Theodore Roosevelt Article Summary

Drew Bone
Mr. Bare
AP US History
May 12 2015
Theodore Roosevelt Article Review In this article about the youngest president in American history the author goes on to explain the great successes and accomplishments of Theodore Roosevelt. Written to inform the reader about the about the premature conclusion of the McKinley Era and the inauguration of Teddy Roosevelt, the author goes to great lengths to describe how Teddy made his mark on the presidential office and helped to change the course of American history. The author believes he accomplished this through increasing the power of the presidency, drastically influencing progressive policy, and expanding foreign policy. I believe the author does a fantastic job a stating the key ideas and
Focusing initially on Economic policy, the author describes how Roosevelt saw “Lack of opportunity as a breeding ground for crime and radicalism”. The article states how teddy solved the problems of excessive power of the corporate wealth and the increasing dangers of working-class radicalism through progressive reform. Since one percent of American companies manufacture almost 40 percent of its products teddy sought to dissolve corporate trusts. Roosevelt fought hard for the working populous in the United States. The article elaborates on this and talks about how Theodore Roosevelt dealt with a strike between coal miners and their employers. He ended up resolving the conflict with a compromise that would end up being called the square deal. Roosevelt found solutions to the Nation’s Problems. He understood how the unregulated the nation’s economy was in grave need of reform. The author mentions how Teddy implemented the Hepburn Act, to regulate commerce, and the interstate commerce commission. Just as Teddy looked into the future of our nation economically he also did so domestically. The article elaborate on how in order to increase the quality of living in the United States Roosevelt Passed the Pure food and drug act of 1906 and how he created the national Forrest and national parks system. From these many examples the author makes
He explains what he did and why he did certain things to help achieve his goals. What seems to be left out is how Theodore Roosevelt was able to achieve all these things. The author should have elaborated on the make-up of congress during that time and how its support was crucial for Teddy Roosevelt to be able to make the vast changes he did. This would have better exemplified his brilliance in forward progressive thinking. This being related to the fact on how Teddy addressed problems through congress not speeches. The author also did not explain how using the public was a great way to expand the power of the Presidency. If he included examples of how influential the media was during that time it would have helped shown the brilliance of Theodore Roosevelt. When writing about progressive policy the author fails to mention the Panic of 1907 and how Roosevelt dealt with the weak economic system the United States had without the strength of a national bank. This would have helped explain his position on trust busting and the consolidation of wealth. When writing about Teddy’s foreign police the author again mentions many things that Roosevelt did but forgot to elaborate their impact on the nation. A great example of this is how he writes about the Panama Canal but fails to elaborate on how it helped the nation grow and how it helped the president’s image. And over all throughout this