Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal

1. 1902 COAL STRIKE

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt brought the mine workers and the mine operators to the White House to settle their differences. He then had them submit their differences to an arbitration committee, a third unbiased expert party that was made to come up with a compromise. The committee created by Roosevelt settled the dispute.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
none

2. TRUSTS

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt, who believed that not all trusts were harmful, merely focused on filing law suits directly under the Sherman Anti-trust Act. He broke up a number of trusts and won many of the 44 cases he brought to the Supreme Court.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
The Sherman Anti-trust Act, but nothing that Roosevelt passed during his term.

3. UNREGULATED BIG BUSINESS

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
The main business that Roosevelt worked on regulating was the railroad industry. He passed legislation that gave more power to the Interstate Commerce Commission and worked to halt bribery and other forms of corruption in the railroad industry.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
  Elkins Act- 1903, and Hepburn Act-1906

4. DANGEROUS FOODS AND MEDICINES

 a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt created a committee after reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair to inspect the meatpacking industry. The committee released a detailed report about the incredibly insanitary conditions and practices and industry. Roosevelt also listened to Dr. Harvey Washington’s criticism of the drug industry’s wild claims and contaminated products. He passed legislation to give cleanliness requirements to the meatpacking industry as well as establishing inspections. The biggest part of the legislation for drug safety was that it called for honest labeling, which allowed consumers to really see what they were buying.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
Meat Inspection Act- 1906 and Pure Food and Drug Act- 1906


5. SHRINKING WILDERNESS AND NATURAL RESOURCES

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
As Americans expanded west, they left a trail of destruction and waste in their path, hurting the environment. Teddy Roosevelt, a conservationist, set aside millions and millions of acres for forest reserves, water-power sites, and for the USGS to search for natural resources, as well as many national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. He also appointed an expert conservationist, Gifford Pinchot, as the head of the U.S. Forest Service. As part of his solution he passed legislation that used money the government gained from the sale of lands in the west went towards irrigating the west. 

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
National Reclamation Act- 1902

6. RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt overall did not do much to solve racial problems. However, he did appoint some African-Americans to government jobs throughout the country, much to the chagrin of his party members. He also invited Booker T. Washington, a well-respected man in black and some white communities, to the white house as a symbolic gesture. 

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
none

Explain the importance of each of the following:

7. Square Deal:                 
The square deal was the Progressive idea behind many of Roosevelt’s reforms. He believed if workers and Americans were getting cheated, he would give them  a square deal, through reform.

8. The Jungle:
The Jungle  was a novel that revealed many of the horrifying practices of the meat packing industry. This book led to an uproar that eventually resulted in the Meat Inspection Act and safer foods for Americans.                            

9. Upton Sinclair:           
Upton Sinclair was the author of The Jungle and was seen as a big muckraker in the early 1900s. However, his intentions in writing about the meatpacking industry were to be reveal the exploitation of the workers, but his vivid descriptions ended up inspiring Progressives into reform.

10. NAACP: 
The NAACP’s goal was simply equality for all races. The existence of this organization showed that the Progressive Movement’s true goals were only concerning middle class white Americans.

11. Meat Inspection Act:                          
The Meat Inspection Act created specific cleanliness requirements and created the process of federal meat inspection. This act brought cleaner and higher quality meat to Americans.

12. Pure Food & Drug Act: 
The Pure Food and Drug Act called for the halting of the selling of contaminated foods and drugs and, most importantly, for truth and labeling. This allowed Americans to know what they were really buying.

13. Significance of the 1902 Coal Miners’ Strike: 
During the 1902 Coal Miners’ Strike, Teddy Roosevelt set several very important precedents. He brought the federal government into a strike that threatened the welfare of the public. This had not been previously done, but after 1902 it was expected.

Challenges of Urbanization

The People: why were the three groups below drawn to cities in the Northeast and Midwest? 

1. Immigrants
Cities were by far the cheapest places to live in the country. They also offered steady employment at mills and factories for unskilled workers, which most immigrants were. These factories were often located in the city, so living in the city made it very convenient as well.


2. Farmers
New inventions in the late 19^th century led to farming become much more efficient. These inventions meant that farmers could get make more of their crop, but with less people. The workers that used to run these farms migrated to cities to look for work.

3. African-Americans
Many of the farmers above were African-Americans. The African-Americans not only left for labor though, many were escaping racial violence as well.  As a result of this racism there was much political oppression as well, which they were also leaving the South in order to get away from.

The Problems: What was done in response to the following five problems? 

4. Lack of safe and efficient transportation
In response to a lack of safe and efficient transportation, cities began to develop mass transit systems. These were systems of transportation designed to move a very large number of people along a fixed route. Street cars in San Francisco were one of the first examples of mass transit, along with subways in Boston. Mass transit made it easier for people to get in, out of, and around the cities.


5. Unsafe drinking water
In rapidly growing cities, there was rarely enough water for people and when there was it was full of diseases and bacteria. In the 1870s, in order to counteract this, many major cities introduced filtration to the water systems. In 1908, they added chlorine as an additional precaution.


6. Lack of sanitation
As more people moved to the cities, they began producing more and more waste, garbage and other. There were no methods of picking up or removing this waste, so the cities became dangerously unsanitary. By 1900, major cities around the U.S. had created sewers and sanitation departments so that the cities could be cleaner and therefore safer.


7. Fire Hazards
As cities grew, many of the buildings were made out of cheap and reliable wood. But soon, this choice led to fires breaking out in almost every major city in the U.S.. There were fire departments, but they were mostly volunteer. Cincinnati was the first city to have a paid fire department, and by 1900 many other cities had followed suit. In addition to salaried fire departments, many cities moved from building with wood to building with stone and brick.  


8. Crime

With more people in a smaller area, it became easier for thieves to steal from them.  Cities all over the United States created full, salaried police forces by 1900 you counteract and apprehend these crime committers.