The Progressive Movement of America Towards a Better Future The times of industrialization were exciting but also fought with perils for the average American citizen. While striving to grow as a country, American citizens were often forgotten as individuals, deserving of justice and protection. Government was filled with representatives based on status and power. Progressives sought to change America and its standards into the ideals of forward movement while fighting for the integrity to its people. President Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, was born of privilege and suffered with asthma and frail health as a child. Due to his adversities in childhood, Roosevelt became a keynote in the time of industrialization and true to his younger years he sought to change destiny. He believed in meeting trials head-on, overcoming them, and sticking up for the “little guy”. He believed that the path to the top should not be filled with the suffering of others, but that it was paved with honesty, integrity, and hard work done by all. Roosevelt’s Idea of a Progressive Roosevelt defined Progressives as “men who, with fervor and broad sympathy and imagination, stand for the forward movement, the men who stand for the uplift and betterment of mankind, and who have faith in the people” (Roosevelt, 1912). He described them as those that sought limited work hours and better working conditions for laborers, better living conditions for those in squalor, and better treatment of all mankind. Progressives fought against the privileged and entitled and saw industrialization as a revolution in society and a way to provide better means for its people. Roosevelt states Progressives seek “social and indu