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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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The predecessor of Roosevelt stated, “He criticizes me because I prosecuted the Standard Oil Company and the Tobacco Company through to the Supreme Court and got decrees there.” Both Roosevelt and Taft had well thought out campaigns that eventually morphed into attempts to turn the people

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The economic elements of the Progressive Era revolved mainly around the trusts that had a hold of the economy, as well as the trust-busting that Roosevelt took part in at the time. Big companies started taking over the economy due to the building monopolies and Roosevelt became determined to break up the damaging trusts. For example, oil companies such as Rockefeller’s and Standard Oil had basically dominated the whole oil industry during this time by driving out smaller business and intimidating railroad industries to transport their oil. Previously mentioned companies like Rockefeller’s proposed that their trusts allowed for economic advancements such as oil management and steady jobs for men, but most trusts threatened the public interests

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The progressive presidents all took a multitude of measures to give the government more control over corporations by breaking up monopolies and busting trusts, but none of them advanced the concept of socialism that populists had wanted. President Theodore Roosevelt did not necessarily want to break down big companies, but wanted to even the playing field and created a program called the Square Deal that kept big businesses from taking advantage of small companies and the poor. This program was aimed towards helping the middle class and attacking bad trusts and satisfied a populist contention on controlling monopolies. In 1903, he passed the Elkins act, which stopped railroads from giving rebates for bigger businesses. This stabilized and reduced

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2. Theodore Roosevelt was considered to be the “First Modern President because he had a strong- firm personality, and showed aggressive actions towards others. Roosevelt believed that the President had the right to use all power unless they were denied to him. Also, that he has a responsibility to the people, and so challenged himself to avoid notions of limited government and individualism; the government he controlled should maintain as an agent who should give the people what they want. Roosevelt’s presidency opened up creativity of progressive movement, lending the prestige of the White House to welfare legislation, government regulation, and the conservation movement.

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The Progressive was a period in which new crusaders, also known as the “progressives”, engaged in combat with their society’s monopolies, corruption, and social injustice in order to “strengthen the State” and “use the government as an agency of human welfare.” This motif of these reformers was seen throughout this time and ultimately produced success stories but nonetheless fell to several limitations. As one discovers, Teddy Roosevelt known to history as the “Trust-buster” played a prominent role in launching a triumphant end to dishonest monopolies and trusts. In addition to corralling the corporations during this time, Roosevelt also impacted society with his reforms to assist the common man consumer, gaining initial inspiration from The

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Known for his tough policy on big corporations, president Theodore Roosevelt took many actions to cut down trust and get rid of government corruption (Outside Evidence). Altogether, the responses and the actions taken by people’s responses did much to change and impact

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Both Progressive Era reformers and the federal government sought to bring about reform at the national level. Examples of such reforms they wanted to make include: trust-busting, consumer safety, restrictions on child labour, civil rights, and women’s suffrage. Overall, the Progressive Era reformers and the federal government were effective in their efforts from 1900 to 1920, however there were some limitations. During the Gilded Age, and prior, the quality of America was unsatisfactory.

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“For the first time, then, the federal government acted against commerce only on a potential threat, not genuine behavior” Roosevelt did not want to destroy large corporations, he just wanted to strictly regulate them so they could benefit the public more. He thought that if they were not regulated, they would only have intentions to help themselves and not do what is best for the greater population. “Roosevelt’s comment was the astonishing view that corporations do not serve the public good on their own-that they must be made to-and that furnishing jobs, paying taxes, and creating new wealth did not constitute a sufficient public benefit.” Roosevelt made unreasonable threats and did not honor the constitution.

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During this time three different president- Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson-each played a part in fixing the monopolies and corporate greed. Breaking up one company into many, securing that not one person made all the profit. Which is good for the economy, being able to share the wealth. Yet, the government didn 't bother in touching other important

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Theodore Roosevelt was a good President during the progressive movement because he made the Square Deal, the meat inspection act, and he supported African Americans. The goal of the progressive was to fight for women’s rights. First, Roosevelt was a good President during the progressive movement because of the Square Deal that he created. The Square Deal that he created stated that he would not favor a specific group meaning he would be fair to everyone. The Square Deal was made on three basics to protect the customer, control of the large corporations, and the conservation of natural resources.

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Eventually Roosevelt backed down. In 1903, Roosevelt wanted Congress to create a Department of Commerce and Labor to investigate corporations engaged in interstate commerce. When Congress did not want to do it, he took measures to ensure that they would pass it and they did in the end. Through these things in the reading along with the other things he did we see that Roosevelt while progressive went about it differently than Wilson did.

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Theodore Roosevelt, the President at the time, argued that the big corporations needed to be controlled and strongly supervised by the government to avoid any issues (Doc 2). In his speech, Roosevelt shared the various principles of his Square Deal, which was his program that promised to regulate business and protect the American consumer. Ultimately, the government gained power over big business during the Progressive Era, which could be seen by the Clayton Antitrust Act, which was a strong act aiming to regulate business that replaced the weaker Sherman Antitrust Act. However, this didn’t necessarily mean that the government and business were enemies during the Progressive Era. Occasionally, some business leaders would even become involved in government to make it more efficient and beneficial for business owners.

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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.

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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

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