

trust, and for Roosevelt to dispatch troops, to at once squelch the anarchistic condition of affairs

existing in the anthracite coal regions by the strong arm of the military.30

Though the meeting was a failure in the sense that it did not resolve the strike, it represented

a critical juncture in American labor history as well as Roosevelts eventual institution of the Square

Deal. First, Roosevelt had put a labor unionand by extension ordinary workerson the same

political level as management.31 The consequence of this action was to legitimize the cause of labor

organization and moreover recognize that perspectives from outside the management class were

necessary to determine what was best for the nation.Additionally, Roosevelts decided against the

unilateral use of force in an era when violent repression of strikes was common; only eight years

earlier, President Grover Cleveland had ordered regular Army troops to break the Pullman strike. 32

For recognizing treating union workers as participants in a bargaining process, Roosevelt deserves

praise.

Roosevelts eventual resolution of the strike, however, still conformed to his idea that

business alone could do good so long as it had the guidance of the federal government. To


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Roosevelt, his efforts required, even handed justice to operator and miner alike.33 These principles

would form the basis of the Square Deal. So while the United Mine Workers may have been

legitimate in Roosevelts eyes, theywere not necessary to an equitable solution. The strike, which

ended on October 23rd, was resolved by a six member commission which did not include any

representative of the UMW; the closest organized labor got to the commission was the appointment

ofEdgar E. Clark, who was grand chief of the Order of Railway Conductors, but was labeled an

eminent sociologist in order to make him palatable to the other members of the commission,

including Roosevelts friend and J.P. Morgan & Co. partner George W. Perkins.34

The commission itself eventually presented an even handed settlement which included a 10

percent pay raise, a ninehour day, and a grievance arbitration system. Crucially, however, it did not

recognize the UMW as a bargaining agent.35 While Roosevelt would eventually suffer politically from

his attitude towards union recognition, in 1902 such a settlement was unprecedented and put

Roosevelt in labors good graces. Square dealing certainly beat strike breaking. Roosevelts actions,

moreover, catapulted him to leadership of progressive Republicans. A December 1902 article in the

progressiveNorth American Reviewwrote that his actions, have given the color of romance and

knight errantry to the office of the president; another regular Republican newspaper called the

settlement, a great personal triumph.36

Such accolades were useful for Roosevelt as the election of 1904 approached. While his

nomination was virtually secured after the death of Senator Hanna in February, Roosevelt still

needed to shape the Republican platform, especially in areas where he would still clash with the old

guard GOP. Fortunately for Roosevelt, the popular goodwill and esteem he gained from the

Northern Securities case and the resolution of the coal strike translated into an almost absolute

domination of the Republican National Convention in Chicago.37


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It is no surprise then that the party platform exactly echoed Roosevelts unique,

exceptionalist acceptance of monopoly as a dispassionate force so long as proper regulation existed.

The platform stated that:

Combinations of capital and labor are the results of the economic movement of the

age, but neither must be permitted to infringe upon the rights and interests of the

people. Such combinationsare alike entitled to the protection of the laws, but both

are subject to the laws and neither can be permitted to break them.38

Such a plank left Roosevelt plenty of room to pursue further expansion and centralization of federal

regulatory power. It also, however, reinforced the idea of the GOP as a probusiness party in that it

defended the size of trusts as a natural outgrowth of the economy. Such a position was not popular

in the progressive movement; it would not hurt Roosevelt in a race against the conservative

Democrat Alton B. Parker, but Roosevelts refusal to adjust his views on this subject threatened to

become a political liability.

Future liabilities aside though, in 1904, Theodore Roosevelt was indomitable. Moreover,

Alton Parker proved to be one of the most uninspiring candidates in popular memory. His

acceptance speech was a disappointment; Albert Shaw of theAmerican Review of Reviewswrote that,

this is the most apathetic campaign ever heard of since James Monroes second election.39

Roosevelt easily triumphed in such an atmosphere, winning 56.4 percent of the popular vote and

336 electoral votes.40 Such a commanding electoral performance initially gave Roosevelt a significant

amount of leverage to push his legislative agenda. Had he not chosen to pledge against running

again in 1908 on election night, his influence would have undoubtedly lasted even longer.41

In his second term, Roosevelt would indeed need all of the leverage and influence he could

muster. One of his chosen targets of reform, railroad regulation, set him against the Senate and

nearly ignited a Republican civil war.42 In early 1905, Roosevelt received a report from the ICC


