Roosevelt And The Progressive Era

The 1912 Election and the Power of Progressivism: A Brief History with Documents by Brett Flehinger is about the four Presidential candidates during the election of 1912, their political parties and campaigns. The book shows how opposed each candidate 's platform was and which problems the candidates agreed on. The book has documents from this time to further aid in understanding what exactly was happening. None of the candidates, however, were as different as Theodore Roosevelt and his predecessor, William Howard Taft. Their platforms and ideas regarding trusts, direct democracy and courts and the constitution differed greatly, whilst they agreed on the important issue of women 's suffrage.

He was a man that would not back down for anything. He stood up for what he believed in and what he thought the American people wanted. Theodor Roosevelt the 26th president of the United States was neither Democrat or Republican he did not believe in presidential parties because he wanted what was right for the American people as a whole. Teddy was a very active man constantly doing something like reading, hunting or boxing even while serving as president. A very energetic man that would drink a gallon of coffee every day so he was constantly wired.

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.

In my opinion the best progressive for America was Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt was very popular because of his prestige as a hero of the Spanish-American War and his belief in “speaking softly and carrying a big stick.” After taking over the presidency in 1901, after the assassination of William McKinley, he swiftly guaranteed America that he would not take any radical measures. Then Roosevelt, demanded a “Square Deal” that would address his main concerns. Ownership of corporations and the relationships between employers and employees, as well as the government’s role in the relationships, were the touchy areas of focus during the time period.

Many economic and social changes transformed American society in the 20th century, including innovations in science and technology, and economic productivity. In turn people believed that the government should create political, social, and moral reforms to regulate big business and the other colonial problems. The progressive movement was caused by a renewed interest in social issues and the revival of the ideals on which America was founded. Big businessmen had created empires of wealth, owning vast majorities of businesses. This only allowed enough space for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer, but the Progressive Era brought dramatic changes to the nation’s economic, and political sectors.

The Progressive Era is one of the reasons America still stands strong today. It lasted from the 1890’s to the 1920’s and seeked to reform American policies and government. There are 3 main people who have contributed to the Progressive area - Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. These three presidents enforced and introduced laws and regulations that allowed more flexibility and choice for the people, and they are still in use today. If it weren’t for them, America would still be overly ruled by corporations and silenced by the government and our people would be sick.

Between 1880 and 1910 progressivism was the improvements and progress of the United States of America by the expansion of democracy and achieving economic and social fairness. During that period of time progressivism was an opportunity for the government to create reforms at national and international measures. Such as: Child Labor Law of 1887 and the prohibition. The strength of progressivism came from farmers, politicians, and middle class workers. Progressivism is truly how the government regulated, got involved, and changed aspects to improve the country.

In the period between 1900 and 1920, the federal government and reformers were very successful in bringing social, economic, and political reform to the federal government. While not every aspect of it was successful, the rights of women, fighting against child labor and limiting the control of trusts and monopolies were three distinct successes of that time. Even before the progressive era, women challenged their place and articulated new visions of social, political and economic equality. The progressive era was a turning point for women as organizations evolved fighting for equal rights. Woman began to become very involved in a variety of reform movements.

Prior to losing the election of 1912, he helped the U.S with by doing anything he could to uphold America and its citizens. He also aided in American access to the Panama Canal. On economical terms, Roosevelt was the trust-buster, breaking all of the bad trusts in big businesses. He also was the president who enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act. Socially, he preserved millions of acres of land, entitling citizens to interact and have leisure time, and wildlife to prosper.

Labor itself made a lot of gains during the Progressive Era, mostly at the state level; however government gave no support to unions. Labor failed to organize basic industries, while most judges cared about property than human rights and issued injunctions. President Taft was Roosevelt’s predecessor in 1909. Prices were rising so midwesterners blamed it on the Dingley Tariff. President Taft said he would lower tariffs,but “old guard” Republicans raised them instead.

1. The New Deal was Roosevelt’s set of reforms to better the welfare of Americans. During this time, many Americans were relying on handouts from private charities due to the poor domestic economy. There was no government welfare system that dealt with helping out the people since the president prior to Roosevelt, Hoover, believed a welfare state was bad for America.

Question 1. The progressive period in US history started in the 1890s and remained current through the 1920s. Progressive leaders in the US include President Teddy Roosevelt, President William Howard Taft, and President Woodrow Willson. The main objective of progressives was to rid the government of corruption. These progressive leaders targeted political machines and worked to rid the country of monopolistic enterprises that were exploiting regular citizens.

During the Progressive Era there were multiple of changes occurring that people became overwhelmed. New resources in the oil market, industrialization, fights for equality. There were many factory jobs, however, no one to stand up for the workers. So of course people will turn to their government for help, the power house of the country. However, even the government was picky in what they helped with.

President Woodrow Wilson was the last of the Progressive Presidents and as such caused great economic, political and social change. He served between 1913 and 1921 during which he imposed economic change through reforms, both national and international political change and a change in the role of women, giving them the right to vote. The effects of Wilsons presidency created abundant change within American society that had long lasting impacts. Political change was imminent in Wilsons second term as he was given emergency presidential power to, in some cases, bypass Congress, to speed up the law-making process. For example, he imposed the Selective Services Act in 1917 which authorised conscription in the US so that the military could be built up quickly and would not have to rely wholly on volunteers; according to Khan Academy this was well received by the American public as they were incredibly patriotic and believed it was their responsibility to support their nation, as such few men dodged.

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