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FIRST PRINCIPLES FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPTS TO GUIDE POLITICS AND POLICY

MAKERS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT NO. 03 | September 25, 2012

Theodore Roosevelt: Progressive Crusader Jean M. Yarbrough

heodore Roosevelt, 26th government control over the born in New York City on October TPresident of the economy, pursuing a two-pronged 27, 1858. Too sickly as a boy to be (1901–1909), was the youngest and strategy of antitrust prosecutions sent away to school, he was privately arguably most energetic man ever and regulatory control. educated until he matriculated at to fill that office. Growing up in the Harvard in 1876. By that time, he had Gilded Age, he regarded commer- ■■ He pushed through legisla- largely overcome the debilitating cial ideals as “mean and sordid” and tion that gave the Interstate asthma of his youth through sheer brought these sensibilities with him Commerce Commission (ICC) physical effort and willpower, and he into public life.1 A firm believer in new powers to set railroad rates, hurled himself into his studies with what he called the manly virtues, he laying the foundation for the mod- characteristic vigor. urged his countrymen to fight for the ern administrative state. At Harvard, he concentrated right. on the natural sciences but was As President, he pushed execu- ■■ Casting himself as steward of the also drawn to courses in political tive powers to new limits, arguing nation’s natural resources, he pre- economy taught from the prevailing that the rise of industrial capitalism sided over the birth of the conser- perspective of the day, laissez-faire had rendered limited government vation movement. economics, which he later repudiated. obsolete. Given that Roosevelt would publish ■■ Convinced that a strong defense a number of well-received histori- ■■ He took on the captains of was the best guarantee of peace, cal studies and serve as president of industry and argued for greater he built up the Navy and sent it the American Historical Association, around the world. it is noteworthy that in college he

This paper, in its entirety, can be found at took only one history class, the http://report.heritage.org/MAPT-03 No one, he thought, had ever required sophomore course in Anglo– Produced by the B. Kenneth Simon Center enjoyed being President as much as American constitutional history. for Principles and Politics he had. After being graduated Phi Beta The Heritage Foundation Kappa, Theodore entered Columbia 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20002 Early Life and Education Law School in the fall of 1880 and (202) 546-4400 | heritage.org , the son of married Alice Hathaway Lee on his Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., a wealthy 22nd birthday that October. While reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill businessman and philanthropist, a law student, he took courses with before Congress. and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, was John W. Burgess. An admirer of MAKERS OF AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT | NO. 03 September 25, 2012

Born October 27, 1858, in New York City, the son of Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and Martha (“Mittie”) Bulloch [Roosevelt]. Education A sickly child, Theodore was tutored privately. He graduated from Harvard in 1880 and entered Columbia Law School that same year but did not complete the degree. Religion Dutch Reformed, though at various points he was affiliated with Episcopal congregations. Family Married Alice Hathaway Lee on October 27, 1880, his 22nd birthday. They had one child, Alice, born on February 12, 1884. Tragically, Roosevelt’s young wife died two days later. On December 2, 1886, TR married his childhood com- panion, Edith Kermit Carow. They had five children: Theodore Jr. (1887), Kermit (1889), Ethel (1891), Archibald (1894), and Quentin (1897). Accomplishments • Author of numerous books including The Naval (1882); Thomas Hart Benton (1887); Gouverneur Morris (1888); Essays in Practical Politics (1888); The Winning of the West (4 vols., 1889–1896); The (1899); (1900); Oliver Cromwell (1900); Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography (1913); and several books on hunting. • Member, New York State Assembly (1882–1884). • Ranchman in the Dakota Badlands (1884–1886). • Member, United States Civil Service Commission (1889–1895). • President, Board of Police Commissioners, New York City (1895–1897). • Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1897–1898). • Lieutenant Colonel of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (the “Rough Riders”) in Cuba during the Spanish– American War (1898). • (1898–1900). • Vice President of the United States (1901). • Becomes 26th President of the United States on September 14, 1901, following the assassination of William McKinley; re-elected in 1904 (1901–1909). • Nobel Peace Prize (1906). • Challenges for Republican presidential nomination (1912). • Forms National Progressive Party and loses bid for presidency in four-way race against Taft, Eugene V. Debs, and Woodrow Wilson (1912). • Declines presidential nomination on Progressive Party ticket (1916). Died January 6, 1919, of coronary embolism at , Oyster Bay, New York. Last words To his valet, “James, will you please put out the light?” all things German, especially the of government was to protect the state developed, it would concern philosopher G. F. W. Hegel, Burgess natural rights of individuals. Instead, itself not only with material ends, but rejected the Anglo–American social he argued that history was unfold- also with spiritual ends. Although compact theory of government. ing according to a rational plan that Roosevelt and Burgess would later Burgess was especially vehement would eventuate in a more “ethical” diverge on important political issues, in rejecting the idea that the purpose state. By this, he meant that as the as a Progressive, Roosevelt too would