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stating that railroads were using discriminatory pricing to favor certain shippers; in the report, the

ICC commissioner, Charles A. Prouty stated that the situation, demand[s] legislative and perhaps

legal action.43 Congress was not necessarily averse to regulating the railroads and in 1903 had

banned discriminatory rebates under the Elkins Act.44 Roosevelt, however, wanted to permanently

reconcile the railroads actions with the best interests of the nation and believed he had the force of

public opinion on his side. In his annual message to Congress, he argued that, the government

must in increasing degree supervise and regulate the workings of the railways engaged in interstate

commerce [to avoid] an increase of the present evils.45

Public opinion did not just side with Roosevelt, it was the genesis of his concern. Agitation

over railroad rates and combination was a pervasive and popular cause; public sentiment perceived

rising freight rates, which were already at an exorbitant level, as tied to increasing cost of living.46 In

the aftermath of his electoral success, Roosevelt became the champion of regulatory reform, telling

the Union League Club in Philadelphia that the United States could no longer tolerate, the use of

vast power conferred by vast wealthin its corporate form, without lodging somewhere in the

Government the still higher power of seeing that this poweris also used for and not against the

interest of the people as a whole.47While conservative newspapers were appalled by Roosevelts

insistence on additional regulationsome compared him to William Jennings Bryanhis message

combined with public opinion helped pass an initial version of a regulatory billEschTownsend .48

The EschTownsend bill would have granted the ICC the power to fix rates at just and

reasonable levels on railroads engaged in interstate commerce which would be subject to review by

a commerce court; the bill passed the House in February 1905 by a vote of 32617.49 Unfortunately

for Roosevelt, however, the bill immediately ran into staunch opposition in the Senate, led by fellow

Republican Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island.50 Aldrich led a sizable bloc of prorailroad, anti

regulation senators that effectively killed EschTownsend. For Roosevelt, however, the loss of the


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bill was only a minor setback. Roosevelt, in fact, did not like rate fixing and preferred to have the

ICC set a rate ceiling instead.51 A new bill, coauthored to Roosevelts standards by Senator John

Dolliver and Representative William P. Hepburn, both of Iowa, was introduced in January, 1906. 52

The new railroad bill, which would eventually become the Hepburn Act, was extremely

invasive by the standards of 1906. Nevertheless, it still fit Roosevelts general faith that the only

thing a corporation needed in order to be a net benefit to society was basic oversight. Given this, the

bill actually faced opposition from two directions. Senator Aldrich and the conservative bloc, though

hardly supportive of federal oversight, demanded broad court review of any ICC decisions, a

predictable position.53 On the other hand, there was Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin. La

Follette was sworn into the Senate around the same time the Hepburn bill was introduced; he

demanded that Roosevelt follow the more progressive, and coincidentally more punitive, measures

that he had pushed for as Governor of Wisconsin.54 La Follette, indeed, took issue with Roosevelts

entire understanding of monopoly and antitrust law.55 To him, the Northern Securities method of

antitrust enforcement represented a desired norm, not an exception.

Roosevelt now found himself in the unhappy position of trying to bridge two rival factions

within his own party. After a risky maneuver to bypass Aldrich and pass the railroad bill through the

Senate Democrats collapsed in failure, Roosevelt was forced to approach Senator William B. Allison

of Iowa to author a compromise amendment allowing broad judicial oversight of ICC rate

decisions.56 On May 18, 1906, the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 713; Roosevelt signed the

Hepburn Act into law that June.57While Roosevelt stated that he believed the Act, tends toward

carrying out the principles I have been preaching, others were not so certain. Senator Albert J.

Beveridge of Indiana worried that the issue of judicial review was left so vague that the, railroad

senators won out in the fight for broad review; Senator John C. Spooner, a leader of the


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conservatives and ally of Aldrich agreed.58 Eventually though, in 1910, the Supreme Court rendered

such debate moot by siding with the advocates of narrow review.

The Hepburn Act was ultimately the signal domestic achievement of Roosevelts presidency.

