Introduction:
Theodore Roosevelt was the twenty-sixth president of the United States. His presidency would become the symbol of strong leadership, reform and a square deal for Americans in the new century.
When Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1901, the nation was
adjusting to the rapid changes that began in the last
decades of the nineteenth century. The process
of industrialization was continuing, the economy was
expanding, and cities were growing as people both immigrated
and migrated to find opportunity and work. The
magnitude of all the changes led people to believe that
the nation had broken with the past and that its future
would be defined by the intolerable problems that accompanied
the change, especially industrialization and urbanization.
The desire to restore order and justice gave rise to
a veritable army of reformers activists ready to experiment
with solutions to the varied dilemmas of a modernizing
nation on an international stage. These progressives,
in the first two decades of the twentieth century, took
on problems that ranged from city sanitation and conservation
to visiting nurses and settlement houses. Progressives
studied and exerted influence in most every aspect of
society, government and the economy in order to end
injustice and curb perceived excesses of privilege.
Although Roosevelt was born into privilege and influence in the United States and was a member of the Republican Party, his presidency exposed a more complex individual. His life, the times and progressivism informed the actions and policies of his presidency. This lesson will ask students to analyze the twenty-sixth president of the United States.
Objectives:
- Students will be able to create a model to be used to evaluate the validity of historical evidence.
- Students will examine primary documents and secondary sources to analyze the history of the Progressive era and the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.
- Students will be able to examine the effects of industrialization and urbanization on the United States in the first two decades of the twentieth century.
- Students will be able to identify the major social, economic and political factors that led to the rise of the progressives.
- Students will be engaged in historical research and the critical analysis of the significant social, economic and political events of this era.
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