Square Deal facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Square Deal
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President Roosevelt draws the Square Deal - labor, railroads, capital, and government - for Railroad President Mellen's benefit
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| Founder | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Ideology | Progressivism |
| Political position | Centre to centre-left |
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The Square Deal was a famous plan created by United States President Theodore Roosevelt. He served as president from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt believed that every American deserved fair treatment in daily life. He wanted to help ordinary people, not just wealthy factory owners.
His main ideas are remembered as the "Three Cs." These three goals were consumer protection, control of giant corporations, and the conservation of natural resources. Roosevelt thought that the government should act like a fair referee in a game. He wanted everyone to follow the same honest rules.
His plan worked to stop unfair business habits. At the same time, it protected companies from extreme demands by organized labor. Roosevelt's changes helped shape the modern United States during a time called the Progressive Era.
Contents
The Three Main Goals of the Square Deal
President Roosevelt built his program around three big ideas that protected the American public.
Protecting Consumers from Harm
Before Roosevelt became president, companies could make food and medicine without following safety guidelines. Companies did not have to tell customers what ingredients were inside their goods. Some businesses sold dirty food or medicine that did not heal people.
Roosevelt pushed lawmakers to protect ordinary shoppers. He helped pass the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. This law forced makers to put truthful labels on packages. In the same year, he supported the Meat Inspection Act to make sure slaughterhouses remained clean and inspected.
Controlling Giant Corporations
During the late 1800s, some very large companies grew so strong that they had no competition. People called these giant business combinations trusts. When one trust owned an entire industry, it could raise prices as high as it wanted.
Roosevelt believed that helpful businesses should grow, but bad monopolies should be stopped. He used strong trust-busting rules to break up unfair monopolies. One famous case was against a huge railroad company called the Northern Securities Co.. This action proved that even the richest business leaders had to obey the law.
Conserving Forests and Wildlife
Roosevelt loved the outdoors and worked hard to save nature. He worried that companies would cut down all the forests and destroy wild spaces. He wanted to make sure future generations could enjoy America's beauty.
He used his power to save millions of acres of public land. He started new national parks, bird sanctuaries, and national forests. Roosevelt showed the country that saving trees, rivers, and animals was essential for the nation's future.
History and Origins of the Square Deal
The phrase "square deal" was an old saying that meant treating someone with fairness and honesty.
How Theodore Roosevelt Used the Phrase
People used the term in card games and newspaper articles long before Roosevelt became president. In 1899, while serving in New York, Roosevelt said he treated every person with fairness. He called this kind of honesty true Americanism.
In 1901, Roosevelt gave a speech in Lynn, Massachusetts, saying he wanted a fair deal for rich and poor alike. Later, in Springfield, Illinois, he honored soldiers who had fought at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. He explained that anyone who served their country bravely deserved a square deal in return.
Roosevelt liked the phrase so much that his supporters published a special booklet in 1904. The booklet was titled A Square Deal for Every Man. It listed his thoughts on citizenship, fairness, and good government. The idea became a popular slogan across the whole country.
Passing New Laws in the First Term
When Roosevelt took office, he acted quickly to help regular families. In 1903, Congress passed the Elkins Act. This rule stopped railroads from giving secret discounts, called rebates, to giant companies. These secret deals had made it hard for small farmers in the Midwest to ship crops fairly.
The government used the Interstate Commerce Commission to watch railroad rates closely. Roosevelt also signed the Newlands Reclamation Act in 1902. This law set up the Reclamation Service, which built dams and canals to bring water to dry western farmlands.
Pushing for Reforms in the Second Term
Roosevelt won the presidential election in 1904 by a large margin. During his second term, he wanted even bigger reforms. In 1906, he helped pass the Hepburn Act. This law gave the government real power to set maximum railroad shipping rates.
Roosevelt also wanted a federal income tax so the richest people paid a fair share to support the country. He suggested an inheritance tax on large family fortunes. He asked for an eight-hour workday for government laborers. He even supported a new postal savings system so regular citizens could save money safely at local post offices.