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be attracted to the idea of engrafting as “maudlin nonsense” arguments Benton, historical development, not German ideals onto the American that the white men had robbed the nature, provided the standard of constitutional order to make it more Indians of their lands and saw noth- right, and the racial struggle was “ethical.” ing wrong with the Texas frontiers- largely cast in brutal Darwinian During his first year in law school, men who regarded “the possessions terms. Roosevelt was elected to the New of all weaker races as simply their Although The Winning of the West York Assembly and abandoned his natural prey.”3 was widely praised in its day, perhaps legal studies to pursue a career in Ignoring the principles of the the most insightful of his histori- politics. At the same time, he pub- Declaration of Independence, cal works was the biography Oliver lished his first book, begun while Roosevelt saw these conflicts as Cromwell (1900), which Roosevelt a senior at Harvard. Acclaimed on contests between unequal races at dashed off during a month-long stay both sides of the Atlantic, The Naval very different stages of development. at Sagamore Hill while governor of War of 1812 (1882) was unspar- In his view, historical development New York. As he contemplated his ing in its criticism of Jefferson and rather than “abstract” equal natu- political future, the Cromwell biog- Madison for pursuing policies that ral rights provided the standard by raphy afforded him the opportunity provoked the British while failing which the races should be judged. to reflect on the connection between to build up American defenses and On the strength of favorable energetic executive power and repub- leaving the United States vulnerable reviews, Roosevelt, now back in New lican constitutionalism. when war inevitably broke out. York, began work on a biography of Roosevelt’s career as a rising Founding Father Gouverneur Morris. IN ROOSEVELT’S VIEW, HISTORICAL Republican reformer was suddenly In 1886, Roosevelt, who was quietly DEVELOPMENT RATHER THAN halted after the deaths of his young courting his childhood companion, wife and mother on the same day, Edith Kermit Carow, whom he would “ABSTRACT” EQUAL NATURAL RIGHTS two days after the birth of his daugh- marry in London that December, PROVIDED THE STANDARD BY WHICH ter, Alice, in February 1884. The agreed at the last minute to run as THE RACES SHOULD BE JUDGED. grief-stricken widower then fled to the Republican candidate for New the Dakota Badlands, where he threw York City mayor. He came in a disap- Roosevelt’s analysis not only himself into ranching. pointing third. helps to explain the failings of the With his political future now Lord Protector, but, more impor- TR the Historian uncertain, Roosevelt’s thoughts tant, sheds light on Roosevelt’s own While in the Dakota Territory, turned to composing a “first class” character. As he saw it, Cromwell’s Roosevelt was invited to write a historical study that would win principal defect was that he was biography of Missouri Senator him respect as a serious historian. not interested in larger constitu- Thomas Hart Benton for the pres- Expanding on themes he had first tional questions or the rule of law. tigious American Statesman Series sketched in Thomas Hart Benton, “He failed to see that questions of at Houghton Mifflin. Cranked out the four-volume The Winning of the form—that is, of law—in securing in five months while Roosevelt was West (1889–1896) cast westward liberty might be themselves essen- cow punching out West, the biogra- expansion as a grand racial epic that tial instead of, as they seemed to him, phy defended “Manifest Destiny” in pitted the two great branches of the non-essential.”4 This in turn boiled stark Darwinian terms. As Roosevelt English-speaking peoples against down to a question of character. All explained, it was “our manifest each other. It then traced the move- of Cromwell’s qualities, “both good destiny to swallow up the land of all ment of the victorious Americans as and bad, tended to render the forms adjoining nations who were too weak they battled the native Indian tribes and narrowly limited powers of con- to stand with us.”2 He dismissed for control of the continent. As in stitutional government irksome to

