Compare And Contrast Roosevelt And Woodrow Wilson

At the beginning of the 20th century the political era revolved around progressivism. Mainly developing in popularity between both the progressive presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, however both presidents sought out with the identical motives while running in office, both differed in the methods and action of approaching progressivism. Though both presidents main goal was what benefited the general welfare of the people or supporting equality, Theodore Roosevelt encouraged a larger federal government and hands on approach. While Wilson preferred a more passive approach and supported a smaller federal government, which was reflected over both of their presidencies. Theodore Roosevelt was characterized as a tough and athletic

Wilson won the election of 1912 as a democrat known as the New Freedom beating Roosevelt, in which he sought out to abolish monopolistic economic trusts in order to promote competition between businesses and allow smaller businesses to prosper again. Wilson felt that while the federal government should use its power to bust trusts, the federal government was not supposed to have a role in regulating business. The regulation of business would be done by the state governments. This contrasted with Roosevelt’s New Nationalism which felt that the federal government should have a larger role in regulating the economy and regulating the abuses of large monopolies. This is what greatly differed between Wilson and Roosevelt. Though he was not able to be as progressive as much as he wanted due to WWI, he was still able to make a change and benefit the general welfare of the citizens. During Wilson’s presidency he made passage of the Revenue Act and the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, under the Revenue Act it was a tariff reform that lowered tariff rates and changed the federal income tax. And in the Clayton Anti-Trust Act it promoted the competition between businesses and discouragement for the formation of large businesses. This act included the prohibition of price favoritism, price fixing, and any other unfair business practices that may arise. Following the development of these two acts, during his second term Wilson established the Federal Trade Commission, an agency that would regularly regulate trade. Furthermore, he would pass the Federal Reserve Act creating the Federal Reserve System to serve as a regulator of the banking industry. So though he would not be able to achieve as much as Roosevelt did to aid the progressive movement, he incorporated both Roosevelt’s New Nationalism and his own New Freedom to successfully promote the general welfare of the