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To What Extent Was Theodore Roosevelt A Liberal Or Conservative

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While Theodore Roosevelt considered himself conservative, he went down in history as a progressive president. He definitely had a deep sense of history but also realized that with how America was transforming into a business and industry-run country, change had to come. This is why Roosevelt came up with a “Square Deal” meaning everyone was dealt with fairly. He knew that America was changing, and his main goal was to treat the people of America fairly. We will be discussing how he did so with trusts, labor, food and drug, and conservation. About trusts, Roosevelt was often called a trust-buster. He made sure to do away with bad trusts, but regulate good trusts. For example, J. P. Morgan’s Northern Securities Company (Railroad Trust) was shut down by Roosevelt. Morgan …show more content…

He even stated that he “draws the line at misconduct not against wealth.” About labor, Roosevelt was very concerned about how the people were getting treated and the reasons for the strikes happening around the country. In 1902, United Mine Workers went on strike for an 8 hour work day, a 20% wage increase, and recognition of their union. So to break up the strike, Roosevelt invited the miners, union, and mine owners to the White House. Unfortunately, the mine owners were embarrassed and hostile to the mine workers and did not give lee way to any of their ideas. So Roosevelt threatened that he would send in the army so that they could take over the mines and people could have coal for the upcoming winter time. So the owners compromised and gave the workers a 9 hour workday, 10% wage increase, but no recognition of their union. But Roosevelt had stated that “better half a loaf than none.” When it came to food and drugs, Roosevelt was also very active. On this topic, especially, people are treated very unfairly. There were no safety measures during this time protecting food and drug production. In 1906, a man named Upton Sinclair wrote a book called The

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659 Words | 3 Pages

He also made a great change in the presidency and the authority of the federal government. This is because he became president in what historians called The Progressive Era; where many reforms took place. Roosevelt believed in courage, honesty, and in a democracy that had the desire to serve the people. In his autobiography he stated that his theory “that the executive power was limited only by specific restrictions and prohibitions appearing in the constitution or imposed by the congress under its constitutional powers” (Page 482). Roosevelt could not stand that what was a necessity for the nation could not be done by the president unless someone authorized it.

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Roosevelt catered to people of every status and class in America, and made sure that he could pacify those with doubts about him in any way he could. Roosevelt took time while preparing his speech so that his message to America would come across clear and concise, strong and powerful, confident and assertive. Roosevelt knew that without the people supporting the government his plan would fail so he painted the government in the best light he could but stayed honest with the people. Roosevelt’s innagural address was the key to his presidency and he made sure that it left a positive impact of the people. Every single person in America was key to making the recovery a success and Roosevelt made sure that each person knew they were important and that their voices were

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449 Words | 2 Pages

He created programs to open up jobs for people, set minimum wages, help the homeless and so much more. Roosevelt also wanted to protect the banks and restore confidence in them. He created a banking holiday, where every bank was shut down in the U.S. until the U.S. treasury approved it. The citizens could be confident in the opened bank, by the treasury’s approval to continue operation. He looked out for the youth through enabling them to earn money to help their family, but also further an education.

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The ascension of Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency marked a dramatic turning point in bringing meaningful reform in America because he was the first ever president to lead hands on and believed that the government should serve as an agent of reform for the people. Roosevelt abandoned his Republican counterparts’ ideals of a ‘laissez-faire’ economy and turned to helping the American people through welfare programs and minimum wage laws. Above all, Theodore Roosevelt served as a voice for the masses and implemented what they had long desired. Around 1902, exposing the evils of industries, politicians and the rich and famous was a very hot industry.

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544 Words | 3 Pages

He put the most effort into labor than any of the other candidates. One of the biggest things Roosevelt was a part of, was the Anthracite Coal Strike. This was when miners went on strike because they were demanding greater rights and protection because the corporation 's expected them to remain cheap. The miners then wanted a 20% pay increase, so they met with Roosevelt and were very unsympathetic and refused to negotiate with the labor representatives. But in result, they ended up with a 10% pay increase.

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As President, Roosevelt held the perfect that the Government ought to be the extraordinary referee of the clashing financial compels in the Nation, particularly in the middle of capital and work, ensuring equity to every and administering favors to none. Roosevelt developed breathtakingly as a "trust buster" by driving the disintegration of an incredible railroad blending in the Northwest. Other antitrust suits under the Sherman Act took after. Roosevelt steered the United States more actively into world politics. He liked to quote a favorite proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick. . . .

