American History by Alan Brinkley: Pages 593-610
Main Ideas:
1. How Theodore Roosevelt's leadership helped fashion a new, expanded role for the national government.
2. That politics during the administration of William Howard Taft showed that most of the nation desired a more progressive approach.
3. How the administration of Woodrow Wilson embodied both conservative and progressive features.
4. That the United States assumed a much more assertive and interventionist foreign policy, especially toward the Caribbean region.
Terms : Hide Images
| 633744394 | The Accidental Presidency | on September 14, 1901, former president William McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist Leon Czolgosz. This thrust Theodore Roosevelt into the shoes of the president | |
| 633744395 | Roosevelt's Background | Theodore Roosevelt had established his reputation through once being a member of New York legislature, police department, assistant secretary of the navy, and commander of the Rough Riders. He never openly rebelled against party leaders, and became a supporter of cautious, moderate change. Reform was tool to protect the American society against future radical challenges | |
| 633744396 | Roosevelt's Mediation | Roosevelt believed that the federal government should be the mediator between private enterprises and public goods. He wasn't opposed to monopolies or holding companies, but he demanded that they must be regulated because they produce dangerous abuses of power; Allied with the Progressives, who also believed in regulation of monopolies | |
| 633744397 | Roosevelt's Federal Government Desire | Roosevelt policy included his desire to allow the government the power to investigate corporations and publicize the results; he believed the pressure of the public opinion alone would eliminate most corporate abuses. Under Roosevelt, the federal government would create the Department of Commerce & Labor in 1903 and the Bureau of Corporations to assist in the task of investigation | |
| 633744398 | Roosevelt vs Northern Securities Company | In 1902, Roosevelt ordered the Justice Department to invoke the Sherman Anti-Trust Act on the Northern Securities Company, a $400M monopoly under JP Morgan. The Supreme Court ruled that the company must be dissolved. It proved his aggressive policy toward monopolies/trusts | |
| 633744399 | Roosevelt vs United Mine Workers | Roosevelt also was willing to mediate between labor forces and company heads. in 1902, a bitter strike held by the United Mine Workers led Roosevelt to persuade the operators and miners to accept impartial federal arbitration. Eventually, Roosevelt had awarded the strikers with a 10% wage increase and a nine-hour day; its less than what they wanted, but more than what they would have gotten without Roosevelt's intervention | |
| 633744400 | Election of 1904 | Roosevelt was easily re-elected into office, winning 57% of the popular vote. His easy re-election, he believed, was a sign for mandated reform. Roosevelt finessed big business by appointing conservatives and progressives | |
| 633744401 | Square Deal | In 1904, Roosevelt used the term "Square Deal" as a reference to his mediation of the anthracite coal strike; providing everyone with a "square deal". In his 2nd term, he pursued farther reforms to regulate monopolies through better enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and also the creation of the Hepburn Act in 1906. | |
| 633744402 | Hepburn Railroad Regulation Act | The Hepburn Railroad Regulation Act (1906) sought to give the government more authority in order to regulate railroad rates. However the act was too soft, and satisfied few progressives. Robert La Follette thought the bill was too compromising and was enraged at Roosevelt. | |
| 633744403 | Pure Food and Drug Act | Roosevelt also persuaded Congress to enact an act that would prohibit the manufacture, sale, or shipment of ineffective medicines and falsely labeled food and drugs | |
| 633744404 | Meat Inspection Act | An act pushed by Roosevelt after Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle, which created an outcry about unsanitary conditions in the meat packing industry. It ultimately helped eliminate many diseases once transmitted in impure meat. | |
| 635191430 | Roosevelt's Progressive Beliefs | Roosevelt expanded reform proposals included an 8-hour work day, workers compensation for individual accidents, inheritance, income tax, and short market regulation. He also pushed his aggressive policies of conservation. His actions and progressive beliefs led the republican party to split into two wings: Progressives led by Roosevelt that opposed big business, and the Laissez-Faire conservatives that opposed Roosevelt's plan for a 2nd term. | |
| 635191431 | Gifford Pinchot | Roosevelt's chief forester, and head of the newly established National U.S. Forest Service; promoted policies to protect land for carefully managed development. He believed that it was their duty to manage the natural resources. | |
