Unit 6B Notes:

Notes

• States began using direct primary elections to allow voters to choose party candidates

• 3 things that made us more democratic

  • Referendum

  • Recall

  • Initiative

• in 1913, the 17th Amendment was ratified allowing citizens to directly elect their U.S. Senators

• in 1901, Republican President William McKinley was assassinated

• Vice President Theodore Roosevelt became president (first progressive president)

  • Thought the government is responsible for the welfare of the people.

• in 1902, TR negotiated a “Square Deal” between striking anthracite coal miners and management - First time arbitration was used to settle a strike

• Roosevelt was the first president to regulate big business and break up corporate monoplies

  • He becomes known as a Trustbuster when he used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up the northern Securities Company in 1902

  • He saw the benefit of efficient monopolies but wanted to control bad trusts

  • The Jungle made Roosevelt to make Consumer Safety Laws

    • Meat Inspection Act in 1906

    • Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906

• Theodore Roosevelt began the first national environment conservation program

• for the first time, the government assumed responsibility for:

  • The welfare of all citizens

  • Regulated big business

  • Protected the environment

• Roosevelt’s foreign policy helped increase american influence in the world and led to the construction of the Panama Canal

• like TR, Taft pushed for progressive reformes

  • As President, Taft broke up twice as many monopolies as Roosevelt

  • Taft helped establish the Children’s Bureau, the Department of Labor, and Child Labor Laws

  • Helped create safety codes for coal miners and railroad workers

  • Taft angered progressive Republicans when he supported a high tariff which helped large corporations

• TR decided to run for president in 1912 but the Republican Party picket Taft as their candidate

• Roosevelt formed a new political party called the Progressive Party (“Bull Moose Party”)

• The election of 1912 was a three way race

  • William Howard Taft was Republican

  • Woodrow Wilson was Democrat

  • Teddy Roosevelt was for Bull Moose

• Woodrow Wilson won the election of 1912

• President Woodrow Wilson oversaw a great wave of progressive reforms

  • 16th Amendment

    • National Income Tax

  • 17 Amendment

    • Direct Election of US Senators

  • 18th Amendment

    • Outlawed alcohol (prohibition)

  • 19th Amendment

    • Women’s suffrage

• Wilson regulated big business by pushing for the Clayton Anti-Trust Act (Protected workers right to strike) and credited the federal trade commissions to monitor unfair business practices

• Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Reserve system in 1913 to regulate the economy by adjusting the money supply and interest rates

• The “Fed” regulates the amount of money in circulation to help keep the economy strong

Dates

• 1901: William McKinley is assassinated

• 1902: Square Deal

• 1902: Sherman Anti-Trust Act

• 1906: Meat Inspection Act

• 1906: Pure Food and Drug Act

• 1912: 3 way election

• 1913: 17th Amendment is ratified

• 1913: Clayton Anti Trust Act

• 1913: Federal Reserve is created

Vocab

• Arbitration: an arbitrator is appointed to make a binding decision on a disagreement between two parties

• Trustbuster: