2.3 The Republican Presidency: McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft Flashcards
What was support for the Republican party like when McKinley came to power?
- Large majorities in both the House and the Senate
- First time since the Black vote that they had won presidency without needing the black vote in the South
What was McKinley’s approach to tariffs?
- Maintained the protective tariff
- Dingley Tariff Act of 1897 pushed tariff rater to an even higher level
What was McKinley’s stance on the gold standard debate?
- Strong believer in the gold standard
- Policy strengthened by the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush of 1897-9, increasing the gold in circulation
- 1900 Currency Act committed the US to maintain the gold standard
What were the problems associated with McKinley’s approach to the gold standard?
- Prosperity was lessened
- Rising farm prices
What was McKinley’s involvement in foreign affairs?
- Spanish American War success strengthened his political position
- Not particularly expansionist
- Military and naval successes in Cuba and the Pacific favoured his position
- Made war hero, Roosevelt, his vice president for his re-election in 1900
What was McKinley and Roosevelt’s relationship like?
- Not harmonious as a team
- Differences in age, personality, and political beliefs
- Strong electoral team and easily defeated Bryan in the 1900 election
How were Roosevelt’s policies different from McKinley’s?
Roosevelt was a lot more interventionist and more progressive
When was McKinley president?
1897 until 1901 when he was assassinated
What antitrust measures did Roosevelt introduce?
- Wanted to make the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act more effective
- Started proceedings against Northern Securities (JP Morgan) in 1902 which was found to be illegal in 1904
- Went on to make 44 antitrust prosecutions, including American Tobacco and Standard Oil
- 1906 Hepburn Act ensured closer regulation of the railways to ensure the public weren’t being exploited
How did Roosevelt deal with the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902?
- Employers had locked out miners who went on strike for better conditions
- Roosevelt intervened on the side of the miners and ensured employers raised wages and offered a 9 hour day
- Made him popular with the working class
How did employers respond to Roosevelt’s support of the workers?
- He made them raise wages
- So they raised the prices of their goods to cover the pay rise
What did Roosevelt do for conservation of land?
- Ordered 150 million acres of forest to be placed on federal reserves and strictly enforced laws concerning grazing, mining, and lumbering
- Organised the National Conservation Conference which led to many states creating commissions to look after the environment
- About 120 million acres were taken into public domain between 1905 and 1909
What did Roosevelt do to improve food quality?
- an Act of 1906 led to the federal programme of meat inspection
- 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act which started the process of ending food adulteration
What was Roosevelt’s attitudes towards the native Americans?
- His National parks were on Native American territory which drove them away from their ancestral lands
- “the only good indians are dead indians”
- White supremacy
What was the growing divide in the Republican Party under Roosevelt?
Conservatives and Progressives