| 635191432 | The Wilderness | Roosevelt had pushed for the creation of the National US Forest Service, which was led by Gifford Pinchot. It expressed the beliefs of "conservation", a management of natural resources. In 1907, he signed the National Reclamation Act, but he was discouraged by the naturalists' growing idea of "preservation", a protection of wilderness without human exploitation. but alas, he deferred to Pinchot's ideology of "conservatism" | |
| 635191433 | National Reclamation Act (1907) | also known as the Newlands Act; backed by Roosevelt in 1902, it provided federal funds for the construction of damns, reservoirs, and canals in the West—projects that would open new lands for cultivation and provide cheap electric power later on; it exemplified the government's support for a growing infrastructure. | |
| 635191434 | Conservation | the careful management of the environment and of natural resources; supported by Gifford Pinchot and Roosevelt. | |
| 635191435 | Preservation | maintenance of the wilderness in its present condition, with as little human impact as possible to protect from any human exploitation. Supported by John Muir and Sierra Club. | |
| 635191436 | The Creation of National Parks | The National Forest System was ultimately significant in increasing the authority of the National Park System, whose purpose was to protect public land from any exploitation or development at all. This led to the creation of parks such as: Yellowstone in Wyoming, Yosemite and Sequoia in California, and Mt. Rainier in Washington | |
| 635191437 | Hetch-Hetchy Controversy | Hetch-Hetchy was a spectacular, high walled valley, in the Yosemite National Park, and was popular with naturalists such as Muir and other Sierra Club members. But many residents of San Francisco worried about finding enough water to serve their growing Population and to help through the 1906 SF earthquake.The residents saw the valley as an ideal place for a reservoir. Gifford Pinchot had approved the decision to build the dam and it was backed by the San Francisco population through referendum; (Raker Act). The naturalists and advocates of the dam argued for years and eventually after WWI, the dam was approved and constructed by engineer Michael O' Shaughnessy (O'Shaughnessy Dam). It helped build a coalition of people committed to preservation; further protestors claimed that SF sold water from the dam to Pacific Gas & Electric which marked up the cost for sale to its utility customers. | |
| 635191438 | Raker Act | This act of Congress granted the city of SF the right to dam the Hetch-Hetchy Valley as a reservoir and the unfulfilled right of electricity for the city. The Hetch-Hetchy proposal was revived by the referendum Board of Supervisors and Mayor William Robeson Taylor after the Great Earthquake and Fire. | |
| 635191439 | Panic of 1907 | a serious recession, proved the govt. still had little control over the industrial economy. Conservatives blamed Roosevelt's mad economic policies for the disaster, and the president disagreed, but acted quickly to reassure business leaders that he wouldn't interfere with their private recovery efforts. It soon subsided with Roosevelt being forced to accept and tolerate JP Morgan's plan to pool assets of various New York banks and it allowed JP Morgan to purchase Tennessee of Coal an Iron company to add to his monopoly | |
| 635191440 | Election of 1908 | Roosevelt did not seek a second term. He gave his presidential blessing to William Howard Taft. Taft unified the Republican Party, and was aligned with conservatives. Taft polled over 50% popular vote and won easily over William Jennings Bryant and Eugene Debs. Eventually however, at the end of his presidency both parties would complain about Taft. | |
| 635191441 | Children's Bureau | federal agency similar Roosevelt's Bureau of Corporations, investigated and publicized problems with child labor; created by Taft | |
| 635191442 | Roosevelt vs Taft | Taft lacked Roosevelt's commitment to progressive reform. He accepted the "old guard" Republican position. Progressives were especially alarmed when Taft selected Richard Ballinger as secretary of interior. | |
| 635191443 | Richard Ballinger | selected and backed by Taft as secretary of interior. Ballinger didn't respect any land or conservatist beliefs, Pinchot accused Ballinger of selling lands in Alaska, however Taft fired Pinchot for making such accusations. Progressives eventually become disappointed in Taft. | |
| 635191444 | Roosevelt's Safari | Roosevelt returned from his safari to promote public activity. The safari had many animal deaths, that he claimed was justified because of the requests from museums. | |
| 635191445 | The Progressive Party | A political party created by a split in the Republican Party. Formed by Theodore Roosevelt after he lost the Republican Nomination. Also known as the Bull Moose Party of the Election of 1912; it was known for it's New Nationalism and approaches for protection of children, women, and workers. New reforms for monopolies, and pensions for elderly and widows. | |
| 635191446 | New Nationalism | Theodore Roosevelt's program in his campaign for the presidency in 1912, the New Nationalism called for a national approach to the country's affairs and a strong president to deal with them. It also called for efficiency in government and society; it urged protection of children, women, and workers; accepted "good" trusts; and exalted the expert and the executive. Additionally, it encouraged large concentrations of capital and labor. | |