Many conservative leaders in Congress resisted his newest ideas. Even though some of these plans were not passed immediately, they inspired later leaders. Presidents like Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt later adopted many of these same ideas.
Major Laws and Programs
The Square Deal influenced many parts of daily life across the United States.
Labor
- A measure was approved that providing that eight hours should constitute a day's labor on irrigation works.
- Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the Philippine Islands, with violation of the Act being punishable by forfeiture of contracts and a fine of not less than $10,000.
- A measure was approved safeguarding the lives of employees in mines in U.S. territories by regulating the amount of ventilation and providing that entries, etc., should be kept well dampened with water to cause coal dust to settle.
- A measure was approved exempting from taxation in the District of Columbia household effects to the value of $1,000, wearing apparel, libraries, school books, family portraits and heirlooms.
- A measure was approved providing for Government supervision of employment agencies in the District of Columbia.
- An Act relating to safety appliances on railroad trains was improved.
- A measure was approved requiring the collection of labor statistics in Hawaii.
- A measure was approved for the better protection of seamen.
- A measure was approved for securing the wages of employees on public works.
- A measure was approved for protecting the health of motormen and conductors on street railways in the District of Columbia.
- A measure was approved for a more thorough inspection of steam vessels.
- A measure was approved for safeguarding factory employees in the District of Columbia against accidents.
- A measure was approved making wages preferred claims.
- A measure was approved to provide for an investigation of women and child labor in the United States.
- A measure was approved restricting child labor in the District of Columbia.
- A measure was approved incorporating the National Child Labor Committee.
- A measure was approved establishing the Foundation for the Promotion of Industrial Peace.
- A measure was approved to regulate the hours of labor of railroad employees in the District of Columbia and the Territories.
- A measure was approved making railroad companies engaged in interstate commerce or operating in the District of Columbia, the Territories, the Panama Canal Zone, or other United States possessions, liable for injuries to, or death of, employees while on duty.
- A measure was approved safeguarding the lives of miners in the U.S. Territories and the District of Alaska.
- A measure was approved permitting leave of absence, with pay, on Labor Day to per diem employees of the Government.
- A measure was approved granting to injured employees on the Panama Canal absence, with pay for time necessarily lost as a result of injuries.
- A measure was approved for the inspection of boilers.
- A measure was approved prohibiting peonage.
- The first Federal employment service (forerunner of the United States Employment Service) was created in the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, Department of Commerce and Labor (1907).
Health and welfare
- The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 were both widely accredited from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.
- The Federal Employers Liability Act of 1908.
- The Federal Employee's Compensation Act of 1908 provided workers' compensation for a number of federal employees.
- Legislation was introduced (1902) that expanded the scientific work of the Acoustic Laboratory and appropriated a budget specific to the laboratory's work.
- In 1902 Congress gave authority to strengthen the Public Health Service.
- An Act of 1903 enabled the Secretary of Agriculture "to prevent the spread of contagious and infectious diseases of live-stock."
- In 1902, $5,000 was appropriated to the Bureau of Chemistry by Congress "to study chemical preservatives and colors and their effects on digestion and health," with studies drawing attention to the problem of food adulteration.
- The Oleomargarine Act (1902) authorized the definition of oleomargarine "for the purpose of collecting taxes on imported product, and also to discourage imitation of butter."
- The Biologics Control Act was passed (1902) "to ensure purity and safety of serums, vaccines, and similar products used to prevent or treat diseases in humans."
- The Bureau of the Census was authorized (1902) to collect information related to health and disease from around the country.
- The first Certified Color Regulations (1907) listed 7 colors found suitable for use in foods.
- A Housing Commission was appointed (1908) to evaluate slum conditions.
- Corporate welfare work was encouraged by the Roosevelt Administration; a policy continued under Roosevelt's successor William Howard Taft.
Conservation
- The Newlands Reclamation Act (1902) led to the first 21 federal irrigation projects such as Theodore Roosevelt Dam in Arizona.
