Day 2

Chap. 9 Day 2 pg. 341

Roosevelt Becomes a Progressive Leader

1. A Rough Rider Enters the White house

2. Rough Riders: They were a private militia that Teddy Roosevelt hand picked.  They went in 1898 and fought on behalf of the United States during the Spanish-American War.  Led by Teddy Roosevelt, they won the famous battle of San Juan Hill and came home as war heroes.

3. Teddy loved the outdoors and strongly believed in the conservation of natural resources.  He first entered the national scene when he ran as President McKinely’s Vice-President.  Teddy became President in 1901 when Mckinley was assassinated.

4. While in the white house Teddy boxed with professionals, one of whom blinded him in his left eye.  He played competitive tennis.  Once he made a bet that he could ride a horse 100 miles in one day to show it could be done (and he did do it).

5. Six Achievements Equal a Square Deal

6. He was going to make sure big business could not take advantage of the average person.  He passed laws to prevent big business from squeezing farmers, workers, and small businesses.  He wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to receive a “square deal”.

7. He increased federal power.  He thought the Federal Government should step in whenever states were incompetent of taking care of matters themselves.

8. He mediated strikes.  One example was a coal strike.  Roosevelt told both sides what the terms would be since they couldn’t agree on their own.  He threatened to bring in the army if the strike continued.  He gave both sides some of what they each wanted and forced them to accept the terms.

9. He regulate trusts.  Teddy wanted to weaken trusts, but not destroy the corporations involved.  He sued a number of them and won many cases on behalf of small businesses.  Mergers and unethical business practices still happened.

10. He regulated transportation.  He did this mainly through two acts.  The Elkins Act of 1903 made it illegal for railroads to give or receive rebates.  This also made it illegal for railroads to change rates without prior notice to the public.  The other major act for regulating transportation was the - of 1906.  This allowed the Interstate Commerce Commission to lower rates whenever they received too many complaints (this gave the Federal Gov. a lot of authority that they didn’t have before).

11. He also protected health.  When Teddy read “The Jungle”, he was horrified, as were many Americans.  In 1906, he passed the Federal Meat Inspection Act.  This was passed to force the meat industry to clean up their unsanitary practices.  The Pure Food & Drug Act was also passed to protect people from tainted foods and harmful drugs.  The practice of selling spoiled food needed to be stopped as well as people selling bad medicines.  Before this, people could sell their own home made remedies. These would often harm people or make them sicker than before.  Men, women, and often kids would die from taking what was literally poison.  That’s why drugs are illegal to manufacture at home and closely monitored by the government today. Drugs have to go through rigorous testing before they are allowed to be sold to the public.   People need to have confidence the drug they are taking will do what it is supposed to do.  We don’t want to buy drugs from a traveling salesman out of the back of his vehicle.  This type of system was dangerous so it needed to be regulated by the government!  History has already proven that drugs need to be regulated to protect us!

12. He conserved natural resources.  Roosevelt passed legislation that forced businesses to fix practices which hurt or destroyed nature.  He protected forests, created wildlife reserves, & established national parks.  National parks such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, & Grand Canyon were established by Teddy Roosevelt