Theodore Roosevelt and Progressivism

Theodore Roosevelt, like Jackson and Lincoln, believed that the president had the duty of initiating and leading

Congress to implement a policy of social and economic benefit to the people at large. As he himself put it, he found the

presidency "a bully pulpit." Roosevelt's policies, designed to secure a greater measure of social justice in the United

States, were outlined in his first message to Congress, on December 3, 1901. Roosevelt's address included demands

for federal supervision and regulation of all interstate corporations; for amendment of the Interstate Commerce Act to

prohibit railroads from giving special rates to shippers; for the conservation of natural resources; for federal

appropriations for irrigation of arid regions in the West; and for extension of the merit system in civil service.

President Roosevelt was particularly noted for his policy regarding the trust, a type of business combination that forms

for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices. The number of trusts in the United States had increased

greatly at the end of the 19th century; only 60 had existed in the United States before the Spanish-American War,

whereas 183 were formed between 1899 and 1901. Many of the trusts had practical monopolies of vital commodities

such as oil, beef, coal, and sugar or of important utilities such as the railroads. Roosevelt recognized the right of such

combinations to exist, but he also insisted on the right of the government to control and regulate the trusts. At his

urging, Congress passed several measures designed to help enforce the antitrust laws already on the statute books.

Among the new laws were the Elkins Act (1903), aimed at eliminating the discriminatory practice of secret rebates

given by various railroads to certain shippers, and the Hepburn Act (1906), aimed at strengthening the Interstate

Commerce Commission in its authority over railroads and other public carriers. During