Roosevelt seized the policy initiative by paying close attention to public opinion and was able to

shape the foundations of American economic regulation to his satisfaction.59 At the same time he

was fretting over judicial review, Senator Beveridge wrote that, if it had not been for Theodore

Roosevelt, there would not have been any railroad legislation of any kind.60Roosevelts reformist

roots and progressive impulses left a policy legacy which had he simply embraced the role of elder

statesman, would still have made him a seminal figure in 20th century history. As a private citizen,

however, Roosevelt was freed from the ideological constraints of Republican Party and from the

necessity of moderating his ideas in order to work with Congress. Subsequent political development

and Roosevelts evolving progressive stance moreover ensured that he would play still an even

greater role in the creation of the modern presidency, even if ultimately within the paradigm of his

exceptionalist economic views.

As the election of 1908 approached and Roosevelts lameduck status materialized, the

question of who would run on the Republican ticket began to dominate Roosevelts mind.

Determined to uphold his pledge not to run, Roosevelt instead decided that he would hand pick a

successor who could uphold and expand his policies.61 When Roosevelt settled on his friend and

Secretary of War William Howard Taft, he sowed the seeds of his own return to public life. Though

Taft had faithfully executed orders under Roosevelt, he was at heart much more conservative. As a

lawyer, Taft valued the letter of the law and the constitutional restrictions of presidential authority.62

Roosevelt, who believed the president should be a steward of the people, and therefore should

respond to popular opinion, should have easily seen that Taft would be a disappointing successor. 63


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Roosevelt, however, remained outwardly confident in Tafts ability, saying he and I view

public questions exactly alike.64 After Taft soundly defeated William Jennings Bryan in the general

election and was inaugurated, Roosevelt actually chose to leave the country for an African safari so

as not to be accused of unfairly strongarming Taft.65 Unfortunately, the new president was left in

the same compromising position that Roosevelt had been in during the fight over the Hepburn Act,

and while Taft was a large man, even he could not straddle the emerging party split between the Old

Guard of Senator Aldrich and Speaker Cannon and the insurgent progressives. 66

One of those progressives, head of the Forrest Service Gifford Pinchot, began writing

Roosevelt in early 1910,warning of Tafts willingness to side with the conservatives. Roosevelt and

Pinchot had collaborated on conservation policy, a subject very close to the expresidents heart,

when Roosevelt was in office.67Consequentially, Roosevelt held Pinchots political opinions in high

regard. Taft, according to Pinchot, was not acting out of, deliberate bad faith, but rather had

succumbed to, his surprising weakness and indecision; unlike a progressive steward of the people,

Taft followed the advice of the last person who talked to him, thereby ceding control of the party

back to the Old Guard conservatives.68

With ominous prescience, Pinchot predicted that unless Taft

turned squarely about, there would be, a clear cut division between the administration and the

reactionaries on the one side, and the progressives and the great mass of the people on the other.69

Only a weekafter receiving Pinchots letter, Roosevelt was informed that Taft had dismissed

Pinchot from the Forest Service over a dispute with the Secretary of the Interior Richard A.

Ballinger.70Pinchots scathing letter combined with news that Taft had so callously dismissed one of

his most trusted advisors deeply angered Roosevelt. Even more infuriating was that Pinchot had not

lost his office fighting to implement any new measures, but rather for confronting Taft and Ballinger

over plans to weaken conservation measures already in place. Roosevelt himself at that point

resolved to return to the United States and end his selfimposed political exile.71 In this act, he was


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supported by his friend Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts; there is a constantly

growing thought of you, Lodge wrote, and your return to the Presidency.72

Roosevelt delayed his return, however, in order to make a grand tour of European capitals.

Indeed, the trip proved valuable to Roosevelts subsequent attempts to reshape the Republican

Party; he delivered five major addresses while in Europe and the intellectual stimulation encouraged

him to think seriously about bringing a more thorough form of social democracy back to the United

States than any of his progressive impulses as president would have led him to support. 73 Roosevelt

displayed proof of such development during a speech in Paris at the Sorbonne in April, 1910. There,

Roosevelt fired a full salvo against the idea that property rights could trump human rights. Roosevelt

argued that, in the long run, property and human rights are indistinguishable; but, he said, when

it clearly appears that there is a real conflict between them, human rights must have the upper hand,

for property belongs to man and not man to property.74

Four months after his address at the Sorbonne, Roosevelt prepared to give another speech,

intent on bringing the United States into what he called the, world movement of civilization.75

This speech, given in Osawatomie, Kansas, took place at the dedication of the John Brown

battlefield, which commemorated the radical abolitionists struggle to keep slavery out of what was

then called Bloody Kansas.76 Roosevelt used the first few paragraphs of the speech to honor both

