Changes
/* Teddy Roosevelt */ added link to cartoon
The breaking up of monopolies was part of Roosevelt's approach that he called the "Square Deal." This name resulted from his negotiation of settlements between striking workers and big corporations, which reportedly gave a "square deal" to both sides in the agreement. He campaigned in 1904 by taking credit for treating the owners and workers equally in resolving a nasty coal miner's strike in 1902, giving them both a "square deal."
The fiery Roosevelt was neither a liberal nor a conservative, and after serving as president he even left the Republican Party to start a new political party based on his own personality. He had his own "maverick" style similar to that of the 2008 presidential candidate John McCain. [[File:Roosevelt Monroe Doctrine cartoon.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Roosevelt enforces the Monroe Doctrine against Europe]]
Roosevelt approved many new regulations and assistance programs. He signed the Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902, which gave federal assistance to irrigate Western land for farmers and ranchers. He signed into law the Hepburn Act of 1906, which strengthened federal regulation of railroads by increasing the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). Later, in 1910, the Mann-Elkins Act empowered the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to suspend any increases in rates by railroads in shipping goods. The Act also extended the ICC's authority to include the regulation of communications companies, such as telephone companies. The political support for this increased regulation was so broad that it passed by the huge margin of 50-12 in the U.S. Senate. (Notice that there were not yet 100 Senators in the U.S. Senate then, because many states had not yet joined the United States).
Roosevelt was enthralled with this idea, and with his typically naive gusto embraced it completely. He quietly ordered the United States Government Printing Office to use the new spellings of 300 words as recommended by the Simplified Spelling Board. Newspapers, when they saw the result, mercilessly ridiculed Roosevelt's action in -- you guessed it -- political cartoons. Congress was angry for not being asked to approve this, and in December 1906 passed a resolution saying it would use the dictionary instead. Roosevelt had to sheepishly retract his order. But today many of the "new spellings" have been adopted by common usage anyway.
In 1919, Roosevelt died at the age of 61with a bullet still lodged in his chest from an assassination attempt against him in 1912 while he was campaigning for president for the Bull Moose Party.
== Social trends and Court decisions ==
