Theodore Roosevelt

Birth-Death: (1858 - 1919 ) Term: (1901-1909 )

One of the most prominent issues during Roosevelt's administration was labor conditions. At this time, various exposes were published on a number of industries and businesses. The Jungle, a criticism of working conditions in meat-packing facilities, led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Octopus was a novel about how the nation's railroads were abusing the rural farmer, which helped pass the Hepburn Act to regulate railroad rates.

Major Events with Theodore Roosevelt

1901 - Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty

    The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty cleared the United States relations with Columbia. It was needed to lease the land from Panama for the construction of the canal. The actual agreement that granted the U.S. the ten-mile-wide strip of land for the canal was the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty that was signed in August of 1901.

1902 - Coal Strike

    About 140,000 miners went on strike in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania. The miners had long drawn up a list of grievances which protested the abuse by Big Business. The strike lasted from May to October before it was really noticeable. By October the price of coal had risen to $30 per ton from $5 and it was hard to find. Roosevelt brought the two leaders together, John Mitchell, the leader of the Union, and George Bayer, the spokesman for the owners. His plead for arbitration was accpeted by Mitchell, but Bayer strongly refused saying that he would not be "negotiating with the fomenters of anarchy." Roosevelt then threatened to seize the mines, and the owners soon arbitrated. This event marked the first time when a President had interfered on the side of the Unions and not Big Business.

1906 - Hepburn Act

    The Interstate Commerce Act that was passed in 1887 had been very ineffective in regulating commerce. The Hepburn Act of 1906 had increased the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). It increased the number of commissioners from five to seven; extended the commission's authority to bridges, ferries, oil pipelines, sleeping cars and express companies; prohibited rebates; and made an order of the commission effective immediately even though an appeal may be in court.

1906 - Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act

    These two acts were passed due to the influence exerted by the new class of writers, the muckrakers. The most famous include Upton Sinclair and his book the Jungle, describing the conditions in a Chicago meat factory. Only after the people had read these books, was the law proposed and passed.