President Theodore Roosevelt opened the doors of opportunity for America when he began the progressive era during his presidency. Starting in 1890 the progressive era was a time in U.S. history that focused on utilizing the government to assist society with their struggles such as poverty, racism, work conditions, and much more. Roosevelt was the first of three progressive presidents but was definitely not the most progressive of them. Woodrow Wilson, the most progressive president, was ironically the one to put an unintentional end to the progressive era but made huge accomplishments as well as some failures during his presidency leading him to become one of the best presidents that the U.S. has seen. Woodrow Wilson was a bright …show more content…
After being disappointed with the performance of president Taft, former president Roosevelt broke his previous decision to not run for a third term. The republican party reselected Taft for their candidate which frustratedly drove Roosevelt to create a third party called the “Bull Moose Party” to run. Roosevelt did not handle the feud between himself and Taft maturely and frankly embarrassed himself with his cruelness towards his former childhood friend Taft. The Democrats wisely chose Woodrow Wilson and won the election by a large amount. From here Wilson began his remarkable presidential career. Continuing the progressive idea, Wilson put his brilliant mind to work in order to better american society. He started immediately working on federal legislation towards taxes, tariffs, and labor reforms. Wilson successfully created the Federal Reserve System, the 16th amendment, and created new work hours and regulations for the labor force. He established a 40 hour work week and made child labor illegal aiming to better the working conditions of america (“Woodrow Wilson.”) With the Federal Trade Commission he worked towards prohibiting unfair business. (The White House.) All of these were prime examples of his dedication to the american people and what he believed they deserved. With the influence of his agreeable morals, Wilson strived to end poverty as well as continue Americas safe neutrality with other