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Theodore Roosevelt Birth: October 27, 1858 Death: January 6, 1919 Terms: (1901-1904) (1905-1909) Vice President: Charles Warren Fairbanks (1905-1909) Party: Republican

Theodore Roosevelt deserves an A for his terms as president. Roosevelt did many positive things as president, such as the creation of the Panama Canal, the increased size of our navy, and the steps he made toward Conservation. A few negative things occurred during his presidency, such as the Panic of 1907 and the lack of support to the black race. Nevertheless, overall the positive outweighs the negative regarding Roosevelt’s presidency.

Theodore Roosevelt had many goals as president. One of Roosevelt’s goals was that he wanted to use the government to improve the lives of the people and provide all American’s with economic opportunities. For example, in 1902 coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike. The coal miners wanted union recognition, higher pay, and shorter hours. This strike caused the country to have a coal shortage. Winter was coming soon, so Roosevelt decided to use his executive power to intervene. Unfortunately, mine owners did not want to negotiate. Roosevelt threatened to use troops and put the mines under federal control. The mine owners and the workers labor unions were then able to come to an agreement. Roosevelt called the deal a “square deal”. He called it this because the deal was fair for both sides. Roosevelt’s entire domestic program became known as The Square Deal. Another goal of Roosevelt’s was to get rid of monopolies. Roosevelt felt that the government had every right to regulate big businesses. Roosevelt achieved this goal with two Acts. In 1903 Congress passed the Elkins Act. This act forbade railroad companies from giving special shipping rebates to large companies. The rebates had made it much cheaper for big companies to ship goods than for smaller companies. This kept small businesses from succeeding, thus killing off their competitors. Unfortunately, the big companies and the railroads crippled the act when they found ways around it. Fortunately, Roosevelt convinced Congress to pass the Hepburn Act. The Hepburn Act gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the authority to regulate shipping rates on railroads. Congress was hesitant to pass this Act, so Roosevelt appealed directly to the people. The Senate was forced to approve the Hepburn Act and Roosevelt became the first President to use the media to help him appeal directly to the people in order to further his agenda. Another goal of Roosevelt’s was to make the U.S. a world power by increasing its influence worldwide. Roosevelt realized this goal with the construction of the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal is a ten mile wide canal zone across Panama that makes it easier to get to the Pacific Ocean. The canal took 10 years, $380 million, and 43,000 laborers. It was constructed, operated, and policed exclusively by the U.S. until 1979. Roosevelt also attained the goal of increasing our influence worldwide by increasing the size of our navy, making it one of the largest in the world. He did this by adding more battleships and enlisted men to the Navy’s fleet. Roosevelt even sent “The Great White Fleet” on a world tour to show other nations how powerful we were and to give the fleet worldwide experience. He also achieved this goal by creating the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine basically said that Europe needed to not interfere in the Western Hemisphere. Roosevelt’s Corollary stated that the United States could intervene to keep other countries from intervening. This kept Europe from interfering with the Western Hemisphere. Internationally speaking, Roosevelt was also a peacemaker. He settled the Treaty of Portsmouth with the warring nations of Russia and Japan. Due to this treaty Roosevelt became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1906. Overall, Roosevelt was quite successful in completing his goals.

During his term as president Roosevelt had a good, though sometimes strained, relationship with Congress. Roosevelt was a Republican but, he did not always agree with the conservative republicans who had the majority in Congress because he was more progressive. Roosevelt did not engage in partisan politics. He did what was right for the country not what was beneficial for his party. Fortunately, he understood the need to compromise and knew that he needed his parties support to win the Republican nomination in 1904. He came to an agreement with the legislators which gave him an unrestrained role in foreign affairs as long as he held back on some of the more progressive ideas from his domestic plan. A lot of legislation was passed while Roosevelt was in office. The Elkins Anti-Rebate Law, the creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor and the Bureau of Corporations, the law authorizing the building of the Panama Canal, the Hepburn Bill, Pure Food and Meat Inspection laws, the law creating the Bureau of Immigration, and the Employers’ Liability and the Safety Appliance Laws are just a few of the legislations Roosevelt was responsible for. All things considered Roosevelt had a fairly good relationship with Congress and was able to accomplish many of his goals as a result.

Roosevelt did many positive things while president. Internationally, he increased our global power. He created the Panama Canal, which provided the U.S. with a strong military staging area in Central America. He increased the size of our navy and negotiated peace agreements. He also created the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine which said that the U.S. would intervene on behalf of other countries in the western hemisphere to stop other European nations from interfering. Domestically he worked to preserve our natural resources, thus becoming the first conservationist president. Roosevelt really loved the great outdoors. In 1902 he passed the Reclamation Act of 1902. This act took funds that the government earned by selling western lands and put them towards the construction of dams to irrigate the west. The reason for that was so more western lands could be used for farming. Roosevelt reserved 125 million acres of national forests, 68 million acres of coal lands, and 2,500 water-power sites. He wanted to preserve our nation’s resources for future generations of American’s. Roosevelt’s most positive social influence was economic equality for all Americans. He reformed the American workplace while he was president by making laws regarding how long men and women in a day, abolishing child labor, and creating the minimum wage.

The most negative thing that happened economically during Roosevelt’s presidency was the Panic of 1907. About a dozen banks and some railroads collapsed and stock prices dropped because of the Panic of 1907. People blamed Roosevelt and his antitrust policies because corporate business was not making enough money. The Roosevelt administration gave federal funding to the failing banks and recovery began in the spring of 1908. The most negative thing that happened socially during his presidency was the fact that Roosevelt did not do much to help the blacks. He did not do much to safeguard black suffrage in the South. Roosevelt felt that as a race African-Americans were inferior to whites. On the other hand, he also thought that as individuals blacks could prove themselves to be better than other white individuals.

Roosevelt definitely had a big impact on future presidents. Roosevelt is considered to be the first modern President because he greatly strengthened the power of the executive branch. Roosevelt thought that the president should be able to do anything, short of breaking the law. He also changed the way presidents use the media. He used the media to appeal to the people directly there by forcing congress to pass some of the laws he wanted in place. He made the executive branch the center of America n politics instead of the congress. Even to this day, the President is the core of the American political arena and he uses the media to further his agenda.

All in all, the country was much better off after Teddy Roosevelt’s terms as president. He did many things to increase our influence worldwide, such as the construction of the Panama Canal, the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and the increased size of our navy. He also started Conservation in our nation. All of those things left our country in a better place than it was before Roosevelt’s presidency, which is why he deserves an A.

Degregorio, William A.. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition (Complete Book of Us Presidents)// "Theodore Roosevelt | The White House." //The White House//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2010. .
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