John Brown and the Union Army veterans in attendance, but rapidly launched into outlining his

vision of a political philosophy to guide the future of the nation. The true conservative, said

Roosevelt, echoing his speech at the Sorbonne, is he who insists that property shall be the servant

and not the master of the commonwealth; who insists that the creature of mans making shall be the

servant and not the master of the man who made it.77

Roosevelt, however, did not simply push for the adoption of a new relationship between

human and property rights; he put forth an entirely progressive legislative agenda as well. The New


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Nationalism called for Congress, to prohibit the use of corporate funds directly or indirectly for

political purposes, as well as supervision of the capitalization of all corporations involved in

interstate commerce. Domestically, Roosevelt also called for business executives to be held liable for

illegal corporate actions, tariff revision by an expert commission, a graduated wealth and estate tax, a

national workmans compensation act, a child labor law, and the expansion of vocational training.78

Such a complete political transformation immediately put Roosevelt back in competition for

leadership of the progressive movement. Ultimately, the New Nationalism was the complete

extension of the Square Deal conception of even handed justice for all to every aspect of national

economic life; in Roosevelts own words, the New Nationalism, regards the executive power as the

steward of the public welfare. It demands of the judiciarythat itbe interested primarily in human

welfarejust as it demands that the representative body shall represent all the people rather than

any one class.79 In many ways, Roosevelt was willing now to go far beyond the policies he

considered appropriate as a sitting president.

Yet despite a change which in many ways seemed radical, there was one key area where

Roosevelt refused to budge from his previous position: trusts. His speech, indeed, contained a barely

reworded version of the statement from the Republican Party Platform of 1904. In the New

Nationalism, combinations in industry are the result of an imperative economic law which cannot

be repealed by political legislation.80 Such a position had not harmed Roosevelt as president

because the progressive movement had not yet become a cohesive political force. Now, however,

Roosevelt would have to justify a seemingly protrust policy to a very skeptical movement without

the benefits of incumbency. Foreshadowing events to come, Senator Robert La Follette and his

advisor Louis D. Brandeis immediately condemned Roosevelts stance on antitrust and regulatory

issues.81


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While Roosevelt was happy to return to politics, he was not yet sure if he wanted to run for

office in 1912. In the wake of the New Nationalism speech, a number of people contacted

Roosevelt about beginning a campaign, but Roosevelt demurred throughout most of 1911 citing the

difficulty of denying Taft the nomination.82 Other progressives, however, were not so cautious. On

June 17, 1911, La Follette announced his intention to challenge Taft.83 Of greater concern to

Roosevelt though was that La Follette had been poaching Roosevelts political allies for money and

endorsementsfor example, Gifford Pinchot and his brother Amos.84 As with Taft, however,

Roosevelt should not have been surprised by La Follettes actions; in January 1911, La Follette and

Brandeis had formed the National Progressive Republican League with the goal of elevating La

Follette from the Senate to the White HouseRoosevelt was one of the first who was asked to

join.85 With La Follettes candidacy gaining traction though, Roosevelt began to look for an

opportunity to enter the race.

The opportunity to dethrone La Follette came sooner than Roosevelt could have hoped for.

In January, 1912, La Follette addressed the annual banquet of the Periodical Publishers Association

in Philadelphia.86

Tired and under stress from the campaign and due to follow a speech by the

eloquent hopeful for the Democratic nomination Woodrow Wilson, La Follette, in his own words,

flunked the test of his candidacy.87 La Follettes address was long and rambling and at points he

diverted from his prepared text to attack journalists, hardly a good idea at a banquet of newspaper

publishes. The Philadelphia Evening Bulletinreported that, respectful attention gave way at the end of

an hour to confusion and at the end of two hours the confusion took on the proportions of an

uproarit was the consensus of opinion that the La Follette Presidential boom had received a

mortal hurt.88

Roosevelt and his supporters could not pass up such an opportunity. The next month, the

Republican governors of West Virginia, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Michigan, Kansas,


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and Missouri sent Roosevelt a somewhat contrived public letter asking him to accept the 1912

Republican presidential nomination if offered.89Roosevelts response, published the following

Monday, stated that the decisionwas not his to make, but rather the American peoples.90 In his

eagerness, however, Roosevelt did not even wait for his response to be printed before he happily

proclaimed in a speech in Cleveland that, my hat is in the ring!

