the new nationalism · theodore roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt's speech at Osawatomie, Kansas in 1910 announced the New Nationalism: a strong federal government as steward of the public welfare, regulating corporations, taxing wealth and putting human rights before property rights. It became the platform of the Progressive Party in 1912 and the template for the modern activist presidency.

Read with Charles Merriam's 'Recent Tendencies' (1903), the Progressive Party Platform of 1912, Woodrow Wilson's 'What is Progress?' (1913) and Frank Goodnow's 'The American Conception of Liberty' (1916) in the Roots of American Order summer seminar, June 2026.