Roosevelt and the Square Deal

Rough Riders

1901 Teddy Roosevelt becomes president -President McKinley was shot -Roosevelt was V.P. at the time -Assassin claimed to act on the behalf of the poor and the forgotten

26th President of the United States Republican Party

What U.S President do you think should be the 5 th person on Mount Rushmore? Why?

Square Deal “see to it that every man has a square Deal, no less and no more” -limited the power or trusts, promoting Public health and safety, and improving working conditions -believed that the needs of the workers, Consumers, & business should be balanced

Regulating Business -Considered big business essential To nation’s growth, but believed They should behave responsibly “We don’t wish to destroy corporations, But we do wish them to serve the Public good.” T.R.

Trust-busting Roosevelt filed dozens of lawsuits against monopolies and trusts Went after bad trusts, which sold inferior products, competed unfairly, or corrupted public officials

Should Government be allowed to break up large corporations? Why or Why Not?

Practices of food and drug companies - By 1900 drug companies, food processors, and meat packers were selling dangerous products. - Scientific developments had enabled chemist to add chemicals to food to make it Appear fresh

Ex. -Skim milk was added to spoiled butter to make it appear fresh -formaldehyde was added to old eggs to take away their odor, the eggs were then sold as fresh

-Drug companies sold worthless medicines -some contained dangerous drugs -health tonics were a fraud - One journalist compared Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, used to bring pain relief From teething babies, with a British label For the same medicine. The British label Marked the tonic “poison.”

Protecting the consumer -unsanitary conditions at meatpacking plants -Roosevelt ordered an investigation “We saw meat shoveled from wooden floors, Piled on tables rarely washed, pushed from Room to room in rotten box carts.”

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle Wrote a book in 1906 about the meat packing industry He told how dead rats were shoveled into sausage- grinding machines; how bribed inspectors looked the other way when diseased cows were slaughtered for beef, and how filth and guts were swept off the floor and packaged as "potted ham."

Do you think that food should be labeled? Do you want to know how your food is processed? Explain your answer.

“In all of which the meat was in the way of gathering dirt, splinters, floor filth, and the saliva of tuberculoses and other diseased workers.” As a result, congress pushed 2 acts Meat Inspection Act- required federal inspection of meat shipped across state lines

Pure Food and Drug Act- forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of food and patent medicine Containing harmful ingredients

Protecting the environment -Roosevelt's most enduring legacy was his work in conservation -Under him, congress created the National Parks and wildlife sanctuary -Today, 380 National Parks on more Than 80 million acres. 280 million People visit each year

What are your beliefs on protecting the environment? To what extent should the environment be protected, if it effects humans? Explain your answer.

In an 1894 article on immigration, Roosevelt said, "We must Americanize in every way, in speech, in political ideas and principles, and in their way of looking at relations between church and state. We welcome the German and the Irishman who becomes an American. We have no use For the German or Irishman who remains such... He must revere only our flag, not only must it come first, but no other flag should even come second." With regard to African Americans Roosevelt said, "I have not been able to think out any solution of the terrible problem offered by the presence of the Negro on this continent, but of one thing I am sure, and that is that in as much as he is here and can neither be killed nor driven away, the only wise and honorable and Christian thing to do is to treat each black man and each white man strictly on his merits as a man, giving him no more and no less that he shows himself worthy to have." every immigrant must become 'an American, and nothing but an American, ' forsaking their native language for English and all other flags for the American flag.