Chapter IntroductionSection 1: The Roots of

Progressivism

Section 2:Roosevelt and Taft

Section 3:The Wilson Years

Visual Summary

ConservationNew legislation gave the federal government the power to conserve natural resources.

• Roosevelt put his stamp on the presidency most clearly in the area of environmental conservation.

• In 1902, Roosevelt supported passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act, which paid for irrigation and land development projects in the West.

Conservation (cont.)

• Roosevelt also backed efforts to save the nation’s forests through careful management of the timber resources of the West.

Conservation (cont.)

− He appointed Gifford Pinchot to head the United States Forest Service, established in 1905.

A. AB. BC. C

Under Roosevelt, the power of which branch of government dramatically increased?A. Legislative

B. Executive

C. Judicial

A B C

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Taft’s ReformsWilliam Howard Taft broke with progressives on tariff and conservation issues.

• William Howard Taft called Congress into a special session to lower tariff rates.

Taft’s Reforms (cont.)

− The tariff debate divided progressives, and in the end, Taft signed into law the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, which cut tariffs hardly at all and actually raised them on some goods.

• Many progressives were unhappy when Taft replaced Roosevelt’s secretary of the interior, James R. Garfield, an aggressive conservationist, with Richard A. Ballinger, a more conservative corporate lawyer.

Taft’s Reforms (cont.)

− Gifford Pinchot charged Ballinger with having once plotted to turn over valuable public lands in Alaska to a private business group for personal profit.

− Taft’s attorney general decided the charges were groundless, but Pinchot leaked the story to the press and asked Congress to investigate.

Taft’s Reforms (cont.)

− Taft fired Pinchot for insubordination.

• Despite his political problems, Taft had many successes:

Taft’s Reforms (cont.)

− He brought twice as many antitrust cases in four years as his predecessor had in seven.

− He established the Children’s Bureau in 1912.

− He set up the Bureau of Mines in 1910.

• Frustrated with Taft over the issue of trusts, Roosevelt announced that he would enter the presidential campaign of 1912.

Taft’s Reforms (cont.)

A. AB. BC. CD. D A B C D

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The Bureau of Mines did all of the following EXCEPTA. monitor the activities of

mining companies. B. expand the national forests.C. prohibit children from

working in the mines.D. protect waterpower sites

from private development.

insubordinationdisobedience

regulateto govern or direct according to rule

environmentalhaving to do with the environment; the complex system of plants, animals, water, and soil