With Roosevelts entrance into the race and the effective end of La Follettemany of his

most important supporters save for Brandeis defected to TRTaft was not only forced on the

defensive, but was crowned leader of the reactionary Old Guard as well.91 A speech Roosevelt gave

shortly before his announcement, however, gave Taft enough ammunition to mount a principled

campaign, at least within the Republican Party itself. While in Columbus, Ohio, Roosevelt had come

out in support of a plan to subject judicial decisions to popular recall. 92 Many within the G.O.P. who

might have supported Roosevelt for the sake of winning an election, despite his progressivism,

considered Roosevelts plan to be an outright attack on the Constitution and the American

judiciary.93 Roosevelt even lost the support of his friend Henry Cabot Lodge, who, without

Roosevelt, would not have been reelected to the Senate in 1910; Lodge wrote to Roosevelt that, I

found myself confronted with the fact that I was opposed to your policieswith great force in

regard to changes on our Constitution and principles of governmentI knewthat you and I

differedbut I had not realized that the differences were so wide.94

Taft also had ulterior motives for steadfastly opposing Roosevelts attempt to take over the

Republican Party. Indeed, Taft focused more on denying Roosevelt the nomination than on any plan

for Republican victory in November.95 The contest between Roosevelt and Taft represented the

starkest choice between progressivism and conservatism in the entire election. Taft and other

Republicans realized that if Roosevelt succeeded in denying Taft the nomination, the American

conservative establishment would take years to recover. Taft summed the argument up well in a


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letter to New York Republican boss William Barnes, saying the great task before them was not to

win in November, but rather, to retain the party and the principles of the party, so as to keep it in a

condition of activity and discipline, a united force to strike when the blow will become effective for

the retention of conservative government and conservative institutions.96

Ultimately, Taft was successful in denying Roosevelt the nomination at the Republican

National Convention in Chicago, despite Roosevelts stellar performance in the states with direct

primaries. In the first of many repercussions Roosevelt would face stemming from his ideas on

antitrust law and economic regulation, La Follette and his small but pivotal number of delegates

refused to support Roosevelts choice for temporary chairman of the convention.97 Roosevelt

needed a sympathetic chairman in order to claim enough disputed delegates to clinch the

nomination; the La Follette bloc, however, saw the contest between Roosevelt and La Follette for

leadership of the progressive movement as the more important fight.98Not even Roosevelts

candidate for chairman, Governor Francis E. McGovern of Wisconsin, could persuade La Follette

to think differently.

Consequently, Tafts candidate, Senator Elihu Root of New York, was elected temporary

chairman by a vote of 558501; had La Follettes thirtynine delegates accepted the compromise,

Root would have lost.99 La Follette himself believed that he had personally denied Roosevelt the

nomination. He wrote that, ifI had not had an iron brigade at Chicagothe Bull Moose would

have had his way.100Root, despite having served in Roosevelts administration, was deeply opposed

to Roosevelts vision of constitutional reform and was therefore determined to crush Roosevelts

insurgency; Roosevelt delegates referred to Roots tactics as the steamroller. 101 When Roosevelt

delegates responded to a roll call vote with present but not voting in protest of Roots actions,

Root simply called on alternate delegates to cast a vote, even if they happened to be Taft

supporters.102


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The progressive machine that Roosevelt had built could not be killed by parliamentary

procedure though. No sooner was Taft nominated than the majority of Roosevelts delegates staged

a walkout of the convention and marched to Orchestra Hall where they vowed to support

Roosevelt for an independent, third party nomination.103 Roosevelt himself, however, needed to be

sure he would have proper organizational supportthat is campaign funds. Fortunately for

Roosevelt, his friend George W. Perkins, who had worked with Roosevelt during the anthracite coal

strike and lobbied on behalf of Roosevelts Bureau of Corporations, as well as publisher Frank

Munsey, both pledged their fortunes to the cause.104 Perkins and Roosevelt shared similar views on

economic regulation and national administration. Unfortunately for progressive unity though,

Perkins was still tainted by his association to J.P. Morgan & Co, adding to the charge that Roosevelt

was only progressive insofar as it didnt hurt his wealthy friends businesses.

