It is interesting to see that the first progressive president was a republican. Many of his policies that began under his presidency have influenced many foreign and domestic policy decisions up to and including today. Following is a list of various policies and laws that were passed under TR. If I don't go into enough detail, please leave a comment and ask a question.
TR became president after the assassination of William McKinley.
Foreign Policy
One of his mantras was "Talk softly and carry a big stick." The stick being the United States military.
He staged a revolution in Panama against Colombia to get the Panama Canal built because he didn't want to pay the Colombian government what they wanted for rights to the canal zone. The U.S. ended up paying it anyway to make peace with Colombia.
The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine gave the U.S. the authority to be loan collectors for European powers that were owed money by countries in Central and South America. He also used it as an excuse to meddle in European problems in North Africa because he feared that France and Germany's dispute over Morocco would lead to a global war. (This only postponed the inevitable.)
He also strong armed Canada and Great Britain when there was a boundary dispute between the U.S. over the border between Canada and Alaska. Teddy threatened the British representative in the arbitration.
The Second Hague Disarmament Conference was officially called by Russia, but Roosevelt was actually the one who prompted the conference. It did not result in disarmament, but it did gain some agreement on more humane ways of waging war.
In the Russo-Japanese War, the U.S. could not decide which side they wanted to be on because we had been friendly with both countries. We ended up siding with the Japanese because they were the underdog and had begun defeating the Russians in battles in Manchuria.
These foreign policy positions were the first time in American history that the United States began to truly meddle in affairs of other nations around the world. The other night Glenn Beck voiced the observation that the reason other countries hate us is not because of our freedoms but because of the way we make "friends" with countries abroad. Look especially at our relationships with Colombia and Russia at the turn of the last century. Another example that I will detail later is our relationship with Cuba.
The founders of our nation were very clear in their speeches and writings that the United States should be a neutral country and not get involved in foreign affairs. We had enough natural resources and ingenuity to be self-sufficient without meddling in other nations' affairs.
Domestic Policy
His "Square Deal" consisted of control of corporations, consumer protection, and conservation of natural resources. A few of these policies will be detailed here.
The Interstate Commerce Commission established maximum shipping rates that railroads, and eventually trucking companies, could charge.
The Meat Inspection Act of 1906 was a response to an investigation into Chicago meat packing plants and European threats to ban American meat. The investigation was prompted by the book The Jungle by progressive writer Upton Sinclair.
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was passed to prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and drugs.
TR also wrote several executive orders that placed 125 million acres of forest, millions of acres of coal reserves, and many water resources that could have been used for hydroelectric power and irrigation into federal reserves.
The goal of many progressives was not social reform but social control. Big government worked hand in hand with big business to attempt to run the economy and resources of the United States with the greatest efficiency. Conservation planning and the regulation that came about afterwards ran many small businesses and individual entrepreneurs out of business which left big business and big government in control of the economy.
TR went on to run for a third term on the ticket of the progressive Bull Moose party which divided the Republican party and resulted in the election of Woodrow Wilson.
Looking back on the domestic policies, especially those regarding consumer protection, I wonder if even the government back then gave individuals credit for having a brain of their own to make their own decisions about what to buy. I mean if I went to a market and got bad meat, I wouldn't buy meat there again until the quality improved. When the stores stopped buying meat from those packing plants because they couldn't sell it, then the packing plants would have needed to clean up their act so they could make money.
Roosevelt and the progressives at the turn of the last century were too impatient to allow the marketplace and the government follow their natural course. Therefore, they enacted laws that were not in the individual's best interest and were unconstitutional as well.
My sources are the same as yesterday's post. My apologies for not using footnotes today.
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