Progressive President During The Progressive Era

Teddy Roosevelt was a very strong influence during the progressive era; He used his power a president to get what he wanted as a progressive. He helped things like the pure food and drug act pass, and used the Sherman Antitrust act to dissolve Carnegie's Monopoly. He was a very strong leader and was not about to be pushed around, so it was very good to have him as president during the Progressive era when some are fighting for the new and some are fighting for the old.

Progress is not something that comes very quickly. It is a gradual process that takes time, in the interest of our country and the Progressive Era, more than a decade. The presidents of this time, Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, were like chefs developing a recipe for the betterment of the United States. Every act that was passed, each decision that was made, was a trial or taste-test of the constantly changing recipe for the country. If something angered citizens or drew criticism, the president went back to his office, his kitchen, and was ready to make more changes. Where he left off in the progressive recipe, the next chef took over. He would analyze what had been done, identified his plan of action, and then set to work by either making

After America had finally established itself as an industrialized and urbanized nation to be reckoned with, the country had turned to follow a new set of ideologies described as progressive thinking; hence, the following of the Progressive Era. The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform that spread across the United States, and was in a response to problems that arose from immigration, industrialization, urbanization, and governmental corruption. Following the Presidential Election in 1912, this set of progressive ideologies was most sought after in a presidential candidate. This is one of the main reasons why Woodrow Wilson had won. Although many other candidates had also followed these progressive

     America at the turn of the century was a very different place than it is today. The industrial revolution had set into motion a series of events that empowered and enriched some and nearly enslaved others. Theodore Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” was a necessary response to growing social unrest. A severely unequal distribution of wealth along with poor living and working conditions were leading workers and capitalists to increasingly extreme means. By enacting a large body of legislation intended to set right the wrongs in society and using whatever force necessary, Roosevelt avoided what could have been a popular revolution of the working

Progressivism originated as the optimistic vision that society was capable of improvement, and that continued growth and advancement were the nation's destiny. This, however, would require direct, purposeful human intervention in social and economic affairs. Progressive reformers wished to limit the disperse authority and wealth by empowering the government to regulate or break up trusts at both state and national levels. They also believed in the importance of social cohesion. Individuals were not autonomous; rather they are each part of a great web of social relationships. Therefore they pushed for reforms to help women, children, industrial workers, immigrants, and even African Americans to

After journalist Upton Sinclair released his book “The Jungle” which describes the working conditions and their horrors, “There would be meat that would had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust. There would be meat stored in great piles in the rooms, and thousands of rats would race about on it. A man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats” (paragraph from the novel “The Jungle”). This made Roosevelt sick and he invited Sinclair to visit him in the White House. Roosevelt told Sinclair “The specific evils you point out shall, if their existence be proved, and if i have the power, be eradicated”.-Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt really started making changes when big business price fixing started, when they would make other small businesses go out of business by lowering the prices then buying them when they would go bankrupt and then jacking up the prices again. After this went on for a while the workers got sick of it and over 100,000 workers went on strike and demanded 20% increase in wages, 9 hour work days and all workers to be associated with a union. After 5 months of intense strike Roosevelt made them come to an agreement and gave them most of their demands. After this everything was different, from now on whenever a strike happened

Three important men in the progressive era were Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt was a trustbuster who destroyed

Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson were all people who supported the progressive era. However, out of the three men, Roosevelt was the most progressive when it came to our economy, labor, and the environment.

After careful consideration and evaluation of both candidates and criteria, it can be easily determined that Theodore Roosevelt should be the winner of the title of the early twentieth century’s most progressive president. Roosevelt is the best candidate because he not only worked on a large array of issues, he also was highly committed and practical in his reforms. While all of the candidates meet the criteria, Roosevelt meets it to the furthest extent and comes out on top in a close race.

During the Progressive Era from 1890-1920, America saw three new presidents: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson. This period of time is known as the Progressive Era due to the political and social changes made to move away from a laissez-faire government to a more active government by the administrations of these presidents. Prior to this period, Americans had to suffer through poor working conditions, low wages, social and class inequality and become victims to large corporations that took advantage of the people. In particular, the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson established the key principles and ideas of economic reform and social reform, which would end up returning the power from the manipulative corporations back to the government, establishing a model for a more active role for the federal government, and improve the lives of Americans. However, even though Roosevelt and Wilson had similar intentions of reforming America, they both had different means of achieving it.

