Theodore Roosevelt: The Best Example Of A Progressive President

743 Words3 Pages

In my opinion, Theodore Roosevelt is the best example of a progressive president. He has made revolutionary steps to improve the nation. Roosevelt has inspired the belief that a balance will be found between pre-capitalism / business and the protection of the rights of all Americans. Although Taft and Wilson also made progressive reforms, they were neither as happy nor as supporters of the American public as generally successful in their efforts.

To begin with, the progressive movement was an attempt to cure many of the American society's misfortunes that had developed during the Great Industrial Growth and could be described as an energy distribution of wealth evenly. The Progressives tried to cope with the end of the accumulation of wealth …show more content…

Roosevelt's proposal was known as the Square Agreement and promised a balance between businesses and workers. One of the things that Roosevelt's predecessors have put before his predecessors for reform was his support for the American worker. Unlike the presidents who blindly supported the big business for employees, Roosevelt also believes in employee support. In 1902, United Mine Workers (umw) launched a strike. They required higher salaries and a reduced working day. The coalmine did not want to negotiate the demands of the workers. But President Roosevelt called for an arbitration meeting with the workers and the company. This decisive statement prompts the heads to negotiate, and workers eventually received a salary increase of 10% and a shorter working day. His handling of this great strike demonstrates Roosevelt's alliance with the average American and lack of corporate favor and corruption. The progressive goal was to benefit Americans and end corruption, so Roosevelt can be clearly defined as a progressive one. During his term of office, many progressive lawmakers were created. For example, in 1903 the Elkins Act was passed, which inspected defective railway companies, and in 1906 the Hepburn Law was adopted, which sets the rates of railway undertakings to stop the exploitation. In 1904, Roosevelt went after the northern monopoly of titles and won another example of his confidence. This action …show more content…

He believes that America needs to be active in the field of international relations and that its president should be willing to use the power to support diplomatic negotiations. In 1903, he helped Panama to leave Colombia to facilitate the start of construction on the Panama Canal, which was later regarded as his greatest achievement during his presidency. A year later, after several European countries trying to collect their debts from Latin American countries, Roosevelt issued a "conclusion" on the Monroe doctrine, according to which the United States would cease foreign intervention in Latin America and will act in the police and the hemisphere, that countries have paid their international debts. In order to prepare the United States for his stronger role on the world stage, Roosevelt attempted to build the defense of the country and at the end of his presidency he had transformed the United States Navy into a major international force at sea. In the Eastern Hemisphere, he negotiated the end of the Russian-Japanese war in 1904-05, winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his