1. Theodore Roosevelt, American Ideals: And Others Essays, Social and Political (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1897), p. 12. 2. Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas H. Benton (Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, 1899), p. 36. 3. Ibid., p. 159. 4. Theodore Roosevelt, Oliver Cromwell (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1919), p. 109.

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him.”5 Not only was he “cursed with As a New York Assemblyman, he and Roosevelt was determined to a love of power,” a “dictatorial habit exposed the rampant bribery in the remove as many patronage jobs from of mind,” and “a fatal incapacity to legislature and worked to secure pas- the federal government as possible. acknowledge that there might be sage of a law prohibiting the manu- Although he succeeded in enlarging righteousness in other methods than facture of cigars in tenement hous- the number of civil service positions his own,” but his “intensity of con- es. By standing up to the political based on merit, Roosevelt’s reform- viction” and “delight” in exercising machines and “special interests” that ing zeal did not sit well with party power for what he considered “good dominated the statehouse, Roosevelt regulars and nearly cost him his job. ends” caused him to chafe under sought to return the Republican After six years on the Civil Service the limitations of constitutional Party to its high moral purpose and Commission, Roosevelt resigned government.6 once again make politics respectable to become police commissioner of The same things could be said for a rising generation of high-mind- New York City and was soon elected about Roosevelt in the last years of ed reformers. president of the four-man board. His his presidency when he sought to service was, as always, colorful and find ways to go around the Congress THE SPOILS SYSTEM TREATED energetic, with the commissioner and lashed out at all those who did PUBLIC OFFICES AS MERE PARTISAN slipping out at night undercover to not agree with him. And when, at the investigate corruption in the Police Progressive Convention in 1912, he PRIZES, INVITING A MAD SCRAMBLE Department, establishing a bicycle ended his “Confession of Faith” by FOR POLITICAL PLUNDER, AND squad, and assigning an all-Jewish declaring, “We stand at Armageddon ROOSEVELT WAS DETERMINED TO police team to guard an anti-Semitic 7 and we battle for the Lord,” he might REMOVE AS MANY PATRONAGE JOBS gathering. His only stumble was his well have heeded his own words on decision to enforce the city’s Sunday FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Cromwell that although it was essen- closing laws, incurring the wrath tial to do the work of the Lord, it was AS POSSIBLE. of saloonkeepers and the sizable even more essential not to mistake German immigrant community. “his own views for those of the Lord.”8 After his defeat in the New York With the election of William City mayoral race of 1886, Roosevelt McKinley to the presidency in 1896, TR the Republican Reformer returned to his historical writ- Roosevelt maneuvered successfully When he first arrived on the ing and in 1889 was appointed by to be appointed Assistant Secretary political scene in 1881 at the age of President Benjamin Harrison to of the Navy. Impressed by the 23, Roosevelt gave no hint of the serve on the federal Civil Service arguments of the strategist Alfred Progressive he would later become. Commission. Since the end of the Thayer Mahan, who emphasized the In the various elective and appoint- Civil War, Republicans had been connection between naval power ive positions he held at the munici- in the forefront of the civil service and national greatness, the young pal, state, and federal levels dur- movement, attempting to rouse pub- Secretary insisted that America ing the 1880s and 1890s, Roosevelt lic opinion against the abuses of the needed “a first-class fleet of first- considered himself nothing more spoils system first put in place by the class battleships.”9 (and nothing less) than an indepen- Democrats under Andrew Jackson. After the explosion of the Maine dent Republican reformer, follow- It was not only the waste and in Havana, Cuba, Roosevelt moved ing in the tradition of national- inefficiency that Roosevelt deplored, aggressively to prepare for war and minded statesmen such as George but also the corruption. The spoils schemed to get himself sent to the Washington, Alexander Hamilton, system treated public offices as front. His exploits leading the Rough Henry Clay, and, of course, Abraham mere partisan prizes, inviting a Riders in Cuba during the Spanish– Lincoln. mad scramble for political plunder, American War won for him a national

