American History Since 1865 Essay Example for Free

American History Since 1865 EssayIn the presidential election of 1912 there were two imperfect candidates that impacted the embellish of America. Candidates Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were the frontrunner of the 1912 election. This election changed the country in ways that we as Americans can feel today. These two candidates spawned a progressive movement from a place where realityy American felt as if their government fell to helper out the man on the ground doing the work. In a time when there was a lifesize disparity between the rich and the poor throughout the country because of capitalism the President McKinley was assassinated to demo in Theodore Roosevelt. Although he became the President because he was the Vice President at the time of the assassination, Roosevelts personal appeal and his talent for public speaking make him a popular president. His ability to relate to the common man wasnt the only thing that created favor among the masses his policies while in office gave played a major(ip) role in his popularity. Lets take a look at some(a) of them. Roosevelt was a person that cared for the people, and as such when the popular book The Jungle by Upton Sinclair brought the countries attention to the internality and how it was packaged.The book told of the horrible unsanitary conditions that the Chicago meatpacking industry used to package their meats. The President therefore conducting his own investigation, after finding out that conditions were worst then what was in the book he acted speedily signed into law the nutrition and Drug Act. Thinking of the people and their conditions Roosevelt created what is sleep withn today as the Food and Drug Administration. This is just one of the things that President Roosevelt accomplished while in office, showing that he had the upbeat of the country in mind.As President Roosevelts foreign policy played a major role in making America a superpower. With the creation of the Roosevelt C orollary to the Monroe Doctrine, President Roosevelt told the world that the United States would practice of law the nations of Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean. This wasnt because we wanted to be nice, just now it was to protect the interest of European investors and Americas economic interest (Mitchener and Weidenmier, 1941).This showed that President not only had the peoples public assistance in mind but he had the financial future of the country n mind as well. During the election of 1912 there were two big Progressive Candidates that ran in this election. We covered some of the accomplishments/views of Theodore Roosevelt during his presidency originally this election period, now let look at the Woodrow Wilsons views. I am, therefore, forced to be a progressive, if for no other reason, because we have not kept up with our changes of conditions, either in the economic landing field or in the political field. We have not kept up as well as other nati ons have.We have not kept our practices adjusted to the facts of the case, and until we do, and unless(prenominal) we do, the facts of the case will always have the smash of the argument because if you do not adjust your laws to the facts, so much the worse for the laws, not for the facts, because law trails a immense after the facts. Only that law is unsafe which runs ahead of the facts and beckons to it and makes it follow the will-o-the-wisps of imaginative projects. (Wilson, 1913) In this statement that Wilson made he shows his feeling of why he is a progressive.Just as Roosevelt, Wilson felt as if the government was doing too much, yet not enough for people. So during the 1912 election he found himself running on a New Freedom platform where he wanted to limit federal government and weight-lift the monopolies. He did this by addressing Tariffs, Banks and Business. He was successful in lowering tariff on such things as woolen, steel rails, raw wool, and iron ore. Now when he did this he brought back the federal income tax which hadnt been in existence since the days of the civil war. Wilson used these federal income taxes to help run our government that he campaigned need to be limited.This federal income tax we are still paying today and we still oasist limited governments control over us. By addressing Banks I think that Wilson was qualified to help the agriculture industry and hurt the countrys finical status in the ache run. With the Federal Farm loan Act farmers were able to cover the increasing cost of land. This helped the agriculture industry, but the Federal Reserve System created a system where the country was able to stabilize prices of goods in the country, and mange long term interest rates.I know youre asking how is this a bad thing, to which I retort Housing Market. I think that if you owned a house or even watched the news you know that this when our system failed us. Thanks Wilson. As far as the Business Wilson was able to establis h the Federal sell Act. This Act was established to deter business from conducting unfair trade practices. The Federal Trades Act allowed its member to analyse and take action on companies who practice unfair trades. SummaryIn his campaign to change the unsophisticated through a New Freedom Woodrow Wilson beat out the more popular Theodore Roosevelt. The changes that Roosevelt made in office and the promises of a new and improved government did not fair that well against the promise of less government in the New Freedom that Woodrow Wilson offered during his campaign. The two Progressive Presidents stood for the betterment of the people and the removal of these freak corporations in the government. They both accomplished this in their own way, yet they did it differently.