American History of 1870-1945's - Term Paper Example

?The American History Introduction Even before start of twentieth century, America was showing consistent signs of becoming a superpower. Though several factors contributed to gradual and steady growth of America, contribution of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson could not be ignored. While the former one, as the President of America was reputed for his polite but determined and firm policies, the latter was known for his arrogance. But both of them introduced new dimensions to socio- economic and political condition of America and led it to the path of development and prosperity. This paper focuses on achievements and political activities of both these persons as presidents of America. Emergence of America Ever since America found its place in world map, it underwent through a total of seven stages and is presently undergoing the eighth. The time from 1912 to 1929 is referred to as ‘Melting- pot America”. This period was preceded by an Industrial America (1870- 1912) and was immediately followed by America emerging as a superpower at the global level (1929- 1960). Melting pot America had certain distinctive features or characteristics. During this time America experienced some major changes in social and political field. Immigrants from across the world flooded into different American provinces. They not only brought their distinctive cultures with them and merged them with American culture, but at the same they also reinforced a reversal of political practices. It was during this time that America’s political and economic potentials were recognized, thereby making America play an important role during First World War. Another feature of Melting pot period is ‘Roaring Twenties’. All these made America urbanized and a fast paced destination from global point of view (Chhokar et al, 191-194). Both Woodrow Wilson as well as Theodore Roosevelt played significant roles in turning America into a superpower. Convention Politics and Theodore Roosevelt Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican who succeeded William McKinley. Strategically, Roosevelt was the first to introduce a dynamic relation between the contradictory ideals of Conservatism and Liberalism. He was of the view that, approaches mush be made softy but, to be made tougher when the work is not delivered timely or some corruption creeps in. thus, Roosevelt displayed a tough attitude to issues which were bothering America during first half of twentieth century, like crime and corruption within unions or workplaces, political mechanism and most importantly ‘anti- trust activities of monopolies’. At the same time, Roosevelt believed in ‘activist’ approach in presidency. As far as Liberalism is concerned, Roosevelt took some remarkable steps. One of them is introduction of progressive income tax, which ensured higher returns for the State. In this regard, he played a huge role in broadening the prospects of executive power in political scenario of contemporary America (Johnson, 194). The party machinery was very much clear when Roosevelt appeared in Chicago during June of 1912, before the election. At the time of his arrival, the entire political control was in the hands of political bosses who refused to support the delegates of Roosevelt and instead supported Taft. However towards the end, Roosevelt was finally able to make most delegates of Taft desert him. The Republicans choose to follow Roosevelt, thus expressing discontentment on the proposal of Republican- moderates of compromise. This counter- convention led to the formation of ‘Progressive Party’ or Bull Moose Party with Teddy Roosevelt as its president, and a pre-panned convention set for August that year. There was a clash of interests with the Democrats during this time as the Democrats chose to select Woodrow Wilson, then a reformist governor of New Jersey as their candidate for the electoral poll. As president, Roosevelt stressed upon the doctrine of ‘two- party system’, i.e. incorporating political ideologies of both Democrats and the Republicans, and eradication of corruption and outdated party machines. Thus, the political focus of American parties concentrated on vital issues like child labor, exploitation and sufferings of women, hours of shifts, wage- theft, environmental issues, federal legislation, insurance programs, and extravagance of spending (Lansford 121- 125). Woodrow Wilson: role as President Wilson Woodrow Wilson served as President from 1856 to 1924. During his term, Wilson undertook several measures to make fullest use of America’s resources for development purpose. For this, he introduced the device of meritocracy which stressed on following a moral code devised by government for its people. What Roosevelt began, Wilson provided a concrete shape and carried further. In this regard, Wilson is actually credited for tuning into effect the symptoms of change, like romantic reformism, muckraking, national for general good, and progressivism directed towards middle- class. However, all these actually took America closer to the perils and depression of fast- approaching catastrophic world wars (Johnson). Governance system of America matured under Wilson. As the President, Wilson took several measures like amendment of Underwood Tariff Act, and forming Federal Reserve System, regulating US money market operation and credit controlling. In 1914, he collaborated with Democratic Congress to form Federal Trade Commission. Crisis management and improvement of general conditions of industrial workers and farmers by framing the Federal Farmer Loan Act were other significant achievements of Wilson. He was able to reform the norms of Demographic constituency, thus making America one of the most advanced as well as developed nations of the world during his time. To some extent, the populist wave, which was dominating American political atmosphere during those times, proved to be advantageous for Wilson (Johnson). Conclusion In between 1860 and 1945, America experienced a lot of social and political reforms. The ideals of capitalism which was introduced before melting- pot period, continued to flourish. With changing definition of polices and economy, America started to express freedom, democracy and social justice under new lights. The policies and achievements of Roosevelt and Wilson are accountable for such changes, though some of failed drastically, as what appears to be working in theory might not produce similar results in practice. Apart from major changes in political scenario, several other aspects of music and popular cultures like motion picture, jazz, broadcasting of radio, professional sports, etc experienced a huge change. References Chhokar, Jagdeep et al. Across the World: The GLOBE Book of In-Depth Studies of 25 Societies, UK: Routledge, 2012. Print. Johnson, Janie. Don't Take My Lemonade Stand: An American Philosophy: A Prescription for Our Prescription for Our Corrupt, Rigged, Flawed, and Squeezed Political System, UK: Hillcrest Publishing Group, 2010. Print. Johnson, Paul, A History of the American People, UK: HarperCollins, 2009, Print. Lansford, Tom, Theodore Roosevelt in Perspective, New York: Nova Publishers, 2005. Print. Read More