Progressive American Foreign Policy Analysis

How does a country be an isolationist, while intervening within other countries? Simple, be the United States. In order to focus on foreign policy from 1920 to 1941 , one must put into consideration the World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and World War II’s emergence. These each took their own toll, and put a massive amount of American’s mindset’s upon the United States best interests, and those interests only. Overall leaving the foreign policy of the United States, focusing upon disarmament, staying out of World War II at ALL costs, and eventually the breakdown of neutrality.

As the President of the United States in the early 1900s, Theodore Roosevelt did many things that showed his progressivism. One of the reasons that we can describe Theodore Roosevelt as being a progressive president is because of his focus to limit the power of big businesses by destroying trusts between large companies. Roosevelt believed that big business was something that needed to be regulated and believe that it was bad for the United States (Sicius 138). This was especially the case when companies began to form trusts with each other to monopolize certain industries. For example, J.P. Morgan was in the process of making a trust with other big businesses, such as the railroad industry, to drive out competition from the market.

Throughout the 1930’s, America started slipping from its go to foreign policy: isolationism. America had always favored being isolationists up until the late 1930’s. They stayed out of European conflicts at all costs, and they quickly returned to isolationism after World War I. In 1933, new President Franklin Roosevelt took over the White House and continued this isolationism policy. During this time Americans were focused on fixing the economy, and so was Roosevelt.

The Progressive Era and The New Deal Liberalism Era were two very important eras in American History. Progressives contended that old ways of governing and doing business did not address modern conditions. Theodore Roosevelt believed that corporations were good for America, but he also believed that corporate behavior must be watched to ensure that corporate greed did not get out of hand. Then we have the New Deal Liberalism where President Franklin Delano Roosevelt referred broadly to providing a “new deal” and bringing to the White House “persistent experimentation.” New Deal Liberalism would mainly provide relief, put millions of people to work, raise prices for farmers, extend conservation projects, revitalize America’s financial system,

After the Civil War, the second Industrial Revolution swept the US and the country began to flourish. Baring the economic prosperity, many Americans grew the urge to expand overseas. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, foreign policy was the hot topic among citizens and government officials. There were two sides to the argument; some Americans pushed for the aggressive foreign policy while others favored for the US to keep their nose out of foreign affairs. Notable figures in government took bold stands for and against foreign affairs.

“The Progressive movement of 1901 to 1971 was a triumph of conservatism rather than a victory for liberalism,” is a false statement implying that the Progressive movement was not liberal win when it very much was. The progressive movement allowed for all types of government reforms and policies that are all very liberal in a sense. With the Progressives, the laissez-faire government that allowed for many businesses to run free will no longer exist and regulations of all kinds of business will be put into place. The three presidents to reside in the White House during this era, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Woodrow Wilson, all shared at least one point of view with liberals. The progressive era is the era of the liberals.

Before 1890, America was against imperialism, which is acquiring colonies for the sole reason of building an empire. America was once a colony, so they were only interested in trade than colonization as they expanded into more territories. In 1867, Russia offered the Americas Alaska in exchange for seven million. President Andrew Johnson, at that time, wasn’t entirely convinced on taking Alaska, but Vice-President Seward convinced that the U.S. would gain not only more land, but new resources such as gold and oil. For Hawaii at first was trade then establishing business.

The Progressive Movement was an effort to cure the many ailments that plagued American society. The frontier had been tamed, great cities and businesses developed, and territories across the globe had been conquered, but not all citizens shared in this new found wealth, prestige, and optimism. With the great spurt of industrial growth in the last quarter of the 19th century, agriculture was not the great driving force it once was for the American economy. This alienated a vast majority of the midwestern towns, which could include Spoon River, whose livelihood would have likely been depended on the cultivation of crops. In an attempt to try and recapture the pureness of simpler times many turned to religion.

After the Civil War, our country was battered and beaten, but it rebuilt itself over time and spread its policies, as well as manufacturing practices, throughout our country. Early in the 20th century, members of our nation started to look at some of these practices and policies and began to question their merit and whether they assisted our population or not. Many people were involved in the progressive movement in America from the presidents to a slew of popular authors and photographers. The one thing that they had in common was that they saw problems with how various industries in our nation performed that they knew needed to be fixed. They did not always agree on everything, such as immigration, but they always had the nation’s best interest at heart.

When trying to define a word such as Liberalism it seems difficult to find a solid definition. There are different forms of liberalism and different meanings depending on the time period it is being applied to (idea taken from Phil Badger author from philosophynow). To solve this ambiguity, I’ve decided to define liberalism based on the time period in which I will be conducting my research. Liberalism in the 1700s was the belief of freedom and equals rights generally associated with the enlightenment thinkers, John Locke and Montesquieu (as defined by wikipedia.org). Liberalism didn’t start in the 1700s.

The Progressive era was a period of widespread activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1900s to 1920s. The goal was to end abuse of power (monopolies, unfair privilege and corruption), and to replace corrupt power with humane institutions, apply scientific principles and efficient management to economic, social, and political institutions. Through the Progressive Era they were able to create the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Amendment. The 16th Amendment allowed income tax, the 17th Amendment allowed the direct election of senators, the 18th Amendment allowed prohibition (prohibition is the manufacturing and sale of alcohol, especially in the US between 1920 and 1933), and the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.

The reasons did United States foreign policy change between 1920 and 1941 was mainly because of World War II. In the 1920’s, historians have considered the United States to be an isolationist country. Presidential candidate Warren G. Harding said that he opposed the League because it does not correspond with our constitution, even saying it would be a “deadly blow at our constitutional integrity”

The Gilded age was a period in the late 1800s (1865-1900) that showed tremendous increase of wealth caused by the industrial age. The lifestyle of the rich during this period hid the many problems of the time that eventually brought about the progressive era movement. This was a movement for reform between 1900-1920s. Progressives typically held that the irresponsible actions of the rich were corrupting both public and private life. Forces such as immigration, the Populist Party and industrialization that led to the progressive era also impacted the American government both in its activeness and its democracy.

William Howard Taft was a member of the Republican Party. His term lasted from 1909-1913. His central ambition regarding reform was to create an orderly framework for administering a reform agenda.

Progressivisms Changes Throughout America Progressivism is a vastly important topic in one’s life and today’s government, and it affects every person’s life more than they may even know. Progressivism started in the United States, a country filled with corruption and greed, but its ideas looked to release our country from these terrible ideas and bring in a new age of progress. Its ideas have continued to help the U.S. reform and review laws and other regulations in order to give our country 's government, and its people, relief from the trap of bad leaders and those leaders making poor decisions, which affect everyone in a negative way. Progressive ideas have led our country to elect better leaders and, with those better leaders, use them to make