5. Ibid., p. 196. 6. Ibid., pp. 196 and 206. 7. Theodore Roosevelt, “Confession of Faith,” August 6, 1912, http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/speeches/trarmageddon.pdf. 8. Theodore Roosevelt, Oliver Cromwell (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1919), p. 192. 9. Theodore Roosevelt, “Naval War College Address,” June 2, 1897, http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/speeches/tr1898.pdf.

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reputation as a war hero and cat- In foreign affairs, he announced fully embraced the Progressive agen- apulted him into the New York gover- the to the da. Republicans had been able to hold norship in 1898. In the aftermath of Monroe Doctrine, making it clear on to their majority, but Democrats the United States victory over Spain, that the United States was now cut into their numbers. In addition, the energetic governor urged his willing to intervene in the affairs insurgent Republicans had gained countrymen to embrace “the strenu- of its Latin neighbors to keep the ground in the West, putting pressure ous life” and defended American Europeans from doing so. He also on Roosevelt from within the party. “expansion” over the Philippines, pressed forward with plans to con- Assessing the political mood of the which Spain had ceded to the U.S. struct an isthmian canal across country, Roosevelt concluded that Meanwhile, Roosevelt antago- Panama and energetically defend- he had no choice but to try to hold nized business interests with his talk ed the American presence in the the “left center together.”11 To the of new taxes, and party bosses plotted Philippines. Although his declared extent that there was a turning point to remove him from New York poli- policy was to “speak softly and carry in Roosevelt’s progressive evolution, tics by having him named McKinley’s a big stick,”10 when it came to the this was it. running mate in the election of 1900. decibel level, he did not always follow his own advice. Having supported THIS LAST PROPOSAL—A LAW TR in the White House Panamanian independence from GIVING THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE Within months of being re- Colombia after that country refused elected, McKinley was felled by an to ratify the canal treaty, Roosevelt COMMISSION POWER TO REGULATE assassin’s bullet, and Roosevelt, at needlessly insulted the Colombians RAILROAD SHIPPING RATES, WHICH the young age of 42, found himself and for the rest of his life stubbornly TR SIGNED INTO LAW IN 1906 AS unexpectedly President of the United opposed any reparations to the once- THE —LAID THE States. His first term was character- friendly nation. FOUNDATION FOR THE MODERN ized by the successful resolution of Re-elected in a landslide, the anthracite coal strike in 1902, Roosevelt interpreted the vote as ADMINISTRATIVE STATE. in which Roosevelt had promised a mandate to push ahead with new both coal miners and coal opera- calls for increased government He now regarded the Hepburn Act tors a “.” The phrase regulation. His Annual Message of as a good first step, but only a first stuck, and Roosevelt became the first 1905, the first of his second term, step. He called for stronger con- President to distill his policies into a unleashed a flurry of proposals for trols not only over the railroads, but slogan. He also brought suit against new legislation, including pure food, across the entire industrial economy the Northern Securities Company, drug, and meat inspection laws; gov- as well. To that end, he supported resulting in the dissolution of the ernment “supervision” of insurance legislation that would convert the railroad holding company. companies; investigation of child into a full- Not content with resuscitating labor conditions; employer liability fledged regulatory agency modeled the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, laws for Washington, D.C.; and—of on the extensive powers he envi- Roosevelt also called for the estab- the highest priority—a law giving the sioned for the ICC. Had the proposed lishment of a new government agency Interstate Commerce Commission legislation been enacted, it would that would gather information on power to regulate railroad ship- have put in place a far more statist corporate activities and make rec- ping rates. This last proposal, which regulatory regime than the Federal ommendations to Congress regard- TR signed into law in 1906 as the Trade Commission that eventually ing new regulations. Congress passed Hepburn Act, laid the foundation for replaced it, with the government legislation establishing the Bureau of the modern administrative state. exercising primary control over all Corporations, but the agency had no Still, it was only after the mid- businesses operating in interstate “affirmative” regulatory powers. term elections in 1906 that Roosevelt commerce.

