Reply #5: He beat Teddy in the election.

[Ichingcarpenter]

Wilson's progressive attitude didn't extent to many areas. For example, he didn't reform the way government corruption occurred. He would even encourage this by giving his friends rewards and punishing his enemies.

He operated on a minimal spoils system. He was also quite racist. His reform policies didn't extend to African-Americans. He appointed many Southern racists to his cabinet and was strongly opposed to black suffrage.

He considered enfranchisement an evil. Wilson also didn't want to reform social injustices. Offering no support for the ratification a suffrage movement, Wilson preferred state action for women's suffrage. Child labor was another issue he considered a state matter. Reform was something Wilson only considered on certain issues.



Roosevelt can be considered a successful progressive president and reformer. In his first inaugural address, he addressed the problems that needed reforming and that he was aware of the issues and prepared to fight them (Doc B). In "High Regard for Theodore Roosevelt by Afro-Americans," from the Cleveland Journal in 1903, it's discussed that African Americans' favored Roosevelt's policies. The article also quotes Roosevelt telling the country that he won't be a corrupt president, offering favors and handing out special privileges (Doc C). His "square deal" sought to create a moral approach to many social problems.

In his speech, "The New Nationalism," he distinguished between what he considered good and bad trusts and he would not respect labor organizations simply because they represented workers, but based on merits (Doc H).


He tried to enforce existing anti-trust laws rather than creating new ones. The square deal called for tighter control of big business, particularly less power for the railroads. In Roosevelt's Annual Message to Congress in 1908, he discussed the corruption in business and how he will reform corporations and reduce their power (Doc F). Roosevelt had many successful endeavors as president.