The United States Since 1865, Essay Example

Roosevelt’s thesis the strenuous life is all about instilling in not just one person, but people the values of hard work and how it is expected of them to get what we want out of life. For example, when he said, “we do not admire the man of timid peace, we admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man that never wrongs his neighbor. Who is prompt to help a friend, but who has virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of life. When Roosevelt made the statement saying that no matter what hardship or hard work that you endure as a person, you are admired for it because it is hard work that makes a man and not a person who hides in the house; he was saying that hard work is rewarded with admiration and earned freedom. Roosevelt also goes on to state that war was a kind of hard work that meant keeping people safe, and keeping family instilled homes intact by making the necessary weapons to keep the soldiers safe from harm. Roosevelt looks at hard work as a virtue that all Americans must face and never be allowed to turn their backs on, he believed that hard work is what gets people the things that they want whether it’s food, peace, a functioning railroad, a working defense or even obedient children. Roosevelt believed that everything that is worth having is worth the hard work that it takes to get it, it’s simply not a matter of who gets it first or when they get it; the hard work that went into getting whatever the person gets is what is truly important. As it can be said, the journey to the end goal was the only truly important part about the end goal, not the destination or even the final destination for that matter.

President McKinley’s views on expansion were absolute and he believes that the concept of expansion was not possible without the aid of China, McKinley considered China to be a threat to the United States so he had to make sure that China did not do anything that might make the states or himself look weak as a president. McKinley had a very simplistic attitude toward non-white people, he viewed them as inadequate and immature, not really fit to govern their power that they had access to. McKinley felt that they needed to be guided to do what needed to be done and not left to their own devices because it certainly would’ve doomed America if they did; McKinley knew this. To McKinley, the Philippines played more than just a part of being a means to an end, they helped President McKinley achieve his expansion plan. McKinley knew that if he allowed another country to take the Philippines then it would’ve slowed down the progress of the United States, and would have been the start of the downfall of the United States. McKinley was a powerful religious figure that did everything by God’s guiding hand, a good portion of his plans came from divine inspiration, inspiration that guided him to make an already great nation even greater. As President McKinley himself said, he had no interest in China but he later did when he knew that they could aid in the expansion and trade routes. McKinley saw that the United States needed expansion in order to function as a national superpower, but there were some people who did not see the point in trying to get a route open from another country but McKinley knew that this was completely necessary. McKinley also knew that Spain and its fleet was an overall threat to U.S. expansion and he could not run the risk of giving such an easy mark to them, he had to have the Philippine trade expansion for himself and his country. It was a task he knew he was up for, he had all of the necessary tools in order to do what was good for the American people because McKinley believed that the American people deserved the very best and this expansion would be the best thing that he could have given to the American people.