Saturday, March 28, 2009

New Nationalism and New Freedom


Clifford Berryman cartoon depicting candidates for the election of 1912
1. Actively read and summarize the essay "The New Nationalism and the New Freedom: A Study in Contrast" at:



2. How did Roosevelt's New Nationalism and Wilson's New Freedom ideologies compare? Which was more beneficial for Americans in the first decades of the twentienth century?


3. Read the recent Washington Post editorial entitled "Obama's Blank Slate" by Tony Blankley:




According to this article, do Obama's goals seem more like those of Roosevelt or Wilson? How will his efforts resemble these two important "liberal" administrations?


minimum of 250 words total. due monday at the begining of class

13 comments:

Briana Kohm said...

Roosevelt’s New Nationalism and Wilsons New Freedom were two ideas that were suppose to be suitable for the people of America. Roosevelt’s New Nationalism was an idea which put national need before sectional or personal advantage. Roosevelt believed in a strong government. He also did not want to destroy trusts and combinations but wanted to control and supervise them to assure good behavior and protect welfare. Government to Roosevelt was to be the people’s manager and leader. On the other hand was Wilson. Wilson’s idea of New Freedom was the revived and clothed in the unconquerable strength of modern America. Wilson believed in a responsive government. He also thought that free competition and individual initiative had to be restoring by laws prohibiting corrupt consolidation. He believed in the goodness and competence of the people. Although both of them considered themselves progressives their philosophies were programs of reforms. An from the results it seemed the people liked the ideas of the New Freedom by Wilson. Obama’s goals seem quiet similar to those of Roosevelt’s. Which believes in the anti-monopoly policies. He is as the article stated trying to build upon having a nationalistic government. The article stated that he is trying to build on the old ideals that the nation has had and make it as traditional with those values. Obama hopes for the government to be hard working and honest, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism. This all similar to that in which Roosevelt hoped for along with a strong government. Obama will try his hardest to make sure he works to make the people of America happy and hopes to do the right thing as suggested in the article.

Robert Keller said...

Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism and Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom were two campaign ideas during the 1912 Presidential Election. While the two ideas share a few similar views, they contrast each other greatly. Roosevelt believed in a powerful government. Wilson wanted a government that would listen to the citizen's demands. Both men believed the government should be responsible for the welfare of citizens. Roosevelt and Wilson had opposing views about business. Roosevelt felt trusts and monopolies should be regulated so small businesses can compete. Wilson wanted to abolish trusts and monopolies altogether. Reform was the basis of both ideas. Roosevelt wanted the government to lead the people. Wilson felt the people did not need to be told what to do by the government. Woodrow Wilson won the 1912 election due to the split in the Republican Party.
Barack Obama's political ideas are similar to Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism; however Obama's ideas are based heavily on socialism. Obama believes the government should watch over the people, the same as Roosevelt did. , Obama wants to regulate large businesses, so he bailed out corporations on the verge of bankruptcy, thinking he was doing a good thing. However, the large businesses misused the bailout money Obama gave them. While Obama's policies are similar to Roosevelt’s New Nationalism, his policies have major flaws that are helping big business by taking away resources from the working class.

Miss. Francis said...

Briana - G+ Thoughtful work that demonstrates you read the articles. I'm not clear on how Obama i fighting monopolies beyond supporting pre-existing law, but otherwise well done.

Rob - G; I'm not certain Obama or many historians would agree with you on the notion of Obama's socialist aims, but you did suport it well here. Thoughtful work.

katie said...

Roosevelt's new nationalism and Wilson's new freedoms were ideas that were supposed to make America a better place. Roosevelt's new nationalism was amenable to the general welfare and not to privet property and the legislature was to represent the whole people and not only parts of it. The new nationalism had believed that a government controlled economic was the best way to improve the American system. But in spit of representing every American, the new nationalism did not support labor unions. Wilson's new freedom represented collectivism, while New Freedom stood for political and economic liberty from such things as trusts. For the 1920's Roosevelt's new nationalism was what America needed the most due to the troubles that the country was going through. Even though Roosevelt did not support labor unions and did not support capitalism it would still have benefited the time better. The reason that the new nationalism (even with it's flaws) would still have made the 1920's a better time is due to the fact that it would have closed down trust and help the economic by closing down trust and breaking down monopolies, were as the new freedom would have supported these economic problems which would have in any case destroyed the nationalist society America was and brought American into a bigger depression. I feel that Obama's goals seems more like Roosevelt's new nationalism, because the ball out plan that Obama is planning will push capitalism out due to the fact that the government will now play an active role in the economic. Which represents the ideals of the new nationalism. I agree will Brianna on how she believes that Obama and Roosevelt had similar ideals.

Katie McSherry

Dana Pistilli said...

Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism and Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom were two ideas that were beneficial for Americans in the first decade of the twentieth century. Roosevelt believed in a strong government and helping the people. He did not want to get rid of trusts and monopolies, but wanted to take control over them and protect them. To Americans, Roosevelt was "the people's manager." On the other hand, Wilson believed in a government that would obey all the the citizens wanted. Opposing Roosevelt, Wilson wanted to get rid of monopolies and trusts because he felt that it would be unfair to small businesses. By getting rid of monopolies and trusts, Wilson also felt that this would regulate fairness between the small businesses and big businesses.

I think that President Obama's goals are similar to that of Roosevelt's New Nationalism. This is because he wanted to fix the government, not take away anything but changing it for the better. Obama believes in loyalty and freedom for all of the Americans.

Simit Christian said...

