17.3

National Reclamation Act (1902)

Backed by Roosevelt. Provided for federal irrigation projects by using money from the sale of public lands

Roosevelt and Civil Rights

Failed to effectively or actively support civil rights for African Americans. But he did support a few individual African Americans, such as Booker T. Washington. He also appointed an African American to a prominent government position in Charleston, South Carolina.

Which law prohibited the sale of contaminated food and medicine and required truth in labeling?

The Pure Food and Drug Act

Railroad Regulation

1887- Congress passed Interstate Commerce Act, which prohibited wealthy railroad owners from colluding to fix high prices by dividing the business in a given area. The Interstate Commerce Commission was established to enforce the new law but had little real power. Congress then passed Elkins Act in 1903, which made it illegal for railroad officials to give rebates for using particular railroads. The act also said that railroads could not change set rates without notifying the public. Then the Hepburn Act of 1906 strictly limited the distribution of free railroad passes, a common form of bribery. Gov't gained power to regulate railroads

Theodore Roosevelt

26th president, known for: conservationism, trust-busting, Hepburn Act, safe food regulations, "Square Deal," Panama Canal, Great White Fleet, Nobel Peace Prize for negotiation of peace in Russo-Japanese War.

Accommodation

Adapting or making adjustments in order to satisfy someone else. Some African Americans criticized Roosevelt and black leaders like Booker T. Washington for not doing enough to support civil rights and for accommodating segregationists and blaming black poverty on blacks.

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois

Booker T. Washington opened Tuskegee Institute to help blacks get practical jobs. He was labeled an accommodationist because he wanted blacks to get a job first and worry about equality later. W.E.B. DuBois started the NAACP and wanted blacks to quickly achieve full equality.

Square Deal

Economic policy by Theodore Roosevelt that favored fair relationships between companies and workers, equal treatment for all. This term was used to describe the various progressive reforms sponsored by the Roosevelt administration.

Niagara Movement (1905)

Founded by W.E.B. DuBois to promote the education of African Americans in the liberal arts; end segregation & discrimination in unions, courts, & public accommodations; equality of opportunity

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

Founded by a number of African Americans and some prominent white reformers in 1909 after the Niagara Conference. Had around 6,000 members by 1914 and aimed for full equality for African Americans.

What actions and characteristics of Teddy Roosevelt contributed to his reputation as the first modern president?

He acted boldly, both in his personal life and in his political life. He lived a very active life full of physical exploits and was a good sportsman. He lived a rugged life in the West for a time when he was younger, and was a war hero during the Spanish American War, which helped him gain the attention of the public. His leadership and publicity campaigns helped create the modern presidency, making him a model by which all future presidents would be measured.

Why did Roosevelt believe that modern America required a powerful federal government?

He studied and wrote about history all of his life, and what he learned convinced him that "A simple and poor society can exist as a democracy on the basis of sheer individualism, but a rich and complex industrial society cannot so exist."

Hepburn Act (1906)

It imposed stricter control over railroads and expanded powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), including giving the ICC the power to set maximum rates.

The term used to describe various progressive reforms sponsored by Theodore Roosevelt's administration was the

Square Deal

Bully pulpit

The president's use of his prestige and visibility to guide or inspire the American public and influence the news media to shape new laws. Pioneered by Theodore Roosevelt.

Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

This law forbade the manufacture, transport or sale of mislabeled or contaminated food or drugs and poisonous patent medicines. Gave the government broad powers to ensure the safety and effectiveness of drugs in order to abolish the "patent" drug trade. It paved the way for the eventual creation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still in existence as the FDA.

Collude

To act together secretly to achieve an illegal or deceitful purpose

Theodore Roosevelt's study of history convinced him that modern America required...

a strong federal government

How was Theodore Roosevelt a "modern president"?

Roosevelt believed that the government should take control whenever the states proved incapable of dealing with problems that were harming the common people. He believed the federal government was responsible for the national welfare. As he once said, "It is the duty of the president to act upon the theory that he is the steward of the people, and ... to assume that he has the legal right to do whatever the needs of the people demand, unless the Constitution or their laws explicitly forbid hi to do it." He also used the "bully pulpit" to influence the media and lawmakers. If big business victimized workers, then Roosevelt would see that the common people got a "Square Deal" and were treated fairly.

Roosevelt's approach to environmental problems

Roosevelt condemned the view that America's resources were endless and made conservation a primary concern. He set aside millions of acres to be conserved or preserved and used sustainably for essential resources. He also established ore than 50 wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. In general, Roosevelt was more of a conservationist than a preservationist. He believed some land should be completely preserved, but also thought that a lot of land could be responsibly developed for the common good. His federal water projects, for example, transformed some dry wilderness areas in order make agriculture possible.

Which novel depicted the wretched and unsanitary conditions at a meatpacking industry?

The Jungle

Upton Sinclair

Muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat packing industry in Chicago. He would go on to write a number of books exposing corruption in American society, politics, and business.

The Jungle (1906)

Novel published in 1906 that portrayed the filthy conditions in Chicago's meatpacking industry and led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act

Conservation

Preserving some wilderness areas while others would be developed for the common good.

Theodore Roosevelt's use of federal power for trustbusting

Trusts were legal bodies created to hold stock in many companies, but by 1900 trusts controlled four-fifths of the industries in the United States. Some of these 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 raise prices even higher for customers. Although Congress had passed the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890, this law's vague language made enforcement difficult. As a result, nearly all the suits filed against the trusts were ineffective. Roosevelt only wanted to stop the trusts that he thought were hurting the public interest. He began filing suits under the Sherman Antitrust Act and in 1902 made headlines when he ordered the Justice Department to sue the Northern Securities Company. Although his administration filed 44 antitrust suits, winning many of them and breaking up some trusts, it was unable to slow down this merger movement in business

1902 Coal Strike

United Mine Workers demanded 20 percent wage increase, a reduction in daily working hours from ten to nine, and formal management recognition in their union; mines shut down in an effort to starve out the miners; Roosevelt intervened to settle the dispute in an orderly way, but his conference ended in an impasse. He threatened the mine owners that he would take over the mines and put them under federal power and run them with the army. The dispute ended in October with an agreement to submit the issues to an arbitration commission named by the president. This enhanced the prestige of Roosevelt and the nation's leaders, but only partial victories for the miners; won 9 hour work day and only 10% increase wages

Meat Inspection Act (1906)

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle heightened public awareness of the appalling and unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing industry. Public pressure and pressure from Roosevelt forced a reluctant Congress to consider a Meat Inspection bill in 1906 which laid down strict rules for sanitary meat packing and government inspection of meat products crossing state lines. Changed the face of health care and food safety legislation in America from that point on.

Theodore Roosevelt's support for civil rights for African Americans...

was criticized by W.E.B. Du Bois