10. Theodore Roosevelt, “National Duties: Address at Minnesota State Fair,” September 2, 1901, http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/ txtspeeches/678.pdf. 11. Theodore Roosevelt to Arthur Hamilton Lee, December 26, 1907, in Elting E. Morison et al., eds., The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt, 8 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1954), Vol. 6, p. 875.

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At the same time, he launched a Council to advise the government on with the right and duty to do what- new round of antitrust prosecutions the design and decoration of public ever the needs of the nation required and lashed out against the “male- buildings. Roosevelt later justified unless the Constitution or the laws factors of great wealth.”12 He used these actions by claiming that they expressly prohibited such action.15 his “” to call for gradu- added to “the beauty of living and In other words, he believed that the ated income and inheritance taxes. therefore to the joy of life.”14 President did not have to cite some Thwarted in these plans by Congress, In foreign affairs, where the specific grant of power to justify his he increasingly sought ways around President enjoys greater discretion- actions. it, further antagonizing legislators. ary power, TR successfully negoti- This, however, was a novel view And where once he had praised the ated an end to the Russo–Japanese of executive power, and one that far judiciary, in the wake of the Lochner War, for which, in 1906, he was the exceeded the Jackson–Lincoln view decision (1905),13 he ramped up his first American to be awarded the he claimed to be following. Whereas attack on the courts for clinging to an Nobel Peace Prize. As commander Lincoln had claimed military neces- outdated judicial philosophy. in chief, he followed Washington’s sity and was careful to cite specific On another front, Roosevelt for maxim that the best way to secure constitutional provisions to justify the first time actively moved to peace was to prepare for war. He his actions, Roosevelt was under no conserve America’s natural resourc- worked assiduously to build up the such necessity but merely thought es. TR expanded the national park Navy so that by the end of his presi- that he could take whatever affirma- system, established bird and wildlife dency, it had moved up from fifth to tive measures would advance the refuges, and designated important second place internationally, trailing public welfare as long as they were historic and geographical sites as only Great Britain. not specifically prohibited. national monuments. He sparked Roosevelt’s stewardship theory controversy, especially in the west- ROOSEVELT’S STEWARDSHIP THEORY thus unmoored presidential power ern states, by vastly expanding the THUS UNMOORED PRESIDENTIAL from the Constitution and made it national forest reserves and impos- directly accountable to the people. It ing regulations and fees on the use POWER FROM THE CONSTITUTION is not uncommon today for progres- of public lands. Yet in contrast to AND MADE IT DIRECTLY sives to give short shrift to consti- today’s environmentalists, he did not ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PEOPLE. tutional questions or to cite phrases want simply to lock these resources such as “We the people” and “the away. TR sought to make sure that Over the objections of Congress, general welfare” rather than specific they were developed responsibly Roosevelt also dispatched the Great constitutional provisions to justify (which he doubted private businesses White Fleet around the world in 1907. their proposals. could do) and that the public received The successful circumnavigation of adequate compensation for these the globe by the Progressive Crusader valuable rights. was, he thought, his single greatest With his former Secretary of War Also for the first time, Roosevelt contribution to peace. William Howard Taft installed in the sought to have the greatness of During his presidency, Roosevelt White House, Roosevelt embarked on America reflected in its public build- immersed himself in the writings an extended African safari followed ings, monuments, and sculptures. of Abraham Lincoln as he sought by a European speaking tour. While Among his actions, he commissioned inspiration for his ever more expan- abroad, he was dismayed to learn August Saint-Gaudens to design a sive view of executive power. In his that Taft was not carrying on his new system of coins for the national autobiography, TR cast himself as legacy as he had hoped. Somewhere mint and established a Fine Arts the “steward of the people,” charged along the way, he also read Herbert

