Theodore_Roosdevelt

Theodore Roosevelt During the Progressive era, Theodore Roosevelt was a very important person. After assuming presidency in 1901 after former president William McKinley was assassinated, Roosevelt had many accomplishments such as consumer protection, conservation, and trust busting. Roosevelt decided to act on the conditions in the meat industries when he read Upton Sinclair’s book “The Jungle”, along with others this book uncovered the unpleasant living and working conditions. After Roosevelt’s own study, he supported the Meat Packing Act of 1906. This Act required increased regulation and inspection. Muckrakers uncovered to the public the dangerous practices that threatened consumer safety. In result, the pure Food and Drug Act was passed. This prohibited the manufacture, transportation, or sale of any tainted food products. Roosevelt even used his power to assist the railroad rates by passing the Hepburn Act. Conservation was another one of Roosevelt’s concerns. Forests caught his interest. With the help of Gifford Pinchot, Roosevelt added 150 million more acres of timberland into the Federal Reserve. This protected forests from strip-mining, which caused erosion. By singing the Newlands Reclamation Act, it funded irrigation projects for the 17 states. President Theodore Roosevelt’s outlook on trusts were that they should be regulated, not destroyed. He believed that most trusts benefited the economy and breaking them up would create more harm. By making deals with other companies, Roosevelt had the ability to regulate big businesses without sacrificing the economy by breaking up these trusts. They established the Bureau of Corporations to policy business actions and report them. In Conclusion, Roosevelt was such an important person in the progressive era and that is why I chose to write about him. He has done so much in his presidency but his main focuses were consumer protection, conservation, and trust busting.