World War I

Evaluate Theodore Roosevelt's legacy in foreign affairs with these selections from Ken Burns' The Roosevelts. Students will analyze U.S. intervention in Cuba, Panama, the Russo-Japanese War, and WWI. In the activity that follows, students are tasked with conducting research and then engaging in a Socratic Seminar to answer the question: “To what extent did Theodore Roosevelt’s record on foreign policy mar or enhance his record as US president?”   Learning Objectives: Determine what aspects of Roosevelt's background contributed to his feelings about U.S. foreign policy. Analyze Roosevelt's motivations in pushing the United States to intervene around the globe. Analyze the US Constitution as it pertains to the powers of the president to formulate and implement foreign policy. Establish criteria by which to judge the performance of a president’s record in foreign affairs and apply those criteria. Evaluate Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy using primary and secondary sources according to the criteria they establish. Opening Activity: Developing Supporting Questions to Debate TR’s Foreign Policy Record Distribute Handout: “Developing Criteria by which to Judge a President’s Record in Foreign Affairs.” Students may complete the handout as homework, and then share with the whole class and reach a consensus as a class. Review results on Part 1. According to the Constitution Article II, Sections 2 and 3, the president is commander in chief of the armed forces; may submit treaties to the Senate for ratification (by a two-thirds majority); may appoint ambassadors and cabinet ministers such as the secretary of state subject to the approval of the Senate; and may receive foreign ambassadors. (Note that Article I, Section 8, gives Congress, not the president, the power to declare war.)

By 1913, more states would pass laws restricting liquor, thanks to the efforts of the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Brewers and distillers suffered, but many believed a national ban on alcohol was unlikely because the government relied on taxes from alcohol. The 16th amendment, authorizing the federal government to impose an income tax on citizens, would change everything.  Students will: Identify and analyze different viewpoints on immigration and alcohol Discuss Americans’ concerns over immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and identify how these concerns became linked with the use of alcohol.

Theodore Roosevelt asked President Woodrow Wilson for the power to develop and lead a division of volunteers to join the Allies during World War I. Roosevelt had first organized a cavalry of Rough Riders in 1898, to join the Spanish-American War. By 1914, Roosevelt was out of touch with the modern, mechanized war unfolding in Europe. Even so, just after the U.S. WWI, Congress gave Roosevelt the authority to raise up to four divisions of volunteers, similar to the Rough Riders.