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TR the Rough Rider at San Juan Hill
In the summer of 1898, American forces aimed to capture the strategically important city of Santiago de Cuba. The battle unfolded on the two nearby hills known as San Juan Heights. When Congress declared war in April 1898, Roosevelt resigned his position and formed the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, famously known as the Rough Riders. The Rough Riders were composed of cowboys, miners, law-enforcement officials, college athletes, and other volunteers -
TR 1st time named President
On September 6, 1901, a deranged anarchist named Leon Czolgosz shot McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley died eight days later, and Roosevelt was sworn in as the 26th president. Only 42 years old when he took office, he was the youngest president in the nation’s history, and his youth and vigor immediately transformed the public image of the presidency. -
Wins first full term as President
In his inaugural address Roosevelt promised prompt, decisive action, and he conveyed some of his own unshakable self-confidence to millions of Americans listening on radios throughout the land. “This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and prosper,” he asserted, adding, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." -
TR and the Northern Securities Case
In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt instructed his Justice Department to break up this holding company on the grounds that it was an illegal combination acting in restraint of trade. Using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the federal government did so and the Northern Securities Company sued to appeal the ruling. The case worked its way up to the Supreme Court, where the justices ruled 5-4 in favor of the federal government. -
Coal Strike
The Anthracite Coal Strike (May-October 1902) began after mine operators refused to meet with representatives of the United Mine Workers of America. The strike began in eastern Pennsylvania, where almost all anthracite coal was mined at the time, on May 12, 1902, after the railroad companies which owned the mines refused to meet with representatives of the union. Workers’ requests for better wages, a shorter work week, and recognition of their union had also been denied. -
National Reclamation Act
Congress passed the National Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902. The Act required that water users repay construction costs from which they received benefits. When Congress passed the National Reclamation Act in 1902, the measure set in motion the dramatic transformation of arid sections of the American West to "reclaim" land for productive agricultural use. -
Elkins Act Passed
With this 1903 act Congress sought to strengthen the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission to set maximum railroad freight rates. The act required railroads to hold to their published rates and forbade rate cutting and rebates. The Elkins Act also supplemented the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 by providing more specific methods of procedure and penalties for nonobservance of its provisions. -
Yosemite under Federal Control
Teddy Roosevelt signed the American Antiquities Act of 1906, which transferred the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove back under federal protection and control. -
Meat Inspection Act
The Meat Inspection Act of 1906 was a piece of U.S. legislation, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 30, 1906, that prohibited the sale of adulterated livestock and derived products as food and ensured sanitary slaughtering and processing of livestock. This law was passed because of reports on the unsafe and unsanitary practices of the meatpacking industry. -
Passage of Pure Food And Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 prohibited the sale of adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce and laid a foundation for the nation’s first consumer protection agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). -
Leaves Presidency, Visits Africa (Purpose for going)
The Smithsonian–Roosevelt African Expedition was an expedition to tropical Africa in 1909–1911 led by former US President Theodore Roosevelt. It was funded by Andrew Carnegie and sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution.[1] Its purpose was to collect specimens for the Smithsonian's new natural history museum, now known as the National Museum of Natural History. The expedition collected around 11,400 animal specimens, which took Smithsonian naturalists eight years to catalog. -
TR Runs for presidency in Bull-Moose Party
Bull Moose Party, U.S. dissident political faction that nominated former president Theodore Roosevelt as its candidate in the presidential election of 1912. The party’s popular nickname of Bull Moose was derived from the characteristics of strength and vigor often used by Roosevelt to describe himself. Also known as the Bull Moose Party, the Progressive platform called for the direct election of U.S. senators, woman suffrage, reduction of the tariff and many social reforms.