13. Theodore Roosevelt and the Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed by Congress and enacted into law in 1890. The three subsequent Presidents, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley combined to prosecute a total of 18 anti-trust violations before Roosevelt took office in 1901 following the death of his predecessor. Roosevelt, over the course of the next seven years, prosecuted 44 anti-trust cases using the authority of the act, breaking up railroad monopolies and the Standard Oil Company, among many others. When Congress balked at his creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor he appealed directly to the public to pressure their representatives to give the President what he wanted, an effort which was successful.
Roosevelt used the power of the Presidency to threaten striking coal miners with military intervention. He liberally used the executive order to achieve what could not be achieved through Congress in the realm of conservation and protection of natural resources. When Congress passed a bill which limited his ability to reserve any more federal land, Roosevelt issued executive orders creating an additional 21 forest reserves before signing the bill into law. A total of 1,262 executive orders were issued by the first 25 Presidents. Roosevelt issued 1,081 during his administration and used the Presidential office and his own popularity with the public to pressure Congress into enacting the policies he wanted.
