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Presidents of the Progressive Era

Chapter 22

Lesson 3

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Theodore Roosevelt

  • Rep. vice president-1900
  • President McKinley assassinated less than a year later
  • 42 year old T.R. youngest president ever
  • First progressive president

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Roosevelt the “Trustbuster”

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  • McKinley favored big business
  • T.R. favored regulation
    • Used Sherman Antitrust Act
    • Northern Securities RR
    • Supreme Court broke up

Northern Securities

  • Brought legal cases against trusts
    • Beef, oil, tobacco
  • Viewed some trusts as “good” and others as “bad”

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Trouble with Labor

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  • 1902 - Major labor crisis
  • 100,000 mine workers strike
  • Mine owners refused to negotiate
  • Coal strike dragged on for months
    • Winter approaching
  • T.R stepped in, offered arbitration
    • Union agreed, owners refused
  • T.R. send in troops to work mine
  • Owner finally agreed to arbitration
  • First time troops used in support of workers

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Square Deal

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  • T.R. ran for reelection in 1904
  • Promised a “Square Deal”
    • Won easily
  • Government regulation of

business

  • Broke long policy of laissez-faire
  • Defended public interest on consumer issues
    • Meat Inspection Act
    • Pure Food and Drug Act

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Conserving the Wilderness

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  • T.R. loved the outdoors
  • Believed in conservation
    • Protecting natural resources
    • Forests, mineral deposits, water resources
  • Set aside millions of acres for wildlife preserves
  • National Conservation Commission

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President Taft in Office

  • T.R. decided not to run in 1908
  • Supported William Taft
  • Taft carried out T.R. policies
    • Broke up more trusts
  • Supported first income tax
    • 16th Amendment
  • Many progressives saw Taft as too “pro-business”

William Howard Taft

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Roosevelt Challenges Taft

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  • T.R. was unhappy with Taft
  • Decided to seek Republican nomination in 1912
  • GOP decided to support Taft
  • T.R. formed a new political party - Progressive Party
  • “I feel as fit as a bull moose!”
    • Bull Moose Party

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The Election of 1912

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  • Split in GOP cost both Taft and T.R.
  • Woodrow Wilson wins
  • Former Governor of New Jersey
  • Former President of Princeton University

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Wilson’s Progressive

Presidency

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  • “New Freedom”
  • Lowered tariffs
  • Federal Reserve Act
    • Regulate banking
  • Government control over business
    • Federal Trade Commission
    • Clayton Antitrust Act
    • Child labor

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Woodrow Wilson

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