Chapter 8 Section 2 – Roosevelt and Taft
(p. 300-307)
MAIN IDEAS
Theodore Roosevelt
Review
Square Deal
(p. 300)
NOTES
 Theodore Roosevelt

Became president at age 42

Took over after the assassination of William McKinley
 Believed in Social Darwinism

The fittest country in the world will survive
1.) Roosevelt ________________________________________________________________________________

Government should actively balance the needs of competing groups
2.) _________________________________________________________________________________________

“I shall see to it that every man has a square deal, no less and no more.” (1904)
 Roosevelt believed that most trusts were efficient and helped with the prosperity of the USA
“Trustbuster”
(p. 300-301)
1.) _________________________________________________________________________________________

He disliked trusts that abused their power
2.) _________________________________________________________________________________________

Northern Securities was a RR company owned by J.P. Morgan

Exchanged stock to merge RRs in the Northwest and created a monopoly
a.) 1902 = Northern Securities RR was ____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
b.) 1904 = Supreme Court ______________________________________________________________

“Analyzing Supreme Court Cases – Can Government Regulate Business Activity?” – see p. 303
 Roosevelt became known as a “trustbuster”

See Political Cartoon on p. 301
 Roosevelt viewed himself as the nation’s head manager and a mediator between groups who conflicted
The Coal Strike of 1902
(p. 301)
1.) _________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________

150,000 anthracite or hard coal miners walked out

Increased pay, reduced hours, and union recognition
2.) _________________________________________________________________________________________

Roosevelt was worried that there would be a coal shortage in the nation
3.) Roosevelt asked ___________________________________________________________________________

Arbitration = a settlement negotiated by an outside party
a.) _________________________________________________________________________________
4.) Roosevelt ________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
a.) _________________________________________________________________________________
 Roosevelt established the federal government as an honest broker between powerful groups in society
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Chapter 8 Section 2 – Roosevelt and Taft
(p. 300-307)
 Roosevelt did NOT want to break up trusts who did not abuse their power
Regulating Big Business
(p. 302)
1.) 1903 = ___________________________________________________________________________________
a.) to _______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
2.) ________________________________________________________________________________________

Government began to investigate US Steel in 1901
a.) company _________________________________________________________________________
b.) government would _________________________________________________________________
c.) allowed __________________________________________________________________________

Roosevelt made gentleman’s agreements with other companies
3.) _________________________________________________________________________________________

ICC = Interstate Commerce Commission

At first, railroads were suspicious of the ICC

Eventually the railroads and ICC worked together to limit competition and prevent new competitors
a.) By 1920 = ________________________________________________________________________
Consumer Protection
(p. 302)
1.) _________________________________________________________________________________________
a.)



wrote articles about _________________________________________________________________
Didn’t cure ills and caused worse health problems
Medicine was alcohol, colored water, and sugar
Had caffeine, opium, cocaine and dangerous chemicals
2.) _________________________________________________________________________________________

chief chemist at the US Department of Agriculture
a.) Reported on _______________________________________________________________________

“embalmed meat”
3.) _________________________________________________________________________________________
a.) Described ________________________________________________________________________

See Primary Source quote on p. 302

Many readers became vegetarians
4.) _________________________________________________________________________________________
a.) _________________________________________________________________________________

Inspection of meat sold through interstate commerce
b.) set ______________________________________________________________________________

standards were set by the Agriculture Department
5.) _________________________________________________________________________________________
a.) prohibited the _____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
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Chapter 8 Section 2 – Roosevelt and Taft
(p. 300-307)
Conservation
(p. 304)
 Roosevelt was an outdoorsman
 Roosevelt wanted to conserve natural resources in the US
 The government must distinguish “between the man who skins the land and the man who develops the
country. I am going to work with, and only with, the man who develops the country.”
 In the West, farmers and cities competed for scarce water resources
1.) _________________________________________________________________________________________
a.) paid for __________________________________________________________________________
 Use federal funds from public land sales to pay for irrigation and land development projects
2.) 1905 = ___________________________________________________________________________________
 Wanted to save the nation’s forests
 Wanted to apply scientific standards to landscaping and managing forestry / natural resources
 Rejected laissez-faire which supported selling public land to lumber companies who would preserve it
 Appointed Gifford Pinchot as head of the US Forest Service
a.) Set up ___________________________________________________________________________

See p. 305 “Should Resources Be Preserved?”
b.)