12. Theodore Roosevelt, “Address on the Occasion of the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Pilgrim Memorial Monument,” August 20, 1907, http://www.theodore- roosevelt.com/images/research/txtspeeches/257.txt. 13. Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45 (1905). 14. Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography (New York: DaCapo Paperback, 1985 [orig. pub. Macmillan, 1913]), p. 434. 15. Ibid., p. 372.

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Croly’s The Promise of American less about their individual rights governmental interference with Life16 and was much taken with the and more about rights “developed in social and economic conditions in principles Croly advanced to justify duty.”17 this country than we have yet had.”19 further reform. At the same time, Roosevelt In June 1910, the former President PROGRESSIVISM ALSO MEANT denied that his reforms were meant returned to the United States, MOVING BEYOND THE “SHOPWORN” to bring about socialism. In essays ready to do battle for the soul of the written during the closing days of his Republican Party. Over the next two PROTECTION OF INDIVIDUAL presidency, he had explained where years, as he contemplated an unprec- RIGHTS, ESPECIALLY PROPERTY he could and could not work with edented third run for the presidency, RIGHTS. BECAUSE THESE RIGHTS the socialists. But what he meant by in numerous speeches and essays, WERE GROUNDED IN A PERMANENT socialism was the Marxist variety, TR spelled out what Progressivism with its calls for violent revolution, VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE AS might mean for America. the abolition of private property, and To begin with, it spelled the end ESSENTIALLY SELF-INTERESTED, the withering away of the state. As of America’s naïve exceptional- ROOSEVELT CONCLUDED THAT THE the essays make clear, he was not the ism. Where once the United States WHOLE IDEA OF NATURAL RIGHTS least troubled by a peaceful, gradual had prided itself on its superior- transition to democratic socialism WAS SCIENTIFICALLY WRONG AND ity to the monarchies of Europe, it with its promise of social justice. In was now lagging behind the gov- MORALLY OBSOLETE. fact, he considered proponents of ernments of Western Europe, and these reforms nothing more than especially Germany, in its commit- In his landmark “New “advanced” liberals. ment to social welfare. It was time Nationalism” speech, delivered at While the “New Nationalism” for America to become part of the Osawatomie, Kansas, in 1910, TR initially called for the expansion of larger “world movement” and adopt explained what this meant for the federal government’s regulatory an expanded conception of the aims property rights. In contrast to the powers to deal with the problems of of the federal government. Founders, who believed that the right industrial capitalism, Roosevelt’s Progressivism also meant mov- to property was rooted in the natu- ideas continued to evolve as the ing beyond the “shopworn” protec- ral right to the fruits of one’s labor, 1912 election approached. In the tion of individual rights, especially Roosevelt argued that the right to West, insurgents led by Robert M. La property rights. Because these rights property could be justified only if it Follette of Wisconsin had promoted were grounded in a permanent view benefited the community, and the a program of direct democratic of human nature as essentially self- only way to benefit the community reforms, including the direct elec- interested, Roosevelt concluded that was to redistribute the wealth. As tion of Senators and adoption of the the whole idea of natural rights was things stood now, some men “pos- initiative, referendum, and recall as scientifically wrong and morally sess more than they have earned,” ways to make public officials more obsolete. Evolution meant that there while others “have earned more than accountable to the people. was no such thing as a fixed human they possess.”18 The task of govern- Roosevelt at first remained cool to nature; human beings could prog- ment was not simply to enforce the the idea of direct democracy, which ress beyond their selfish individual- rule of law, but to bring about “social was not popular among eastern ism. Roosevelt’s goal was to move justice” through redistribution. Republicans. But addressing the Americans beyond purely “legal” Roosevelt was surely correct when he Ohio Constitutional Convention in justice toward a higher, more “ethi- observed that the “New Nationalism” February 1912, he now endorsed the cal” justice where citizens thought implied “a policy of a far more active insurgents’ reforms, including the

