Roosevelt and the Square Deal

Mr. Williams10th Grade U.S. History

The “Bully Pulpit”

• “The absolute vital question” facing the country was “whether or not the government has the power to control the trusts.”• Goal was to shift center of power

from Wall Street to Washington

Labor•Anthracite Coal Strike 1902•More than 150,000 coal

miners in Pennsylvania went on strike•Higher wages, shorter hours,

and recognition of UMW

• Roosevelt threatened to take over mines and run them with federal troops•Miners won a wage increase and

reduction of hours, but owners won in not formally recognizing Union

•Who were the Progressives?•What did they want to reform?•How did Roosevelt deal with the Coal Strike in 1902?

• “We demand that big business give the people a square deal; in return we must insist that when anyone engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right he shall himself be given a square deal.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

Square Deal•1904 Campaign Slogan which called for limiting power of trusts, promoting public health and safety, and improving working conditions

http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trr26.html

• As part of the Square Deal, Roosevelt started to go after “bad trusts”• Sold inferior products, competed

unfairly, or corrupted public officials

Trust Busting

• Prohibited trusts from becoming monopolies to reduce competition • Roosevelt used this to file law suits

against 43 trusts such as the American Tobacco Company and Rockefeller’s Standard Oil

Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890

Railroads• Northern Securities Company• U.S. attorney general sued

company for violating Sherman Anti Trust Act• Supreme Court ordered trust to

disperse

The Jungle•Written in 1906 by Upton

Sinclair• Exposed the wretched and

unsanitary conditions at meatpacking plants

• “There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race around it…A man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats…The packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together.”

• “We saw meat shoveled from filthy wooden floors, piled on tables rarely washed, pushed from room to room in rotten box carts…[the meat] was in the way of gathering dirt, splinters, floor filth, and the expectoration [saliva] of tuberculous and other diseased workers.”

Consumer Protection•Meat Inspection Act: Required

federal inspection of meat shipped across state lines• Pure Food and Drug Act: forbade

the manufacture, sale, or transportations of food and patent medicine containing harmful ingredients

• How was Teddy Roosevelt a different kind of President? What did he want to do?• How did Teddy try to help people?•Why did Teddy choose not to run

for a third term in 1908?

Conservation•Roosevelt believed that each

generation had a duty to protect and conserve natural resources for future generations

•Gifford Pinchot• Shared Roosevelt’s view

•“The conservation of natural resources is the key to the future. It is the key to the safety and prosperity of the American people.”

• John Muir•Wanted entire wilderness to be

preserved in its natural state

•“Unfortunately, God cannot save trees from fools…Only the government can do that.”

National Park System•Roosevelt supported this

system, frequently visiting Yosemite with Muir•Purpose is to conserve natural

wonders in places such as Yellowstone and Grand Canyon

• Newlands Reclamation Act 1902• Allowed federal government to

create irrigation projects to make dry lands productive• U.S. Forest Service: Added nearly

150 million acres of national forests, controlled their use, and regulated their harvest