Teddy Roosevelt's Presidency During The Gilded Age

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During the Gilded Age, William McKinley was responsible for the implementation of the highest tariff at the time which was 50%. After his first term of presidency he was re-elected and searching for a vice president. Teddy Roosevelt had previously been getting involved with politics and speaking publicly. This gave Teddy somewhat of a reputation which caused the people to ask McKinley to choose Teddy as vice president, which he ended up doing. In 1901 when McKinley was assassinated and Teddy was brought in as president, the progressive era had begun. The big deal with Teddy becoming president was the Square Deal which meant that he would be tackling four major issues: trusts, business regulation, helping laborers, and conserving the environment. …show more content…

Teddy Roosevelt became the first president to side with unions when he supported a raise in pay and a limit on daily work hours during the Coal Miners’ Strike in Pennsylvania. He also became the first president to enforce anti-trusts. This was shown when he busted the Northern Securities Company trust which caused them to lose 400 million dollars. Teddy Roosevelt was a very active guy, he believed in preserving nature and testing yourself against all it has to offer. He was a conservationist. During Teddy’s presidency, he created 5 national parks, 16 national monuments, and 53 wildlife reserves. This was a huge step for him trying to get people to become more active and social. Doing acts like this as president was unheard of at the time. Teddy Roosevelt had served from 1901-1908 in one term because he was brought in during McKinley’s presidency due to him getting killed. This meant that he could serve another term which would total him at 11 years in office. However, Teddy decided that it would be best if he just called it quits there and got out of office after 7 years which he would count as two terms. He then hand picked Taft as president and told everyone that Taft would be just like him. With this insight, the people elected Taft as president in 1908 following

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