The Progressive Presidents
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Transcript The Progressive Presidents
The Progressive
Presidents
US History: Spiconardi
Theodore Roosevelt
Despite being a conservative, Teddy used
the power of the presidency to deal
directly with social and economic problems
Presidency had any power not specifically
denied in the Constitution
Theodore Roosevelt: The Square
Deal
Consumer Protection
Upon reading Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, TR
orders investigations
TR supports legislation to ensure purity of food &
drugs
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
Meat Inspection Act (1906)
Theodore Roosevelt: The Square
Deal
Regulating Business
The “Trustbuster”
TR was not against trusts; he believed there were
good ones and bad ones
Uses Justice Department to prosecute
Railroad, meatpacking, and oil trusts
Encouraged companies that wanted to merge to
work with the government
Theodore Roosevelt: The Square
Deal
Labor Conditions
Investigated coal mines in Pennsylvania when
company refused to go to arbitration with
striking workers
Threatened to re-open mines using federal troops
This forced management to go to arbitration
TR wants a square deal fair for everyone:
management, labor, consumers
Theodore Roosevelt: The Square
Deal
Conservation
“We are prone to think of the resources of
this country as inexhaustible; this is not so.”
Protected nations environment and wilderness
Purchased parkland, forests, monuments and
wildlife refuges
Triples the amount of public land
William Howard Taft
o
Hand picked successor of TR (Teddy kept
GW’s precedent of two-terms)
William Howard Taft: Reforms
Reforms
Contrary to popular belief, busts more trusts
than TR
Supported eight-hour workday and mine
safety legislation
Sixteenth Amendment federal income tax
Seventeenth Amendment direct election of
senators
William Howard Taft: Reforms
William Howard Taft: Problems
Problems
Not a great politician like TR
Wanted to lower tariffs, while Congress raised
them
Progressives felt he backed down on this by not
vetoing a tariff raising bill
Republican Party spilt over protecting American business,
while combating trusts
Election of 1912
Election of 1912
TR upset that Taft allows business men to buy public
land in Alaska
Decides to run against Taft as a member of “Bull
Moose Party”
Election of 1912
Best showing of a third party candidate
Woodrow Wilson
Republicans split vote and democrat
Woodrow Wilson wins presidency
Woodrow Wilson: New Freedom
New Freedom
Concentrated economic power threatened individual
liberty
Monopolies had to be broken up so the marketplace
could truly be open
“Without …interference of the government…there can
be no fair play between individuals and such powerful
institutions as the trust.”
Woodrow Wilson: Financial
Reforms
Financial Reforms
Underwood Tariff Act
1%
$20,000 - $50,000
2%
$50,000 - $75,000
3%
$75,000 - $100,000
4%
Creates Federal Trade Commission
to investigate businesses
$100,000 - $250,000
5%
Federal Reserve System
$250,000 - $500,000
6%
over $500,000
7%
Tax rate
up to $20,000
Income level
lowers tariffs for the first times
since the Civil War
provides for graduated income
tax/progressive tax
National Banking System (12
banks)
Provided for fair interest rates
Money no longer would depend
on gold supply
Woodrow Wilson
Bye-Bye Progressives
End of the Progressive Era
World War I causes US to focus on war effort
and not social change