16. See Herbert Croly, The Promise of American Life (New York: Macmillan, 1909). 17. See, for example, Theodore Roosevelt, “Duty and Self Control,” April 15, 1911, http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/speeches/ trdutyandcontrol.pdf. 18. Theodore Roosevelt, “The New Nationalism,” August 31, 1910, Heritage Foundation Primary Sources, http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/ primary-sources/teddy-roosevelts-new-nationalism. 19. Ibid.

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controversial judicial recall, which primary, Roosevelt concluded that he we battle for the Lord.”23 But when would allow the people after a period had been robbed and decided to bolt the hymn-singing finally stopped, of “deliberation and debate” to over- and form his own Progressive Party. Roosevelt carried only six states, and turn state court decisions on public In his “Confession of Faith” accept- Woodrow Wilson won the White policy matters that thwarted their ing the Progressive Party nomina- House. will.20 tion, Roosevelt called for a new “con- The outbreak of World War I pro- Roosevelt’s escalating attack tract with the people” that in effect vided Roosevelt with fresh momen- on property rights and embrace of would supersede the social contract tum, as he sought to rouse his coun- judicial recall prompted his critics to theory of the Declaration.22 trymen to the call of duty. He actively charge that he was undermining the plotted with Republican allies to very idea of constitutional govern- UNLIKE THE DECLARATION, WHICH win the nomination in 1916. When ment by removing salutary checks on ASSERTS THAT THE PEOPLE ENTER the party turned to Charles Evans the popular will. TR countered that Hughes instead, he declined to run his reforms were designed to restore INTO A COMPACT WITH EACH OTHER on the Progressive ticket, and the constitutional government, though TO FORM A GOVERNMENT THAT WILL party he had summoned into being he meant something very different. SECURE THEIR INALIENABLE RIGHTS, four years earlier withered away. As a young Republican reform- THE CONTRACT ENVISIONED BY Not so the Progressive impulse. er, Roosevelt had agreed with Although returned to the Republican ROOSEVELT IS BETWEEN THE PEOPLE the Framers that the task of the fold, Roosevelt continued until his Constitution, and especially the AND THEIR GOVERNMENT. death in January 1919 to press for courts, was to protect the rights of Progressive reforms that would the individual from the tyranny of Unlike the Declaration, which move the country closer to the social the majority. Now it was the cor- asserts that the people enter into a democracies of Europe. That was his rupt “special interests” and party compact with each other to form a goal, and it has remained the goal of machines that rode roughshod over government that will secure their Progressives ever since. the majority. The people must tear inalienable rights, the contract —Jean M. Yarbrough is Gary M. down the barriers to their will and envisioned by Roosevelt is between Pendy Professor of Social Sciences at become their own masters. Not even the people and their government. Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, the Constitution can be allowed to In exchange for granting the gov- and the author of Theodore Roosevelt stand in their way. Thus, Roosevelt ernment new powers, citizens are and the American Political Tradition and his critics were talking past “entitled” to new rights that are cre- (University Press of Kansas, 2012). each other: Each in his own way was ated by the state. For the first time, an emphatic “believer in constitu- government will actively promote tionalism,” but TR now meant what social security by distributing more would later be called “the living fairly the burdens of illness, unem- constitution.”21 ployment, and old age. Denied the Republican nomina- Roosevelt electrified his audience tion, despite his strong showing in when he ended his speech by shout- the states that had adopted the direct ing, “We stand at Armageddon and

20. Theodore Roosevelt, “A Charter of Democracy: Address Before the Ohio Constitutional Convention,” February 21, 1912, http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/ images/research/txtspeeches/704.pdf. 21. Ibid. 22. Roosevelt, “Confession of Faith.” 23. Ibid.

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