While the budding Progressive Party planned to hold a full scale convention in order to

officially nominate Roosevelt and draft a platform, the Democrats were holding their national

convention in Baltimore that June. Of the four major candidates, Speaker of the House Champ

Clark was favored to win and on one ballot received a raw majority of votes.105

The Democratic

Party, however, required a twothirds vote for nomination; many Democrats worried that if they

nominated a party hack like Clark, they would alienate progressive voters, throwing away a chance to

beat a divided Republican Party.106 Clark, moreover, had received his majority with votes from the

Tammany Hall controlled New York delegation, prompting William Jennings Bryan, still a major

powerbroker within the party, to declare war on Clark.107 Bryan eventually threw his support behind

the first term progressive Governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson, who became the Democratic

nominee for president on the fortysixth ballot.108

That the Democrats nominated a progressiveand one with a strong record at thatforced

the Progressives to make sure their platform was sufficiently distinguishable from the Democrats.


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The convention, which met in Chicago that August, nominated Theodore Roosevelt as its

presidential candidate; reflecting Roosevelts commitment to reform and social justice, his

nomination was seconded by social worker Jane Addams.109 Parts of the platform drafting process

went equally as well. Indeed, much of the platform eventually resembled Roosevelts New

Nationalism speech at Osawatomie. Among other things, the platform called for limitations on

campaign spending, registration of lobbyists, ending injunctions against labor disputes, prohibition

of child labor, a minimum wage, an eight hour work day, and national workers compensation.110

An additional facet of the platform actually merits its own discussion, both for its foresight

and merit. This plank called for, the protection of home life against the hazards of sickness,

irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance adapted to

American use. Roosevelt himself was intimately involved in the drafting of this plank, having said

in his Confession of Faith that, It is abnormal for any industry to throw back upon the

community the human wreckage due to its wear and tear, and the hazards of sickness, accident,

invalidism, involuntary unemployment, and old age should be provided for through insurance.111

Roosevelts position was uniqueit at once showed both his respect and admiration for the

progress made by other nations on issues of social and industrial justice as well as his commitment

to enact reform in a distinctly American manner.112

Better examples ofRoosevelts commitment to an exceptional economy exist though. In this

case, Roosevelt was directly inspired by the British National Insurance Act, which was passed in

1911, and the system of German social insurance; the adoption of this plan demonstrated that even

if Roosevelt believed in some facets of Americas exceptional economy, he did not believe the

nation to exist within a policy vacuum.113 By calling for social insurance in 1912, not only did the

Progressive Party anticipate a major later piece of American social policy, it gave reformers a

concrete goal to strive for.


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Unfortunately for the Progressives, the drafting of the business plank exposed a major rift

within the partys ranks. While racial equality and Jim Crowwere by far the most contentious issues

discussed, the issue of antitrust law and the nature of corporate behavior was a close second. More

seriously, the issue threatened to fracture the young partys leadership and divided even those who

had served with Roosevelt in the White House.114 The conflict started over the composition of the

plank itself, which was drafted by, among others Gifford and Amos Pinchot and revised by Judge

Learned Hand and Herbert Croly; also given access to the process, however, was George W.

Perkins.115 The Pinchot brothers both believed in the strict enforcement of the Sherman Act and

wanted to see the platform condemn trusts. Amos Pinchot wrote to Roosevelt saying, in the old

days it was the Crown against the people. Today it is the industrial oligarchy, the trusts, against the

people.116 Gifford, for his part, believed that trusts were responsible for the rising cost of living. To

him, antitrust law was a matter of, the eternal question of the peoples bread.117

Perkins had been familiar with Roosevelts opinion on business regulation since he had

helped Roosevelt lobby Congress to create the Bureau of Corporations in 1903; he knew that not

only were the Pinchots fighting a losing battle, but that Roosevelt might be inclined to take a

stronger stand as well.118 Perkins drafted a plank which was even bolder in its endorsement of

business combination and expansion than Roosevelt had been in either the 1904 Republican Party

Platform or in his speech at Osawatomie. According Perkins, concentration of business was not just

inevitable, as Roosevelt had previously argued, it was necessary for national and international

business efficiency.119 Roosevelt happily obliged his friend and patron. He intervened in the

platform committee to remove language drafted by the Pinchots and ensure that Perkins plank was

chosen.120Amos Pinchot accused the trust magnate Perkins of having stolen the plank.

