Expanding America: President Theodore Roosevelt

Objective: By the end of the lesson, SWBAT explain how America expanded its role in the world during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt.

Quick Review! Under President William McKinley (1898), America became much stronger because of: A big win in the Spanish-American War (Think new land owned by America). The booming business in America (Steel, new inventions)!

Getting Rich! America was very strong because they were getting rich from big business such as steel.

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt Teddy Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He served as President from 1901 - 1909. He was also a famous leader in the Spanish- American War. Like McKinley, Roosevelt wanted to show the world how powerful America had become. Roosevelt also wanted to make America even more powerful!

Roosevelt’s Expansion! Roosevelt felt that America should expand its power and influence around the world. If you were Roosevelt, what would you do to increase American power?

Roosevelt’s Expansion Roosevelt thought he would make America more powerful by making it easier for America to do trade (business) with itself and other countries. Increasing the business that a country does only increases how much money you make. The more trade that you do, the richer you become!

The Problem Having trade between the East Coast of the U.S. and the West Coast of the U.S. would only increase business for everyone! The East Coast of the United States was having a hard time trading with the West Coast of the United States. In the early 1900s, the U.S. didn’t have trucks to bring things back and forth, and there weren’t that many trains

Why was it hard to do trade between the East Coast and the West Coast of the U.S.?

Problem The distance and time that it took to get from coast to coast was ridiculously long! How would you solve this problem?

The Panama Canal Teddy Roosevelt said that the distance was ridiculous! Something needs to be done. He looked at the map and said - We are so powerful, why can’t we just cut between the land and create a canal in the thinnest part of the land, the isthmus. Pres. Roosevelt used the U.S. power to convince Panama to allow the U.S. to dig a canal in the middle of their country. Therefore, Roosevelt had the U.S. government fund and build the Panama Canal!

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal The Panama Canal made it a lot easier for the U.S. to do trade between its East Coast and its West Coast. The U.S. was also able to do more trade with Asian countries because boats could now cut through the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal made the U.S. even richer!

Panama Canal The Panama Canal made the U.S. even richer because with more trade, the U.S. was making more money; more business was happening!

Teddy Roosevelt Flexes Even More If the Canal was not enough to show the world America’s power, President Roosevelt also sent the Great White Fleet around Asian waters to show the rest of the world how strong America’s military had become.

The Great White Fleet

Key Points President Roosevelt wanted to show the world how powerful America had become. The Panama Canal made trade a lot easier for the U.S. The U.S. increased trade and became richer with Panama Canal. The Great White Fleet was a symbol of America’s power!