During the Roosevelt and Wilson administrations, presidential policies became more progressive. Labeled the “New Nationalism” and the “New Freedom” for Roosevelt and Wilson respectively, these policies significantly impacted the early twentieth century society’s political and economic structure and their influence can even be observed today in Barack Obama’s promises.

Due to the election of 1912, Roosevelt now represented the Progressive Party. His New Nationalism was clearly influenced by the Progressive movement, and was one of activism. As an activist, Roosevelt stood behind a great deal of progressive ideals, mainly reforming the economy and securing the rights of the proletariat. In order to bring social justice, Roosevelt advocated that the government acknowledge the people’s view and act accordingly. Roosevelt also believed the president should do the same. Regardless, the importance of the people’s voice, Roosevelt didn’t wish to replace the government, but rather use it to fulfill the need of the citizens. This meant trust busting, illegalizing other unjust business practices, strengthening the government, controlling political machines, reducing corruption, ensuring worker’s rights, and giving citizens more of say through initiative, referendum, and recall.

Wilson similarly promoted adopting new ideas, and methods in order to serve the citizens and guarantee their constitutional rights. Wilson also called for a more active government, his New Freedom emphasized a responsive government, which also listened to the people and acted to improve their lives. Wilson highlighted equal opportunity and competition in the economy, as long as businesses and individuals remained ethical and honest and to guarantee the competition was honest, Wilson suggested the creation restricting legislation. The New Nationalism and the New Freedom shared many common agendas. Both were progressive, and both advocated an active government, one which aimed to give attentions to all people’s interests.

Unlike Roosevelt, Wilson didn’t necessarily support a strong government. He emphasized the role of the government, which was to end the evils of society and avoid a radical or socialist revolution. During the early 1900’s, the New Nationalism seemed a more appropriate than the New Freedom. Wilson’s responsive government would not function well because the lower classes, females, and foreigners didn’t have a much of a voice. This was an outcome of patriarchy, nativism, racial discrimination, political machines, and social Darwinism. A responsive government could not aid the people if a majority of the people were incapable of notifying the government regarding their needs. Roosevelt’s New Nationalism would have given the aforementioned oppressed classes a significantly more influential voice on political matters. Moreover, the various progressive movements would have been more successful under Roosevelt’s strong, yet active government.

Based on Blankley’s column, Obama’s inaugural address, along with some of his statements, was highly vague and confusing. Despite the confusion, Obama’s plans appear to be similar to Wilson and his new freedom. Obama in one of his campaign speeches mentioned that America needs to make the government ‘smart’ one that can react to the people and the issues in the society. Obama also mentioned that this government didn’t need to be stronger or larger, but just “smarter”. This belief would have been accepted by Wilson, unlike Roosevelt who clearly wanted all change to be a conducted and monitored by the government, mainly the executive branch. Additionally, Obama’s speeches emphasize aiding the middle class, which he claims will restore the economy. Wilson similarly emphasizes the wellbeing of the average man, while Roosevelt as a Progressive wished to aid the working class most. Since, Wilson’s New Freedom and Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism” didn’t oppose each other; Obama’s policies also resemble Roosevelt’s, mainly those that Roosevelt shares with Wilson.

-In Response to Briana-
Even though I claimed Wilson’s New Freedom could be seen in Obama’s promises, your opposing statements are highly convincing. However, I have a question about your comparison between Obama and Roosevelt: Didn’t Wilson also advocate “anti-monopoly”, “hard work”, “honesty”, and “fair play” with his New Freedom, which clearly mentioned fighting illegal business practices, and maintaining an honest, ethically competitive economy. I am not criticizing your views, but simply posing a provocative question

PeAcHyRoC92 said...

The concepts behind both Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism and Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom ideas were in some ways different but exceptionally related to one another. While Roosevelt favored large government and Wilson’s theory opposed the way the government took control over private businesses. Still both 1912 presidential candidates believed that the American government was misusing economic authority and reform was essential. Under Roosevelt’s New Nationalism he identified his idea for the federal involvement to establish equalities in society as well as welfare to those who were unable to obtain. Believing that as an entire nation progressive democracy could bring the country into an advanced people were also values of Roosevelt’s plan as he favored inspirational idealism. In the article it states “Roosevelt defined New Nationalism as a limited centralism, which put the national need before the sectional or personal advantage”. As observed in Roosevelt’s previous presidency he indeed placed the national need over individual advantage with his establishing of the Square Deal for Labor. Under this strategy Roosevelt practiced the control of incorporations, conservation of natural resources, and consumer security. Assisting with the ills of society Roosevelt helped create the Hepburn Act which restricted the free passes of railroads, the Department of Commerce and Labor which investigated businesses involved in commerce, and the Meat Inspection Act that helped improve the working conditions of individuals deprived of decent workplaces. Trust-busting became an intense policy under Roosevelt’s first presidency as he cracked down over 30 trusts. Quite different from Theodore Roosevelt’s antitrust alteration, Woodrow Wilson once affirmed “If America is not to have free enterprise; she can have no freedom of no sort whatever”. Emphasizing the importance of restraining government from business was critical to Wilson’s policy because he felt it took away from the basics of the American free will. Accentuating that the New Nationalism was another method for collectivism, Wilson imposed that the plan behind the New Freedom was to establish economic rights from monopolies and other powerful trusts. In agreement with Rob, Barak Obama’s goals seem to relate more to that of Theodore Roosevelt. Obama stands for the regulating of money in large incorporations even though his attempts result in major conflicts for working individuals. Roosevelt’s tactics for corporate regulation, a steady income tax, and changes in the banking system make Obama’s methods similar to Roosevelt because both believed in more government involvement in economical affairs.

Racquel Wood

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