| 635191447 | Election of 1912 | Before the election Robert LaFollette had challenged Taft's renomination, however he had to pull out at the last minute. When the Republican's votes were split between Taft(23%) and Roosevelt(27%), the Democrats stayed together and elected Wilson(41%) as President. The Republicans had no chance because they had two candidates running. | |
| 635191448 | Wilson's Presidency | Wilson distrusted the idea of regulating monopolies. "New Freedom" insisted trusts were both unfair and inefficient. He believed that monopolies could not be regulated and must be destroyed. | |
| 635191449 | New Freedom | Woodrow Wilson's domestic policy that, promoted antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. | |
| 635191450 | Wilson's Leadership | Was a president of Princeton university; he applauded Birth of a Nation; he restructured a revenue system leading to the 16th amendment authorizing income tax. Progressives lowered tariffs (Underwood Tariff) in hopes that it would restore free competition and reduce power of trusts. | |
| 635191451 | Underwood Tariff | Tariff of 1913 which, in addition to lowering and even eliminating some tariffs, included provisions for the first federal income tax, made legal the same year by the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment. | |
| 635191452 | 16th Amendment | Amendment to the United States Constitution (1913) gave Congress the power to tax income. | |
| 635191453 | Federal Reserve Act of 1913 | intended to create a flexible source of credit for banks, and to establish new currency that would be the nation's basic medium of trade. The Federal Reserve today provides a foundation of a banking system and controls "prime" lending rates. | |
| 635191454 | Clayton Act of 1914 | expanded the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to specify unfair methods of competition such as interlocking directories; exempted labor unions from being called trusts, and legalized strikes and peaceful picketing by labor unions | |
| 635191455 | Federal Trade and Commission Act of 1914 | agency creation that would help businesses determine in advance whether their actions would be acceptable to the government; it also would allow the agency to issue a "cease and desist" to stop any corporation violating free competition; it ultimatley increased the government's regulatory authority for monopolies/trusts significantly. | |
| 635191456 | Keating-Owen Act | Supported by Wilson in 1916, prohibited shipment across state lines of goods produced by underage children, thus giving an expanded importance to the constitutional clause assigning Congress the task of regulating Interstate Commerce. Unfortunately, Congress struck down the act, and a new law attempted to achieve the same goal by imposing a heavy tax on the products of Child Labor would also be struck down. | |
| 635191457 | "Big Stick" Diplomacy | Diplomatic policy developed by Theodore Roosevelt where the "big stick" symbolizes his power and readiness to use military force if necessary. It is a way of intimidating countries without actually harming them and was the basis of U.S. imperialistic foreign policy. "speak softly, but carry a big stick" | |
| 635191458 | Open Door Policy | a policy, proposed by the united States in 1899, under which all nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China | |
| 635191459 | Great White Fleet | 1907-1909 - Roosevelt sent the Navy on a world tour to show the world the U.S. naval power after Japan had destroyed a Russian fleet in Port Arthur. It came off of "big stick" diplomacy principle. It proved to the world that the USA had a power navy in the pacific that shouldn't be messed with. | |
| 635191460 | Roosevelt Corollary | Roosevelt's 1904 extension of the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States has the right to protect its economic interests in South and Central America by using military force if they could not maintain order or national sovereignty. | |
| 635191461 | Platt Amendment | the amendment gave the US the right to prevent any foreign power from intruding into the new nation. In 1906, when domestic uprisings seemed to threaten internal stability, American troops landed and quelled the fighting. | |
| 635191462 | Panama Canal | The United States built the Panama Canal to have a quicker passage to the Pacific from the Atlantic and vice versa. The Columbians would not let Americans build the canal, but then with the assistance of the United States a Panamanian Revolution occurred. The new ruling people in Panama allowed the United States to build the six mile wide canal. | |
| 635191463 | Dollar Diplomacy | Foreign policy created under President Taft's Secretary of State Philander C. Knox; that had the U.S. exchanging financial support in dollars for the right to "help" countries make decisions about trade and other commercial ventures. Basically it was exchanging money for political influence in Latin America and the Caribbean. It increased Washington's financial leverage over foreign countries. |
