![]() ![]() Roosevelt, who was the first and last president to serve three terms (1933–1945), orchestrated the greatest expansion of executive power in American history. After the United States’ entrance into the First World War in 1917, the economy prospered, and the country experienced lasting social changes-such as those prompted by the nineteenth amendment, which granted women the right to vote. He was a pioneer of modern government whose legacy transcended his years in office. Theodore Roosevelt, who took office at the turn of the century, used his executive power to instigate social and economic progress. The Panic of 1893 caused devastating hardship across all levels of society, and groups of reform-minded citizens began lobbying for the welfare of the underclass. Industrialists, frequently through violence, beat back attempts by laborers to organize for workers’ rights. The unsightly expansion also seemed to betray the very promise of the American dream. The growth of working-class areas in the cities led to overcrowded slums as well as a permanent underclass. The rapid development from an agrarian, rural society to an industrialized, urban one, however, created problems that threatened to tear apart the country’s social order. Closeīolstered by waves of immigrants as well as capital wealth from post–Civil War industrialism, by the 1890s, the United States rivaled the great European powers. Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor, failed to integrate the four million freed African Americans into society or to structure society in a way that would ensure their civil rights. ![]() But because he was assassinated in April 1865, he could not guide the process of national reconciliation known as Reconstruction. In Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address of November 1863, he argued for another revolution, one that would bring forth a “new birth of freedom” to restore the Union and reestablish American democracy. As the Civil War advanced beyond anyone’s expectations, Lincoln, who viewed the war as a means of preserving the Union, realized that the unity of the country hinged on freeing slaves and granting civil rights to all citizens. Initially, he used his presidential power in an effort to avoid a crisis, but war proved to be inevitable. Shortly after Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election, South Carolina, followed by ten other Southern states, seceded from the Union in protest of having to free enslaved people. Closeīy the 1850s, slavery had become a moral and political issue that divided the nation. Foremost in the political situation was the crucial issue that the Founders recognized but failed to solve: the coexistence of democracy with slavery. After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, westward expansion was inevitable, and organizing this territory into new states dominated nineteenth-century American politics. State representatives-who embodied diverse regional and economic interests-viewed the duties of government through different lenses, and political rivalries among them grew fierce as they debated the reach and limits of federal power. Washington not only established the legitimacy of the new government but also set precedents for the scope of presidential power, including the tradition of leaving office after two terms.įollowing Washington’s tenure, separate political parties emerged: the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party. ![]() The ornate title recognized the critical role that he had in the creation of the American Republic as well as the weight of his responsibilities as the first president of the United States. As early as 1795, Americans regarded George Washington as the Patriae pater (father of his country). ![]()
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