Jonathan Navis
Mr. Conforti
AP US History
1-14-2015
A New Age Throughout history, the desire to attain power and influence was very prominent. There was no difference during the era of President Woodrow Wilson. His predecessor, President Roosevelt, went about things differently. Wilson, however, came about his ideas in a different fashion, especially when it came to the spreading of American influence. Both presidents wanted to continue to shape the United States into a dominant world power, however, that didn’t come until the Great War. The policies of both President Roosevelt and President Wilson as well as the influence the United States had across the world allowed the United States to become a world-power, however, the Great War was the turning point of America’s elevation to the top due to astonishing job the American side did as they joined late. Before the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, President Theodore Roosevelt accurately represented the formation of an American Empire. Roosevelt, being a large advocate for Imperialism, wanted to attain as much land as he possibly could or at least let his presence be known throughout much of the world. Policies such as his “Big Stick” policy, the “Open Door” policy, and the “Roosevelt Corollary”, gave the idea to all domestic and foreign peoples that Roosevelt saw that America was the world-power of that era, however, other nations such as Great Britain and Germany were also in discussion. It wasn’t until President Wilson came into office that the United States would truly become the dominant world-power. President Wilson went about his expansion of American influence differently than President Roosevelt. Rather than taking control of foreign nations, Wilson decided that it would be best if he implanted American roots in the nation. This idea was much to do with his secretary of state, William Jennings Bryan.