Theodore Roosevelt And Progressive Party Reforms
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Right from the very beginning, the United States always had two important political parties, namely the Democrats and the Republicans. However, there have been third parties that came up but were never successful in leaving their mark on US politics. However, between 1912 and 1948, a reform movement started taking place and as a result the Progressive Party was formed.
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The reform movement, often termed as progressivism, started to help change the American society from an agricultural based economy to an industrial economy. When industries started in the US, the workers had to work very long hours in dangerous conditions and were not paid very well. However, in large cities, reformers started protesting that working environments as well as tenement housing should improve and become better. Other reformers took it upon themselves to fight political corruption and cronyism that had become a part of both the Democrat and Republican parties.
In 1908, Theodore Roosevelt decided not to run another term. He had already gained the trust of people as he had taken upon himself to route corruption from the political system and administration. However, Roosevelt decided to support his friend, William Howard Taft, as the next Republican nominee. This was as a good move and many reformers appreciated it.
However, Taft was not as progressive as his predecessor, and ended being a disappointment to the reformers and Theodore Roosevelt. So, in the 1912, Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican presidential nomination. However, Roosevelt lost the nomination. He left the Republican Party and got a nomination from the Progressive Party, which was launched in 1911.
During the election campaign, Roosevelt campaigned hard. He called for many reforms at social, economic and political levels. He also wanted women to be given more freedom, and to institute minimum wage and child labor laws, environment protection direct election of Senators, referendum and recall. Although Roosevelt received more than 600,000 votes compared to Taft, unfortunately he lost this presidential election to Woodrow Wilson, who was the Democratic presidential candidate.
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