Theodore roosevelt biography powerpoint for kids
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Teddy Roosevelt
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Theodore Roosevelt
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Theodore Roosevelt and the Trusts
by Elise Stevens Wilson
Background
Thick dark smoke billowing out of smokestacks several stories high proliferated across city skylines, heralding America's rise to world prominence and industrial supremacy. After the Civil War, Americans embraced the smog and dirt of rapidly rising cities as a sign that America was fulfilling its destiny as a world power. Eager immigrants withstood the dangerous trip across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Traveling in crowded ships, they left all they knew behind them in the hope that America would bring those better lives. With all the progress that Americans made, new problems arose. While many immigrants found work and new homes in America they also experienced racism, lived in dilapidated tenements, and performed dangerous jobs. As industry grew and revolutionized American life, society became stratified: the poor became poorer and the rich, richer. Big businessmen like J.P. Morgan, John Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt lived in luxury during what historians call the Gilded Age (1877-1890). They consolidated smaller businesses and created monopolies; where, for example, Rockefeller drove other oil companies out of business through ruthless tactics and created a g