While those at the convention would manage to rally around their platform once it was

complete, Louis D. Brandeis watched with dismay as Roosevelt and Perkins forced the Progressives


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to compromise so dearly on such an important issue. Several days after the convention ended, on

August 28, 1912, Brandeis went to Sea Girt, New Jersey to visit Woodrow Wilson.121 Brandeis knew

that Wilson was already predisposed to support antitrust law and set out to give the governor tactical

advice on where Roosevelt was the weakest; indeed, before his meeting with Wilson, Brandeis told a

reporter that by breaking up trusts you regulated competition instead of the trusts themselves,

thereby giving more freedom to smaller market players.122 Brandeis was evidently persuasive because

Wilson framed the trust issue in this manner for the rest of the campaign to great effect.123

The repercussions Roosevelts attitude on business, however, did not stop this time with

antitrust policy. The same attitude that led him to settle the anthracite coal strike without any official

recognition of the United Mine Workers allowed him to endorse a pitifully weak plank on

unionization. The same Progressive Party which was so bold elsewhere meekly stated that, we favor

the organization of workersas a means ofprotecting their interests and promoting their

progress.124 On the other hand, the Democratic Platform, under a commitment stemming from

William Jennings Bryans 1908 campaign, stated, there should be no abridgement of the right of the

wage earnersto organize for the protection of wages and the improvement of labor conditions

such labor organizations and their members should not be regarded as illegal combinations in

restraint of trade.125 Brandeis urged Wilson to contrast the Democratic defense of the right to

organizewith Roosevelts acceptance and protection of trusts and monopoly in appeals to organized

labor.

It is no surprise that Wilson and the Democrats were endorsed by Samuel Gompers, the

president of the American Federation of Labor.126 Roosevelt and the Progressive Party suffered

further as moderates and antitrust progressives defected to the Democratic Party. In the November

election, Wilson won a commanding victory in the Electoral College, with 435 electoral votes, along

with 42 percent of the popular vote.127 Given, however, that his party had only existed for three


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months at the time of the general election, Roosevelt did extremely well. The Progressive Party won

five states and received 27 percent of the popular vote; not since the emergence of the Republican

Party in the 1850s had a third party performed so well.128Indeed, Roosevelts third party record still

stands a century later.

Roosevelts presidency and subsequent Progressive Party candidacy left a much more

important legacy for the United States though. As president, Roosevelt embodied the modern

concept of the strong executive. Unwilling to rely entirely on the congressional party organization,

Roosevelt was an active participant in the legislative process. His involvement in the passage of the

Hepburn Act, for instance, served as an example to future presidents on how to overcome the

staunch resistance of a committed minority.Additionally, Roosevelts theory of the president as a

steward of the people has come to be widely acceptedinsofar as opinion polls are the lifeblood of

modern punditry.

By bridging his reformist inclinations as president, however, to candidacy with an inherently

modern platform, Roosevelt set the United States on the path to reconciling its politics with

economy and with the living conditions of the average American. Roosevelts presidency and

progressive candidacy were the first serious challenge to the callous idea that economic expansion

alone could cure all societal ills. Some of this change would begin immediately; at times Wilson

governed more from the perspective of a New Nationalist than from his own New Freedom.129

Moreover, while Roosevelt did not overcome his exceptional view of industrial capitalism, many of

the programs which he ran on in 1912, when finally implemented, would do just that. More than

anything, however, Roosevelt demonstrated that the United States could not ignore the world

movement of civilization. He exposed the foolishness of thinking that the nation could exist in its

own intellectual vacuum.


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1 Lewis L. Gould, The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2011), 28.2 Ibid, 29.3 Ibid, 32.4 Ibid.5 Ibid, 33.6 Ibid.7 Sidney M. Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, the Progressive Party, and the Transformation of AmericanDemocracy, (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2009), 65.8 Ibid, 66.9 Ibid.10 Lewis L. Gould, Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans, (New York: Random House, 2003), 132.11 Ibid.12 Lewis L. Gould, Theodore Roosevelt, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 26.13 Ibid 10; ibid, 23.14 Gould, The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, 7.15 Gould, Theodore Roosevelt, 30.16 Gould, The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, 5017

Ibid.18 Ibid, 47.19 Ibid.20 Ibid.21 Ibid.22 Gould, Theodore Roosevelt, 30.23 Ibid.24 Ibid.25 Gould, The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, 63.26 Ibid.27 Ibid.28 Ibid, 64.29 Ibid.30 Ibid.31 Ibid, 65.32 Ibid.33 Ibid.34 Ibid, 66-67.35 Ibid.36 H.W. Brands, T.R.: The Last Romantic, (New York: BasicBooks, 1997), 462.37 Ibid, 504.38Republican Party Platform of 1904, The American Presidency Project, accessed May 5, 2012,http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29631 .39 Gould, Grand Old Party, 149.40 Gould, The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, 140.