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Roosevelt felt it was the government's responsibility to take care of American citizens. During a speech in Washington, D.C. on March 4, 1937 Roosevelt was talking about some of the struggles Americans were facing. He talked about people being ill-nourished, ill-clad and ill-housed. He talked about children who should be at school, but instead had to work. He also talked about men and women laboring for long hours in factories for inadequate pay.

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Roosevelt is most known for his “trust-busting” of major corporations to stop monopolies from forming (at the end of his second term he had busted 44 trusts (Britannica)). The biggest impact of TR’s presidency is his

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Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was active in politics from a young age. Though he assumed the role as president only after McKinley’s assassination, he prided himself on his broadening of the executive powers, as well as that of the federal government; he passionately took McKinley's place as Chief executive. Roosevelt was a lively and devout nationalist and a strong believer of a powerful central government. Teddy Roosevelt's presidential platform, as well as his domestic program, became known as “The Square Deal”, because he vowed not to favor any group of Americans and to be fair to all. Teddy Roosevelt encouraged the nation to revive an active role in global politics, particularly

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Not only was he determined to stand his ground in New York, he carried this determination into his presidency, creating many policies to eliminate corruption in the government and corporations. Because of his determination to create policies that would help the American people, Teddy Roosevelt, create many laws and regulations that restricted companies and expanded the power of the presidency. He exercised the new power of being president by becoming the first president to get involved in a strike. When the workers of a coal mine went on strike for higher wages, the country began to run out of coal, forcing Teddy Roosevelt became the first president to mediate a dispute between striking employees and a company. After Teddy Roosevelt left office, William Taft continued Teddy Roosevelt’s work dismantling and restricting growing corporations until his presidency

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545 Words | 3 Pages

Roosevelt handled challenges faced towards him by responding quickly to them. Instead of going through the long process of Congress, Roosevelt used his powers of the Presidency to speed up the way the United States handles a situation. For example, the Coal Strike of 1902 posed a great danger to the United States because the United States was so dependent on coal for heating citizens. Roosevelt saw how the strike could be dangerous to Americans, so he quickly put an end to it by taking government control over the coal mines. Roosevelt ending the Coal Strike expanded the powers of the president because instead of going through the slow process of Congress, the President could now use his powers to handle challenges in a swift

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555 Words | 3 Pages

President Roosevelt was a president that wanted to make America great again. Through his multitude of progressive and usually controversial legislations and policies, Roosevelt managed to steer America away from the decadence of the gilded age and steered her towards a glorious path of greatness. through revolutionary use of governmental power such as using the sherman trust act, threatening the privatization of natural resources and the conservation of natural. Roosevelt understood how degenerate the trust monopolization was towards the free market and made the bold move to go against the corporate giants which dominate the market and corrupted its inherent freedom, using his glorious presidential power and the Sherman trust act to remove their monopolies and furthermore enacted the Hepburn act to crush the

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61 Words | 1 Pages

When Roosevelt was giving this speech, he was about to be faced with one of the more difficult times of his age: the first world war. The times were rough back then for most people because of tough work conditions and there were unions and giant corporations like Carnegie steel were taking away jobs from people because of monopolization (history channel).

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783 Words | 4 Pages

Theodore Roosevelt was first affiliated with the Republican party but in some areas was clearly progressive or Democratic. Roosevelt’s platform, the Square Deal, promised government intervention to those who needed it and he sought through to it. He was the first president to take the side of the labor worker during a dispute between employee and employer. Roosevelt also became known as a trustbuster even though the amount of trust he busted paled in comparison to the amount Woodrow Wilson busted. The FDA was also created during Roosevelt’s presidency as the first regulation of the food industry in U.S. history.

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585 Words | 3 Pages

While in his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt experienced moderate success in his role as an economic regulator of big business. ​In some cases, Teddy Roosevelt showed his ability to bust trusts. Trusts were a monopoly on goods or services, usually managed by a large overarching corporation. Trusts were illegal under the Anti-Sherman Trust Act of 1890. Unenforced, the act rarely was useful or used to eliminate trusts in the American economy.

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