Roosevelt’s Square Deal
1901: Theodore Roosevelt became President.
(Teddy)
He became known for fighting corruption.
Roosevelt greatly expanded the powers of the
Presidency.
***He used his powers to convince the public of
the need for Progressive Reform.
***He called his plan the “The Square Deal”
The Goal:
***To keep Big Business from taking
over and exploiting small business.
PRIMARY SOURCE (Square Deal)
“When I say I believe in a square deal, I do not mean
to give every man the best hand. If good cards do not
come to any man, or if they do come, and he has not
got the power to play them, that is his affair. All I
mean is that there shall be no crookedness in the
dealing.”
(Theodore Roosevelt, 1905)
***At this point Roosevelt’s administration became known as “trustbusters.”
Roosevelt was NOT interested in breaking up all
companies.
***He claimed to be the judge between what where
“GOOD” trusts and “BAD” trusts.
He supported Big Business as long as they played
fairly with smaller businesses.
***Roosevelt: Believed that the land should be
CONSERVED, because the land had natural resources that
could benefit the country.
***Roosevelt believed in “rational” use.
Muir: Believed in PRESERVATION.
National reclamation Act:
Gave the Federal Gov’t the power to decide where and
how water would be distributed.
***Roosevelt left office after 2 terms was still a
powerful source for the Republican Party.
***He helped William Howard Taft (Secretary
of War) win the Presidency of 1908.
Roosevelt expected Taft to continue his
programs and policies.
Wilson’s New Freedom
Section 5
***Woodrow Wilson won the White House.
***He began shaping his ideas of
government called “NEW FREEDOM”
It looked like Roosevelt’s New
Nationalism
***It would place strict gov’t controls on
corporations.
Wilson wanted to prevent Big Business from unfairly charging high prices to their
customers.
***-He (Wilson) lowered tariffs on foreign goods so people could buy goods
from other countries if American prices were too high.
-Wilson was able to pass laws to regulate the economy thanks to the 16th
amendment. (Allowed Congress to tax income.)
Wilson tried to reform the Banking system.
-At this time there was NO central
banking system.
***Wilson pushed Congress to pass the
FEDERAL RESERVE ACT (1913)
-This placed banks under the control of a
Federal Reserve Board.
-Set up Regional banks to hold
reserve funds for commercial banks.
Prevent too much wealth from being
in control of one person.
-Federal Reserve set up interest
rates
-Supervised banks