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Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal

US History/Napp Name: __________________

“Theodore Roosevelt was not supposed to be president. In 1900, the young governor from New York was urged to run as McKinley’s vice-president by the state’s political bosses, who found Roosevelt impossible to control. The plot to nominate Roosevelt worked, taking him out of state office. President McKinley, however, had served barely six months of his second term before he was assassinated, making Roosevelt president.

When Roosevelt was thrust into the presidency in 1901, he became the youngest president ever at 42 years old. Roosevelt helped create the modern presidency, making him a model by which all future presidents would be measured. Citing federal responsibility for the national welfare, Roosevelt thought the government should assume control whenever states proved incapable of dealing with problems. Roosevelt saw the presidency as a ‘bully pulpit,’ from which he could influence the news media and shape legislation. If big business victimized workers, then President Roosevelt would see to it that the common people received what he called a Square Deal. This term was used to describe the various progressive reforms sponsored by the Roosevelt administration.

By 1900, trusts – legal bodies created to hold stock in many companies –controlled about four-fifths of the industries in the United States. Some trusts, like Standard Oil, had earned poor reputations with the public by the use of unfair business practices. Many trusts lowered their prices to drive competitors out of the market and then took advantage of the lack of competition to jack prices up even higher. President Roosevelt did not believe that all trusts were harmful, but he sought to curb those trusts that were harmful.

After reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Roosevelt responded to the public’s clamor for action. In 1906 Roosevelt pushed for passage of the Meat Inspection Act, which dictated strict cleanliness requirements for meatpackers and created the program of federal meat inspection that was in use until it was replaced by more sophisticated techniques in the 1990s. In 1906, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act. This act halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines and called for truth in labeling. Before Roosevelt’s presidency, the federal government had also paid very little attention to the nation’s natural resources. John Muir, a naturalist and writer with whom Roosevelt camped in California’s Yosemite National Park in 1903, persuaded the president to set aside 148 million acres of forest reserves. Roosevelt also established more than 50 wildlife sanctuaries and several national parks.” ~ The Americans

|1. President Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation efforts were influenced|2. Which president was known as a trustbuster? |

|by a desire to |(1) George Washington |

|(1) protect natural resources for the future |(2) Calvin Coolidge |

|(2) increase revenues through land sales |(3) Theodore Roosevelt |

|(3) reduce the role of the federal government |(4) Dwight Eisenhower |

|(4) return tribal lands to Native American Indians | |

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|Theodore Roosevelt and the Square Deal, 1901 – 1909 |

|In the late 19th century, the Presidency had been relatively weak, leaving the direction of the country’s affairs mainly to Congress |

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|Theodore Roosevelt reversed this trend when he became President. |

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|In Roosevelt’s view, the President acted as the “steward,” or manager, of the people’s interests. |

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|Roosevelt revived the use of the Sherman Antitrust Act against big business consolidations, known as trusts, but he distinguished between |

|“good trusts” and “bad trusts” which acted against the public interest. |

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|He launched the break-up of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. |

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|Square Deal Legislation: |

|The Meat Inspection Act (1906): government inspection of meat |

|The Pure Food and Drug Act (1906): regulated the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines |

|Increased the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroads, and gave it authority over the telegraph and telephone |

|Drew attention to the need to conserve forests, wildlife, and natural resources; adding millions of acres to the national forests and parks |

|~ The Key to Understanding U.S. History and Government |

1- How did Theodore Roosevelt differ from previous Presidents? ________________________________________________________________________

2- What is a trust? ________________________________________________________________________

3- How did Theodore Roosevelt view trusts? ________________________________________________________________________

4- Identify three significant changes that occurred as a result of Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal Legislation: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5- How did Theodore Roosevelt conserve the nation’s land and resources? ________________________________________________________________________

6- Does Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal Legislation affect Americans today? Explain your answer. ________________________________________________________________________

|A main purpose of President Theodore Roosevelt’s trustbusting policies|A belief shared by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and |

|was to |Woodrow Wilson is that the Federal Government should |

|reduce corruption in government |allow the free-enterprise system to work without regulation |

|save the nation’s banks |use its power to regulate unfair business practices |

|encourage competition in business |provide jobs for unemployed workers |

|end strikes by labor unions |support unions in labor-management disputes |

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|Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Robert M. LaFollette are all |5. Which statement best summarizes President Theodore Roosevelt’s |

|considered progressives because they |views about conservation? |

|supported the formation of the first trade union |(1) Environmental issues are best decided by the private sector. |

|used Presidential power to break up strikes |(2) Unlimited access to natural resources is the key to business |

|worked to limit the power of big business |growth. |

|formed the first civil rights organizations |(3) Wilderness areas and their resources should be protected for the |

| |public good. |

|3. Which term best describes Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and |(4) Decisions about the use of natural resources should be left to the|

|Gifford Pinchot? |states. |

|(1) philanthropists | |

|(2) conservationists |5. The Panamanian revolt, the Russo-Japanese war, and the creation of |

|(3) yellow journalists |the national parks system occurred during the presidency of |

|(4) captains of industry |(1) William McKinley |

| |(2) Woodrow Wilson |

| |(3) Herbert Hoover |

| |(4) Theodore Roosevelt |

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Speaker A: “The business of America is business, and we would be wise to remember that.”

Speaker B:”Government ownership of business is superior to private enterprise.”

Speaker C: “Strict government regulation of business practices is a means to insure the public good.”

Speaker D: “Only through personal effort can wealth and success be achieved.”

Which speaker would most likely have supported the ideas of the Progressive movement?

1) Speaker A

2) Speaker B

3) Speaker C

4) Speaker D

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What is the meaning of the political cartoon? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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“We demand that big business give 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

1- Explain the quote. ____________________________________________________________________________

2- What is the meaning of the political cartoon? ____________________________________________________________________________

Image: 1908 editorial cartoon of President Theodore Roosevelt as “A Practical Forester.”  Source: St. Paul Minnesota “Pioneer Press”.

What is the meaning of the image? _____________________________________________________________________________________________

Do you believe that Americans have successfully preserved and conserved the forest lands and natural resources? Explain your answer. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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