Theodore Roosevelt and the Square Deal

2.2 Teddy’s Square Deal

Essential Questions:Describe the progress of political and social reform in America as a result of

Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal policy.

Roosevelt’s Early Years• Born into a wealthy NY family in 1858• He suffered asthma young in life and was bullied

for his small size• As a result, he became very ambitious to outdo

those who tormented him• As a teen he became a mastered marksman and

horseback rider• At Harvard, he boxed and wrestled

Entrance Into Politics• Served 3 terms as NY State Assembly• Became NYC’s Police Commissioner• Was assistant secretary of US Navy• His volunteer cavalry brigade, the Rough Riders,

won public acclaim for its role in the battle at San Juan Hill in Cuba (we will discuss this later)– Lead to a hero like status and his election as NY

Governor and eventually, the Vice-Presidency

Thrust Into Power

• Six months after McKinley became the President (1901), he was assassinated– Remember McKinley beat Bryan (Cross of Gold)

• Roosevelt, his VP, was thrust into power as the youngest president ever in America at 42 yrs

• He continued to prove himself to the public by boxing, losing vision in his left eye, and horseback riding 100 miles to prove it possible

The Teddy Bear• In addition to horseback riding and boxing, he went

hunting often• During one expedition, he came upon a bear cub and

spared its life• After hearing this, a toymaker marketed a toy that

became widely popular, and remains so today – The Teddy Bear!

Teddy’s and American Response to The Jungle

• Roosevelt and other readers were sickened by what they read

• He invited Sinclair to the White House• Roosevelt promised:– The specific evils you point out shall, if their

existence be proved, and if I have the power, be eradicated.

Roosevelt’s Politics

• He thought the government should assume control whenever states proved incapable of dealing with problems

• He also targeted big business practices – He saw to it that the common people receive

what he called a “Square Deal”• The Square Deal would provide progressive

reforms sponsored by Roosevelt’s administration

Roosevelt’s Square Deal

• Read through Roosevelt’s Square Deal article • List the different pieces of Legislature that

passed as a result of his reform and explain what each was and its significance

• What was his “Big Stick” Policy?• How did this agenda strengthen the

Progressive movement?

Roosevelt’s Trust Busting• Roosevelt’s Trust Busting– “We demand that big business give the people a

square deal; in return we must insist that when anyone engaged in a big business honestly endeavors to do right he himself be given a square deal.”• Bad trusts should be broken up but fair trusts should be

regulated

• Reforming Big Business• The Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act

were passed in an effort to maintain competition in business

1902 Coal Strike

Regulating Foods and Drugs

• Pure Food and Drug Act– Passage of Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat

Inspection Act illustrated the federal government’s commitment to worker’s rights

– The first act prohibited the sale of adulterated or inaccurately labeled foods and medicines, and the second established federal regulations for meatpackers and a system of inspection

Conservation and Natural Resources

• View of Wilderness:– Big Business – what resources are there and how much $ can

we make from them?– Preservationists – how can we protect the wilderness and

preserve the resources?• He designated 200 million acres as national forests, mineral

reserves, and potential waterpower sites, and added five national parks and eighteen national monuments to the list of protected lands.

• In 1908 Roosevelt created the National Conservation Commission to inventory the nation’s resources and manage their use more efficiently

Overview: Result of Progressivism• The Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906– Created new rules and regulations for the preparation and

handling of food and medicine• The breaking up of the bank and beef monopolies in 1907 and

the Standard Oil Trust in 1911 – “Trust Busting”• Federal Reserve Act of 1913– Divided country into 12 districts, each with their own bank

and board of directors to oversee banking practices and policies and prevent panics and bank failures

• 17th Amendment 1913– Provided for the direct election of US Senators rather than

having them selected by state legislatures