President Roosevelt was a progressive because he wanted to address the social problems in American society, and he supported anti-concentrations of power, social cohesion, and social organization, assumed an optimistic outlook, worked to establish order and stability and acknowledged of the role of government. First, Roosevelt thought that America needed a war; he had an optimistic outlook because he thought this would solve the problems that were being experienced. He also went right into the military when the war began, showing that he was determined to fight no matter what and that he was taking action to help make the situation better. Roosevelt chose a diverse group of people to fight under him, and he wanted to call his unit “The Children of the Dragon’s Blood,” but it became known as “Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.” Roosevelt’s choice of people to help militarily supports the idea of social cohesion. The group he formed showed that he thought it would be best to have many people from different types of education and different occupations working together to achieve the best outcome.
Roosevelt clearly valued the role of government because he ran for president. Someone who did not feel that being involved in the government would be the best way to make changes in society probably would not have worked to be such a significant part of the government. One assumption of progressives was that the government was the only entity capable of enforcing laws and regulating industry. Progressives believed the government had to take on a larger role in society, and the only way improvements could be made would be by the government making laws and taking measures it had not been taking before. Everyone else wanted Roosevelt to be vice president because he would not really be able to do things in that position, and when everyone except for Roosevelt himself voted for him to become vice president, he did. They did not know McKinley would get shot, making Roosevelt president, which was exactly what the Republican bosses did not want, since Roosevelt was independent and reform-minded, which was different from their beliefs. These traits of Roosevelt as a leader show that he was also against concentrations of power, which would worry the Republican bosses and others who had been in power, as well.
The men who had controlled American industry were not controlled by the government or regulated, and Roosevelt wanted labor reforms. He struck at J.P. Morgan, who manipulated prices, destroyed competition, and bought politicians. Roosevelt ordered his attorney general to break up monopolies, restore competition, and prosecute Morgan as a criminal. Roosevelt thought no individual could be the equal of the president of the United States, and he wanted to show that he was in charge of the country, not J.P. Morgan. Roosevelt also went on to prosecute more trusts, such as the powerful ones of sugar, oil, beef, and tobacco. He believed in corporations, but he believed they should be regulated so they would be beneficial to the people. Roosevelt did not break up all of the trusts, but he did make sure to break up the ones that he thought were abusing their power and hurting the people, further showing how Roosevelt took action against concentrations of power. Roosevelt believed it was his duty to urge people to do better. He conveyed the idea that the president should use his position like a preacher, to send a message- as a “bully pulpit,” which was a well-known term, regarding Roosevelt, with a good connotation.
Since the Civil War, Congress had basically been running the show, and Roosevelt was not content with that. He insisted Americanism was really about service, and he demonstrated this belief by working for better conditions for the people and supporting many of their causes. When the coal miners went on strike, Roosevelt surprised the miners, who had never been helped by a president before. He said the president had a legal right to do whatever the needs of the people demanded, and he actually called the mine owners and the union members. Although he was discouraged at points, such as when he said while trying to help the coal miners that the owners “came down in the most insolent frame of mind,” he continued to try and help. He went secretly to the commander of the army and told him he should get troops ready and use them to seize the industry. Congressmen of his own party were outraged because of Roosevelt’s actions, and one even questioned whether Roosevelt was complying with the Constitution. Nonetheless, Roosevelt said the Constitution was made for the people, not the other way around, a clear display of his belief that injustices for the people were injustices he needed to work towards fixing, even if it had not been done before. After this incident, the miners went back to work. Their union was not recognized, but they did finally get some of what they wanted, and the circumstances were changing because it was the first time the president did something about labor, especially union labor.
One particular cause Roosevelt is associated with is conservation. He fought to protect state forests and would not compromise this issue. No other president had worked as hard as he did to repair the damage private interests had done to the nation’s public lands. For over a century, America’s natural resources had been cheaply given away, then exploited and destroyed. Roosevelt stretched the power of the presidency to the limit in order to preserve natural resources. Even when Congress was refusing to make the Grand Canyon into a natural park because developers were coming along to try and improve it, Roosevelt essentially declared it one using other titles for it and said Congress would come to its senses eventually. He also declared the birds something that could not be touched, so people could not kill them to take their feathers. Preserving the wilderness was really a moral issue for Roosevelt, and he ended up creating 5 national parks, 18 national monuments, and 150 national forests- ultimately 230 million acres of U.S. land under public protection.
Overall, Roosevelt had a sense of what was right for social justice. What he was doing was not what Platt wanted, but Roosevelt was very popular, and while people did not necessarily agree with everything he said, they loved to hear him say it. He worked for what the people wanted and also did not want to bring instability to anywhere when he thought it would affect America’s own interests. Throughout his time in power, Roosevelt proposed laws to regulate industry and had to fight members of his own party to get them through Congress, but he ended up winning new laws to protect the consumers. Also, to protect farmers from railroads charging excessively high rates, he strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commision, and to ensure the purity and safety of drugs and food, he was responsible for the Pure Food and Drug Act. Roosevelt lashed out at monopolists, and he challenged Congress to a series of reforms, such as the 8-hour workday, child labor laws, and an income tax, all of which were very progressive ideals. Roosevelt said that “public rights come first and private interests second,” and he made this clear throughout his time as president by standing by progressive ideals and using his role in the government to make changes happen that would be very important for the people and for the future of the country.
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/tr/
https://www.biography.com/people/theodore-roosevelt-9463424
https://www.doi.gov/blog/conservation-legacy-theodore-roosevelt
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