I would have to say my favorite Progressive President would have to be Theodore Roosevelt. I think one of the main reason I like him so much would have to be because he was almost like an underdog. People wanted him to be vice president to get him to almost be quiet and then he ended up having to be the President after President McKinley was assassinated. He had to step up in a time of turmoil for our country and I think he did a pretty good job considering the circumstances. I liked how during his first term as president he pretty much ended the Gilded Age by being aggressive. He wanted to take initiative and did not want to wait for Congress to finally take action. I was also a fan of his decision to run for President for a second term. In

To let the economy start flowing again FDR came up with the New Deal. The New Deal included the Wagner Act which was that “employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall be free from the interference restraint, or coercion of employers of labor” (Wagner Act). The support from President Roosevelt got an abundant amount of recognition because the President was giving them the respect they deserve but employers were not. Many asked the question on why employers did not have the same respect that a man who is President has. The support from Roosevelt was a factor in the increase in unions but the Wagner Act gave the workers the idea to start uniting and fighting their employers for better wages. This was proven after Roosevelt’s big win in the election, “strikes began to multiply throughout the Industrial Midwest” because of the support he gave the workers of the United States (Who Built America 461). In addition, the Wagner Act allowed workers who were demanding labor to enhance their bargaining power (Lichtenstein 110). The National Industrial Relations Act impacted the workers of the United States to collectively join and win strikes. When workers have the freedom to bargain for their jobs especially during the Great Depression where workers were getting paid close to nothing they take that opportunity to challenge against the “few forms of oppression” (Gompers 130). The government was telling workers that the only possible way for employers to negotiate was if workers became a union. With unions workers “have far greater power together than they have alone” and the Wagner Act motivated them to grow in power instead of letting the dark times take over (Brecher 2). Section 7a provided protection for workers who were threatened with losing their jobs in an era where jobs were rare to find. Citizens who were employed and

Hundreds of thousands of coal miners due to extreme work conditions without operators increasing annual income raises, lowering working hours, or listening to any concessions from the miner’s union (71-72). The operators essentially considered the miners to be criminals and expected the President to break up the strike as previous presidents had done. Instead, Roosevelt took over the mines, asking one of his Major Generals to dispossess the operators and to run them in a kind of receivership (74). Despite concerns about the constitutionality of his executive action, Roosevelt saw himself as an umpire whose duty was to see equality among all men. His act as mediator and savior of the miners drew sympathy from many despite his authoritative use of power

Huge corporations like U.S. Steel owned mass amounts of businesses and land, employing up 170,000 workers. Between 1897 and 1903 approximately half of American families did not even own property and 18 of the 29 million families made an annual wage of around 500$. While large business owners like Andrew Carnegie made $23 million himself. The work force included women and child working for as low as 10 cents for a 10-hour day. These horrendous conditions and pay led to multiple revolts and uprisings in the labor force, but because of the competition for work wages were kept low hindering unions ability to organize. Activist Mother Jones assisted in the formation of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in 1905. In 1914 strikes finally started getting some traction starting with the “Machine Gun Massacre”. Legislation was put into effect supporting the need for American Labor. Starting with “Gompers noted that the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) was “Labor's charter of freedom." The act included a section declaring that unions could not be considered unlawful combinations per se and that strikes, boycotting, and picketing were not violations of federal law.” (U.S. History) The Adamson Act of 1916 was initiated by President Wilson to avoided the strike by four railroad unions by giving workers well deserved benefits. The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 was put in the place to encourage union bargaining, to set up maximum work hour, establish a minimum wage, and to prohibit the child labor industry. After this Act was overturned portions of the act were revived in the Wagner Act

The two major Progressive presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, created enormous changes within domestic American policymaking. With their respective presidencies, the federal government gained much more administrative power, especially with respect to trust busting and business regulation. The presidencies also pushed a plethora of changes within the outlook of natural resources and wilderness conservation. However, the federal not completely invested in Progressivism, many important issues such as suffrage and civil rights were largely ignored.