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Teddy Roosevelt - The Trust Buster
Teddy Roosevelt was one American who believed a revolution was coming. He believed Wall Street financiers and powerful trust titans to be acting foolishly. He believed that large trusts and monopolies were harmful to the economy and especially to the consumer. While they were eating off fancy china on mahogany tables in marble dining rooms, the masses were roughing it. There seemed to be no limit to greed. If docking wages would increase profits, it was done. If higher railroad rates put more gold in their coffers, it was done. How much was enough, Roosevelt wondered?
The President's weapon was the Sherman Antitrust Act, passed by Congress in 1890. This law declared illegal all combinations "in restraint of trade." For the first twelve years of its existence, the Sherman Act was a paper tiger. United States courts routinely sided with business when any enforcement of the Act was attempted.
- What belief guided President Theodore Roosevelt’s efforts as a trustbuster?
- What is a monopoly? Why are they harmful to the economy and to the consumer?
- What piece of legislation did Roosevelt use to break up monopolies?
The Square Deal
The Square Deal was Roosevelt's domestic program formed on three basic ideas: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection. In general, the Square Deal attacked plutocracy and bad trusts while simultaneously protecting businesses from the most extreme demands of organized labor. In contrast to his predecessor William McKinley, Roosevelt believed that such government action was necessary to mitigate social evil, and as president denounced “the representatives of predatory wealth” as guilty of “all forms of iniquity from the oppression of wage workers to defrauding the public." Trusts and monopolies became the primary target of Square Deal legislation.
During both his terms, Roosevelt tried to extend the Square Deal by pushing the federal courts and Congress to yield to the wishes of the executive branch on all subsequent anti-trust suits. An example of this was the Elkins Act, which stated that railroads were not allowed to give rebates to favored companies any longer. These rebates had treated small Midwestern farmers unfairly by not allowing
them equal access to the services of the railroad. Instead, the Interstate Commerce Commission controlled the prices that railroads could charge.
More legislation was passed to protect consumers from tainted or mislabeled food and medical products. Guidelines were imposed that specified how meat was to be processed safely and with proper sanitation methods. Foodstuffs and drugs could no longer be mislabeled, nor could consumers be deliberately misled by food and drug companies. Roosevelt also fought strongly for land conservation, and safeguarded millions of hectares of wilderness from commercial exploitation.
- What was the main purpose of Roosevelt’s Square Deal?
- What were 3 basic ideas built into the deal?
Big Stick Diplomacy
The term "Big Stick" diplomacy refers to Roosevelt’s corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, coined by the famous phrase: "speak softly and carry a big stick. Roosevelt attributed the term to a West African proverb, "speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far," but the claim that it originated in West Africa has been disputed. Essentially, "Big Stick" diplomacy is the idea of negotiating peacefully with other nations while simultaneously threatening them with displays of military muscle. Roosevelt first used the phrase in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair on September 2, 1901, twelve days before the assassination of President William McKinley, which subsequently thrust him into the presidency. As president, Roosevelt described his style of foreign policy as "the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis." Roosevelt’s Big Stick Diplomacy is most often associated with his dealings involving South and Central American countries, particularly Venezuela.
- Put Roosevelt’s Big Stick Policy into your own words.
- Roosevelt’s Big Stick policy is most often associated with US involvement in which countries?
On November 6, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama, and on November 18 the Hay- Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed with Panama, granting the United States exclusive and permanent possession of the Panama Canal Zone. In exchange, Panama received $10 million and an annuity of $250,000 beginning nine years later. The treaty was negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay and the owner of the Panama Canal Company. Almost immediately, the treaty was condemned by many Panamanians as an infringement on their country's new national sovereignty.
On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal was inaugurated with the passage of the U.S. vesselAncon, a
cargo and passenger ship. After decades of protest and negotiations, the Panama Canal passed to Panamanian control in December 1999.
- What prompted the U.S. government to actively encourage a 1903 revolt in Central America?
- Describe the deal made in the Varilla Treaty.
The Great White Fleet: Around the World
On the warm, cloudy morning of December 16, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet," a force of sixteen battleships bristling with guns and painted sparkling white, steam out of Hampton Roads, Virginia to begin its 43,000-mile, 14-month circumnavigation of the globe "to demonstrate to the world America's naval prowess." The four-mile-long armada's world tour included 20 port calls on six continents, and is widely considered one of the greatest peacetime achievements of the U.S. Navy.
- What did Roosevelt hope to accomplish with the “Great White Fleet”
The Open Door Policy
China was in political and economic disarray as the end of the 19th century approached. The giant was not recognized as a sovereign nation by the major powers, who were busy elbowing one another for trading privileges and plotting how the country could be partitioned. The imperial nations sought spheres of influence and claimed extraterritorial rights in China.
The United States took Far Eastern matters more seriously after the Spanish-American War, when they came into possession of the Philippines. In the fall of 1898, President McKinley stated his desire for the
creation of an "open door" that would allow all trading nations access to the Chinese market. The following year, Secretary of State John Hay sought a formal endorsement of the concept by circulating diplomatic notes among the major powers, enabling the secretary to be credited with authoring the Open Door policy.
Hay’s proposal for an Open Door Policy called for the establishment of equal trading rights to all nations in all parts of China and for recognition of Chinese territorial integrity (meaning that the country should not be carved up). The impact of such an Open Door Policy would be to put all of the imperial nations on an equal footing and minimize the power of those nations with existing spheres of influence. No nation formally agreed to Hay’s policy; each used the other nations' reluctance to endorse the Open Door as an excuse for their own inaction. An undeterred Hay simply announced that agreement had been reached. Only Russia and Japan voiced displeasure.
On the surface, it appeared that the United States had advanced a reform viewpoint, but the truth was otherwise. The U.S. had no sphere of influence in China, but had long maintained an active trade there. If other nations were to partition China, the United States would likely be excluded from future commercial activities. In short, Hay was simply trying to protect the prospects of American businessmen and investors. Challenges to the Open Door policy would be mounted frequently in the ensuing years, including the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 in which Chinese nationalists resorted to armed opposition in an attempt to end foreign occupation of their country; Japanese incursions into Manchuria following the Russo- Japanese War; and the "21 Demands" levied by Japan on China in 1915.
An effort was made to shore up the Open Door in 1921-22 at the Washington Naval Conference, but a challenge was again mounted by the Japanese in the 1930s as they expanded their control in Manchuria. China would not be recognized as a sovereign state until after World War II.
- Name 2 goals of the Open Door Policy.
- The emergence of powerful European spheres of influence in Southeast Asia shaped the development of what U.S. foreign policy?
- Why would the Open Door Policy not be supported by many European countries?
Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907