- The Transfer Act of 1905.
- The Antiquities Act of 1906 gave the president authority to restrict the use of particular public lands in America.
- 16 million additional acres of Western forest were signed into federal protection.
- In Alaska, Roosevelt created the Tongass and the Chugach forest reserves.
- In Hawaii, Roosevelt set several small islands aside as the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation.
- Pelican Island in Florida was proclaimed as the first federal bird reservation in 1903 (total of 51 bird reservations established by Roosevelt administration).
- Improvements of waterways and reservation of water power sites were carried out.
- The provisions of the Newlands Act were extended to Texas (1906).
- The National Forest Service was established (1905).
- A National Conservation Commission was appointed (1908) to prepare "first inventory of natural resources."
- From 1901 to 1909, Roosevelt signed legislation establishing five national parks: Crater Lake, Oregon; Wind Cave, South Dakota; Sullys Hill, North Dakota; Mesa Verde, Colorado; and Platt, Oklahoma.
- In one of a series of acts aimed at regulating the harvesting of Alaskan wildlife, Congress passed "An Act For the protection of game in Alaska, and for other purposes," known as the Alaska Game Act, protecting certain game animals in Alaska.
- A preservation of remaining buffalo herds was started.
- 18 national monuments were declared during Roosevelt's time in office.
Public projects
- The Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902.
- The Kinkaid Act of 1904.
- The Forest Homestead Act (1906) allowed the patenting, or deeding, of millions of acres of potential agricultural land within the national forests.
- The Inland Waterways Commission was created (1907) for the purpose of developing a new approach to river development.
Veterans
- The Civil War program was transformed into a system of old-age pensions for Union veterans. His executive order of 1904 declared that old age itself constituted a disability: "When a claimant has passed the age of sixty-two years he is disabled one-half in ability to perform manual labor and is entitled to be rated at six dollars a month; after sixty-five years at eight dollars a month; after sixty-eight years at ten dollars a month, and after seventy years at twelve dollars a month." This order provided tens of thousands of Union veterans with non-contributory old-age pensions.
- A 1906 statute provided for veterans that "the age of sixty-two years and over shall be considered a permanent specific disability within the meaning of the pension laws."
- In 1907, the pension provisions of the federal government were extended to all Civil War Union veterans, regardless of whether they were disabled.
Education
- The Adams Act (1906) provided additional funds to states for agricultural research.
- The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was chartered by an Act of Congress (1906).
- The 1907 Nelson Amendment to the second Morrill Act provided $25,000 annually in order to assist teacher-training courses in the mechanical arts and agriculture.
Rural areas
- The Rural Free Delivery postal service was made permanent (1902).
- The Alaska Native Allotment Act (1906) authorized the Secretary of the Interior "to allot individual Alaska Natives a homestead of up to 160 acres of land."
- A Commission on Country Life was established (1908) to investigate ways of making country life more attractive.
Business regulation
- The Expediting Act of 1903.
- The Elkins Act 1903.
- A Department of Commerce and Labor was set up (1903) to regulate business and enforce economic regulations.
- The Hepburn Act of 1906 strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission; prior to that, the commission had minimal resources to carry out its duties.
- Under the Immunity of Witnesses Act (1906) corporate officials could no longer make a plea of immunity to avoid testifying in cases which dealt with the illegal activities of their corporations.
- The Aldrich–Vreeland Act (1908) introduced government regulation of any issues of "emergency" currency.
The Legacy of the Square Deal
The Square Deal changed how the American government worked. Before Roosevelt, leaders often let big businesses do whatever they wanted. Roosevelt showed that the government had a duty to defend regular people.
His work proved that nature should be saved and that food must be clean. He showed that workers deserved fair treatment and respect. When he ran for president again in 1912 with the Progressive Party, he continued to preach these ideas.
The Square Deal became a model for future leaders. It proved that a great country can balance business growth with fairness, safety, and care for the earth.
See also
In Spanish: Square Deal para niños
