Theodore Roosevelt would change the office of the presidency forever, creating a model
by which all future presidents would be judged. He acted boldly in attacking the problems
the nation faced, using his personality and popularity to advance his political agenda.
Roosevelt believed that the US government should be used as a tool to be implemented
whenever individual states proved incapable of dealing with social and economic problems.
As president, Roosevelt believed he was a “steward of the people”. He argued that,
as president, he had the “legal right to do whatever the needs of the people demand,
unless the Constitution or the laws explicitly forbid… it.”
Roosevelt used the office as a “bully pulpit”, influencing the media and shaping federal
and state legislation. As president, he introduced the Square Deal, a domestic program which
included three basic ideas: conservation of natural resources, control of large corporations,
and protecting the American consumer. Roosevelt hoped to help middle class citizens,
weaken the plutocracy (wealthy ruling class), and break up “bad trusts” without greatly
damaging the American economy. Roosevelt firmly believed in government action to mitigate
social evils, publicly denouncing those whom he believed were "the representatives of predatory
wealth”. Much of the action Roosevelt took came in
a series of lawsuits his administration filed against “bad trusts”. Trusts were legal
bodies that had been created to hold stocks in a large variety of companies. By 1900,
almost 4/5s of American industries were controlled by trusts, in effect, creating large monopolies.
Many of them, such as Standard Oil, had become wildly unpopular with the American public
because of harsh business practices and unfair tactics.
In 1890, Congress had attempted to limit the power of trusts by passing the Sherman-Antitrust
Law. However, the language of the bill made enforcement of the act highly ineffective.
Prior to 1900, most of the lawsuits filed against powerful trusts and corporations had
failed. As president, Roosevelt hoped to destroy the trusts which he felt exploited the American
public. A series of lawsuits were filed by the Roosevelt
Administration against these “bad trusts”. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against
J.P. Morgan’s Northern Securities Company in 1902 for creating a monopoly over railroads
in the American Northwest. As a result, the Supreme Court, by a narrow 5-4 decision, dissolved
the company in 1904. During his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt
would use the power of his office to file 43 similar lawsuits in an effort to break
up other trusts. While Roosevelt won many of these cases, the mergers of large businesses
into even larger ones would continue. Reading Through History0Page 1