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An Analysis Of Theodore Roosevelt's Progressivism

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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. Roosevelt knew that this was wrong and used the Sherman Anti-Trust Act as a tool to put a stop to the trust that Morgan was trying to establish (140-143). To help prevent future trusts from being formed, Teddy Roosevelt formed the Bureau of Corporations that would investigate businesses and report to Roosevelt if corporations were doing anything suspicious (144-145). Another thing that showed the progressivism of President Roosevelt was his stance on the relations between the workers and owners of businesses. In 1902, approximately 140,000 Pennsylvania coal miners went …show more content…

Before this act was passed, banking was not regulated which allowed banks to set interest rates to whatever they wanted and control the money supply. This led to many money panics that led to recessions and depressions. The Federal Reserve Act called for there to be regional reserve banks that would be overseen by a Federal Reserve Board that would be appointed by the government (74). The passing of Federal Reserve Act is considered a progressive action because it regulated the banking industry and prevented trusts between the individual banks

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