Roosevelt’s Legacy
(p. 304-305)
expanded _________________________________________________________________________
Added over 100 million acres to national forests
Created 5 new national parks
Set up 51 federal wildlife reservations
1.) Increased the ______________________________________________________________________________
a.) _________________________________________________________________________________

used his power in the White House to present his views
2.) Americans began to ________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________

Hepburn Act allowed the ICC to set RR rates

Meat Inspection Act allowed the Ag. Dept. to inspect food

Dept. of Commerce and Labor could monitor business

Bureau of Corporations could investigate and report on corporations

The Expedition Act allowed the Attorney General to bring antitrust lawsuits
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Chapter 8 Section 2 – Roosevelt and Taft
(p. 300-307)
William Howard Taft
Review
(p. 305)
Taft Loses Support of
Progressivists
(p. 306-307)
 William Howard Taft

Judge

Governor of the Philippines

Secretary of War for Roosevelt
 Election of 1908 = Taft (R) v. William Jennings Bryan (D)

Taft won

William Jennings Bryan lost for the third time
 Taft felt that tariffs limited competition, hurt consumers, and protected trusts
 Roosevelt warned Taft to avoid tariff reform because it would divide the Republican Party
 Taft called a special session of Congress to lower tariffs

Progressive and conservative republicans were divided on the issue of tariffs
1.) _________________________________________________________________________________________
a.) _________________________________________________________________________________
b.) _________________________________________________________________________________
 Progressives were unhappy
 They felt that Taft had “caved” on his personal beliefs about tariffs
2.) _________________________________________________________________________________________
a.) _________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
 Taft made Richard A. Ballinger the Secretary of the Interior

Ballinger replaced James R. Garfield

Garfield had been an aggressive conservationist appointed by Roosevelt

Ballinger was a more conservative corporate lawyer
 Ballinger tried to open a million acres of public forests and mineral reserves to private development
 Ballinger was accused of plotting to sell public lands in Alaska to a private business for personal profit

Gifford Pinchot the head of the US Forest Service accused Ballinger

Taft’s Attorney General dismissed the accusations
 Pinchot leaked the story to the newspapers

Taft fired Pinchot for insubordination
 Congress investigated Ballinger and cleared him
 Taft lost popularity with reformers

Americans felt that he had “sold the Square Deal down the river”
 1910 Congressional Elections

Democrats won control of the House
 Democrats and progressive Republicans won control of the Senate
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Chapter 8 Section 2 – Roosevelt and Taft
(p. 300-307)
Taft’s Achievements
(p. 307)
1.) _________________________________________________________________________________________
a.) _________________________________________________________________________________

Today it deals with child abuse prevention, adoption and foster care
 Taft was a conservationist (aside from the Ballinger-Pinchot controversy)
2.) _________________________________________________________________________________________
a.) monitor __________________________________________________________________________
b.) _________________________________________________________________________________
c.) ____________________________________________________________ from private development
d.) encourage the development of ________________________________________________________
3.) Taft _____________________________________________________________________________________

Brought twice as many antitrust cases in 4 years than Roosevelt (the “trustbuster”) did in 7 years
a.) Oct. 1911 = _______________________________________________________________________

US Steel had bought the TN Coal and Iron Company in 1907

When Roosevelt was president, he had approved the plan
 Nov. 1911 = Roosevelt criticized Taft’s decision to break up trusts

Roosevelt had just returned from an African safari and European tour (1909-1910)

Thought Taft was destroying the system of cooperation and regulation that he had set up with big
business

Roosevelt didn’t want to break up trusts; instead he wanted to control them with regulation
 Feb. 1912 = Roosevelt announced that he would run in the Election of 1912

Roosevelt was s to replace Taft as the Republican nominee for president
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