U.S.

History Notes October 23, 2014

The Election of 1900 and the Succession of Theodore Roosevelt

-Election of 1900:
~McKinley and Vice Presidential Candidate Theodore Roosevelt, easily defeated
William J. Bryan
~New York political bosses have Roosevelt nominated for VP
~Felt it was a powerless position
-Assassination of President McKinley:
~Sept. 6, 1901-William McKinley shot at an exposition in Buffalo, New York.
~Died 8 days later: Assassin- Leon Czolgosz
~Roosevelt becomes youngest U.S. President-Age 42
Reformers
-The Progressives and Their Objectives:
~W.E.B DuBois- Black leader in the early 1900s who fought for civil rights.
*Founder of the Niagra Movement-demanded for blacks all their human
rights at once.
*Niagra Movement helped create NAACP (National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People) in 1909.
*Fought for Af.-Am. Political rights.
~Booker T. Washington
*Founder of the Tuskegee Institute.
*Trained thousands of blacks to be better farmers and mechanics.
*Felt they should train quickly for jobs they could do with their hands.
*Self-respect, self-education, and self-help would bring blacks the
opportunities they desired.
Muckrakers
-Journalists and novelists who investigated and exposed corruption and other illegal
activities.
~Upton Sinclair
*Wrote The Jungle described the miseries of workers in the stockyard,
and rotten meat packed for sale.
>Meat Inspection Act, and Pure Food and Drug Act were passed in
1906.
>Pure Food legislation was passed because of his writings.
~Ida Tarbell
*Published attacks on the standard Oil Company
*Writings appeared in the popular McClures Magazine
~Lincoln Steffens
*A pioneer investigating reporter
*Wrote articles on the misgovernment of cities
*A new force-media power-had now entered politics
Consumer Protection
-Meat Inspection Act, 1906
~Federal officials could inspect all meat shipped in interstate commerce.
~Checked to see if meat came from healthy animals and was packed under
sanitary conditions.
~Upton Sinclairs The Jungle helped pass this act.

U.S. History Notes October 23, 2014

-Pure Food and Drug Act, 1906

~The manufactures and sale of impure food, drugs, and liquors was forbidden.
~Labels on patent medicines had to list contents.
Political and Social Reform
-Amendments:
~16th Amendment-made the Federal Income tax legal
~17th Amendment-allowed for the direct election of Senators by voters
*In the past Senators had been elected by state legislatures
-Voting Changes
~Direct Primary
*Enabled voters to nominate their partys candidates for the general
election
>Closed Primary- Ballot on voting only your political party on
ballet.
>Open Primary- Ballot on voting both political parties on ballet.
~Initiative
*Voters can propose a law by petition and have it voted on by the people
~Referendum
*The initiative is put on the ballot for the voters to pass or defeat
~Recall
*By petition, voters could force an official to stand for reelection at any
time.
~Progressives were fighting for a womans right to votesuffrage
*First State: Wyoming
*The west led the way with womans suffrage
-Political Reform
~Roosevelt favored more reforms
*Income and inheritance taxes
*Federal rules for the stock market
*More effective control of business
~The trend was for government to become more involved
-Municipal Reform
~City Manager
*A trained manager hired to run the city
> Not elected
> Can be fired
*Not a politician
*Replaced mayor
> Worked well with small cities
-State Reform
~Robert LaFollete
*Battling Bob
*Elected governor of Wisconsin in 1900
*Enacted Progressive measures
> Direct Primary
>Railroad commission

U.S. History Notes October 23, 2014

>Civil service
>Restrictions on lobbying
*Roosevelt called Wisconsin a laboratory for democracy
Roosevelts Domestic Program
-Square Deal
~Anthracite Coal Strike
*1902
*Workers did not receive a pay raise in 20 years
*Roosevelt brought the striking workers and the owners together
*Roosevelt showed how the federal government could help
*Government action was considered to be fair to both labor and
management
>Coal Miners 9 hr. day and 10% raise
-Trust Busting
~Northern Securities Case
*A holding company that dominated the railroads of the Northwest
*Roosevelt sued under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
*The Supreme Court ordered the company dissolved
~Roosevelts (Trust Busting) Philosophy
*Moved against other unpopular trusts
>Beef; oil; tobacco
*Felt the government should break up larger corporations only when they
hurt the public
Conservation
-Roosevelt
~Increased national forests by almost 150 mill acres
~Created US Forest Service
*Headed by Gifford Pinchot
-Pinchot
~Planned reforesting
*The planning of trees along with the cutting of trees
Taft Administration at Home
-Election of 1908
~William Howard Taft
*The secretary of war
*Roosevelts hand-picked successor
*Easily defeated William J. Bryan
-Taft as a progressive
~Most thought Taft would follow Roosevelt in fighting for reform
~Many progressives felt he did not fight for reform and were disappointed
-Taft and Trust Busting
~Did not make the distinction between good and bad trusts like Roosevelt

U.S. History Notes October 23, 2014

~Taft
*Indict (bring criminal charges against) all trusts, and allow courts to
decide which trusts were good or bad
-Payne-Aldrich Tariff
~High tariffs were becoming a problem
*Put tariffs to generate money for U.S. Government
~Consumer prices were rising
*Taft promised to lower tariffs
~The Payne-Aldrich Tariff actually raised the tariff on many items
~Progressives became upset with Taft
Election of 1912
-The primaries:
~The Republican Party was badly split
*The issue of conservation of natural resources caused a split between
Roosevelt and Taft
~Democratic Nominee: Woodrow Wilson
*Governor of New Jersey
~Republican Nominee: William Howard Taft
*Progressive Republicans were very upset Taft won the Nomination
~Progressive Republicans persuaded Roosevelt to run on a third party ticket
*Bull Moose Party
-The Results
~Wilson won fairly easily
~Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican vote, giving Wilson the victory
Wilsons Domestic Program: New Freedom
-Underwood Tariff:
~The Underwood-Simmons tariff reduced taxes about 11% from the PayneAldrich Tariff
~The public supported the cut in tariffs
Federal Reserve Act
~12 districts
~Created a more flexible currency Federal Reserve Note
*Also, helped prevent a run on the banks
Federal Reserve System
-All national banks had to become a member of the Federal Reserve System
~Federal Reserve Banks
*Held member banks reserves, and lent money to member banks when
needed
*Each was supervised by a Federal Reserve Board
>Appointed by the President
*Divided the country in 12 districts, each with a Federal Reserve Bank
Clayton Anti-Trust Act
-Gave unions the right to exist
-Manufactures could not charge different customers different prices
Federal Trade Commission
-Created to monitor business

U.S. History Notes October 23, 2014

-Could issue cease and desist orders against companies engaged in unfair trade
practices