How Did Theodore Roosevelt Proposed More Government Involvement In The Economy

Theodore Roosevelt proposed more government involvement in business and the US Economy. In the early 20th Century business men tried to consolidate power and create monopolies. An example of this would be John D. Rockefeller’s expansion from owning an oil refinery to the total monopoly of the production and distribution of oil. Roosevelt sought to reshape these clusters of power. He believed it necessary to "change the conditions which enable these [business] men to accumulate power which it is not for the general welfare that they should hold or exercise”. He did not see the wealthy as villains or ill-minded people, but people who needed to be guided, “I have no doubt he would like to do well, but I want to have enough supervision to help him realize that desire …show more content…
Progressives, especially in the South, feared the withdrawal of state power with his proposed increase of national power. Roosevelt though, believed these were national issues and did not make any sense to treat them as local issues. He even went as far to declare the division of government powers as “the impotence which makes it possible for local selfishness or for legal cunning, hired by wealthy special interests, to bring national activities to a deadlock”. Roosevelt called for laws (and enforcement of these laws) to do away with any involvement of corporate funds for political purposes, believing this to be one of the main causes of corruption in political affairs. He also advocated for the regulation of public service corporations like the railways and “necessaries of life” like the meat, oil, and coal industry by largely increasing the power of Federal Bureau of Corporations and the Interstate Commerce Commission. He hoped these changes would be a way to level the playing field for all Americans and allow everyone a fair chance at obtaining their potential economically, which he called “equality of