41 Ibid, 139.42 Ibid, 145.43 Ibid.44 Ibid, 146.45 Ibid, 145.46 Ibid, 146.47 Ibid, 147.48 Ibid.49 Ibid.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29631http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29631http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29631


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50 Ibid, 154.51 Ibid.52 Ibid, 159.53 Ibid.54 Ibid, 150-52.55 Ibid.56 Ibid, 158.57 Ibid, 159.58 Ibid.59 Ibid.60 Ibid.61 Gould, Theodore Roosevelt, 46.62 Ibid.63 Ibid.64 Ibid, 47.65 Ibid, 48.66 Ibid, 49.67

Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, 29.68 Ibid, 30.69 Ibid.70 Ibid.71 Ibid.72 Brands, T.R, 667.73 Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, 30.74 Ibid, 32.75 Ibid, 36-37.76 Ibid, 38.77New Nationalism, TeachingAmericanHistory.org, accessed May 5, 2012,http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=501.78 Ibid.79 Ibid.80 Ibid.81 Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, 4382 Ibid, 44.83 Ibid, 45.84 Ibid.85 Brands, T.R, 685; Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, 41-42.86 Ibid, 51.87 Ibid, 52.88 Ibid.89 Ibid, 53.90 Ibid.

91 Ibid, 56.92 Ibid, 55.93 Ibid, 56.94 Ibid.95 Ibid, 108.96 Ibid.97 Ibid, 113-114.98 Ibid.99 Ibid.
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100 Ibid.101 Ibid.102 Ibid, 118.103 Ibid, 119.104 Ibid.105 John Milton Cooper, Woodrow Wilson: A Biography, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), 157.106 Ibid.107 Ibid.108 Ibid, 158.109 Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, 154.110Progressive Party Platform of 1912, TeachingAmericanHistory.org, accessed May 5, 2012,http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607.111Confession of Faith, TeachingAmericanHistory.org, accessed May 5, 2012,http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=613.112 Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, 156.113 Daniel Rodges, Atlantic Crossing: Social Politics in a Progressive Age, (Cambridge: Harvard UniversityPress, 1998), 251; Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, 157-158.114

Ibid, 178.115 Ibid, 177.116 Ibid, 178.117 Ibid.118 Ibid.119Progressive Party Platform of 1912.120 Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, 179-180.121 Cooper, Woodrow Wilson, 162.122 Ibid, 163.123 Ibid.124Progressive Party Platform of 1912.125Democratic Party Platform of 1912, The American Presidency Project, accessed May 5, 2012,http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29590 .126 Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt, 202.127 Ibid, 253.128 Ibid.129

Ibid, 271.
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=613http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=613http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29590http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29590http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29590http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=613http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607


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Brands, H.W., T.R.: The Last Romantic, (New York: BasicBooks, 1997).

Cooper, John Milton, Woodrow Wilson: A Biography, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009).

Gould, Lewis L., Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans, (New York: Random House,2003).

Gould, Lewis L., The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas,2011).

Gould, Lewis L., Theodore Roosevelt, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

Milkis, Sidney M., Theodore Roosevelt, the Progressive Party, and the Transformation of AmericanDemocracy, (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2009).

Rodges, Daniel, Atlantic Crossing: Social Politics in a Progressive Age, (Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1998).

TeachingAmericanHistory.org, Confession of Faith, accessed May 5, 2012,http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=613.

TeachingAmericanHistory.org, New Nationalism, accessed May 5, 2012,http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=501.

TeachingAmericanHistory.org, Progressive Party Platform of 1912, accessed May 5, 2012,http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607.

The American Presidency Project, Democratic Party Platform of 1912, accessed May 5, 2012,http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29590.

The American Presidency Project, Republican Party Platform of 1904, accessed May 5, 2012,

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29631.
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=613http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=613http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=501http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=501http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29590http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29590http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29631http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29631http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29631http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29590http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=501http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=613

Theodore Roosevelt, Progressivism, and the Constraints of American Exceptionalism

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