Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal

1. 1902 COAL STRIKE

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt took both sides of the coal strike and compromised with them using an arbitration commission, which resulted in both sides getting fair parts of the deal.


b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
None

2. TRUSTS

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt filed lawsuits under the Sherman Antitrust Act against the trusts that he believed were harming the public interest. He managed to dissolve the Northern Securities Company, and win other lawsuits as well.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
Sherman Antitrust Act

3. UNREGULATED BIG BUSINESS

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Had a goal of federal regulation so: he urged Congress to pass the Elkins Act, which limited railroad officials; he also compromised with senators who opposed the Hepburn Act.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
  Interstate Commerce Act, Elkins Act, Hepburn Act

4. DANGEROUS FOODS AND MEDICINES

 a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt appointed a commission of experts to investigate the meatpacking industry, and induced the Meat Inspection Act.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act

5. SHRINKING WILDERNESS AND NATURAL RESOURCES

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt set aside forest and water reserves, created national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, and made Gifford Pinchot head of the U.S. Forest Service.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
National Reclamation Act (Newlands Act)

6. RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt supported some individual African Americans, such as an African American that he appointed head of a customhouse, an African American postmistress he had also appointed, and Booker T. Washington.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
None

Explain the importance of each of the following:

7. Square Deal:  This was a term that referred to the multiple progressive reforms sponsored by the Roosevelt administration.              


8. The Jungle: A book written by Upton Sinclair that described the horrible conditions of meatpacking industries, and therefore ended up helping President Roosevelt to realize he needed to make some changes in that area. 
                           

9. Upton Sinclair: A muckraker that wrote the book The Jungle, which caused President Roosevelt to start fixing up the meatpacking industries. 


10. NAACP: (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)-it aimed for complete equality for the races around the early 1900s.


11. Meat Inspection Act: Supported by President Roosevelt, it created cleanliness requirements and the program of federal meat inspection within the meatpacking industry.                          


12. Pure Food & Drug Act: It halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines, and required all labeling to be true.

13. Significance of the 1902 Coal Miners’ Strike: Caused President Roosevelt to call for a solution using the arbitration commission. Also it's resolution gave the impression that any strike that arose in society would be resolved by the federal government. It also managed to show that these kinds of disputes could be settled in a more diplomatic manner.

The Jungle - Exposing the Meatpacking Industry

1. In your opinion, which specific details in this excerpt most convincingly highlight problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s? Why? Use specific passages and quote. Analyze at least five details. 

A. "There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and white—it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption" This quote from the text highlights problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s because it shows how the meat that was processed was reused over and over again-even if it went bad. Basically, it didn't matter what was in the meat or what had happened to it, as long as it had meat, they would find a way to make it look presentable and sell it.

B."If you were a sociable person, he was quite willing to enter into a conversation with you, and to explain to you the deadly nature of the ptomaines which are found in tubercular pork; and while he was talking with you you could hardly be so ungrateful as to notice that a dozen carcasses were passing him untouched." This quote from the text highlights problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s because it shows how important workers, such as the government inspector talking about in this quote, were very careless with their jobs. The inspector spoken about here could've possibly just let a diseased carcass go get processed and sold to the public, but he was too busy socializing. This shows how companies needed to crack down on their workers and ensure that the meat that was being processed was safe for selling.

C."This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit." This quote from the text highlights problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s because it shows the horrible conditions of the buildings that were involved in the meatpacking industry, and how they were not clean or well taken care of. It also shows how the workers were, again, careless, and were not dedicated to their job at all.

D. "There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it." This quote from the text highlights problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s because it also shows some of the terrible conditions within the meatpacking industry, and how all these germs and bacteria could be in the meat that was sold to the public everyday. It also shows how no extra efforts were taken to store the meat in clean places.

E. "It was too much for some of the visitors—the men would look at each other, laughing nervously, and the women would stand with hands clenched, and the blood rushing to their faces, and the tears starting in their eyes." This quote from the text highlights problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s because it shows how what was going on in the slaughterhouses was really horrifying, and even petrified visitors. It was not clean or modest, it involved slit throats and squeals.

2. What is the overall tone of the story?

The overall tone of the story is a little sarcastic, and of disgust, due to what was being seen within the meatpacking industry, and how obviously careless the workers were.

3. Based on your reading of this excerpt, why do you think Sinclair titled his novel The Jungle?

I think Sinclair titled his novel The Jungle because the actions of the meatpacking industries described within the novel were uncivilized and really kind of all over the place; there didn't seem to be strict guidelines either. As well as the fact that the conditions of the buildings were horrendous and uncleanly, and jungles are not clean. And in the jungle, animals are killed for food by other animals, so Sinclair is somewhat comparing humans to animals in this situation.