History of the United States II / Unit 6 USH2 0781 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Good Trusts and Bad
The idea
Roosevelt enjoyed the nickname trustbuster, but the anchor says he did not consider all trusts dangerous. He distinguished good trusts, which used their size to deliver goods and services more cheaply, from bad ones that abused their power. The Yawp quotes his principle: government was not against the corporations, but was bound to control them wherever the need was shown. He let Morgan's U.S. Steel continue and even take over smaller firms.
In practice
Two dozen antitrust suits, set beside a steel giant left untouched.
Where people slip
How much Roosevelt changed is contested. The record supports both a trustbuster, with the most suits of any president to his time and a Supreme Court victory, and a regulator who accepted bigness and policed conduct. Name both, because the anchor carries both, and because Taft's later suit against U.S. Steel broke with Roosevelt on exactly this line.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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