Teddy Roosevelt

The most important person in American history is Theodore Roosevelt. During his life, he made a great impact on America. Roosevelt was the 26th president and fought in the Spanish-American War, also known as the Cuban War. He was the most influential person who supported the completion of construction of the Panama Canal. One of the first and most important National Parks, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota, was named after him too. During his presidency, he inspired many. If it was not for Theodore Roosevelt, our society would not be as advanced as it is today.

(A1) Theodore was born on October 27, 1858. He was six when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and he watched the funeral procession from his grandfather's house in New York City. As a child, he was sickly and weak, and suffered from dangerous asthma. (A1) Part of the 4th generation of Roosevelts in this country, his boyhood nickname was "Teedie.". (A1) (A2) Teedie spent most of his free time collecting dead animals or animal skeletons trying to form a small museum he set up in a nursery with his cousins. This was around the time when he was starting to become interested in science. Zoology was his favorite science subject.

(A2) He left for Europe for a few years. (A2) Bored from the traveling, Theodore decided to play with his siblings. Unfortunately he played roughly and had a few minor accidents. (A3) After awhile, he noticed it was harder for him to see. By the age of 13 he and his family had found out that he had horrible vision. A few years later he had a huge asthma attack and had to travel to Maine for a few months. (A3) Theodore's father had left his family while his mother moved to the town of Carlsbad for her health.

Theodore attended Harvard College from 1876 to 1880. (A4) Since he had such dangerous asthma and being around dust would be dangerous, he had to live in his own private house while attending college. (A4) He had was active in many extracurricular activities, but excelled in boxing, finishing second in the Harvard boxing championship. (B1) His father died in 1878, and Roosevelt took it very hard.

In 1880, he graduated from Harvard, and that same year he was married to Alice Hathaway Lee (B5). Their only child, Alice Lee Roosevelt, was born on February 12, 1884, but just two days later, Roosevelt's wife died, just hours after Theodore's mother died of typhoid fever.

(B4) To recuperate after his pain, Roosevelt decided to move to a cattle ranch in Dakota Territory. (B4) He earned respect from ranchers and cowhands, and returned east in 1886. (B5)

In December 1886, he married childhood sweetheart Edith Kermit Carow in London. They moved to Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay and they have five children: Theodore (1887), Kermit (1889), Ethel Carow (1891), Archibald Bulloch (1894), and Quentin (1897).

In the two and one half years they lived there Theodore had been a sportsman. This must had influenced him to hunt more in Africa. He was also a gentleman scholar at the time.

(B4) Roosevelt became president at the age of 42 when President William McKinley was shot. He was the youngest man to ever become president. (B2) He was one of the most popular, controversial and important presidents. He made the United States virtual guardian of the Western Hemisphere, was the first to understand the rise of the technological revolution, increased the regulation of business, encouraged the growth of labor unions, and helped to stimulate the rise of welfare state. Also, he dramatized the need to conserve natural resources.

One of the most remembered events that included Theodore Roosevelt was the building of the Panama Canal. (C2) The canal was built between San Francisco and New York City. Roosevelt had helped create the Republic of Panama. This was created on November 3,1903. The United States had to pay $10 million to take control of the Canal Zone. It took 10 years to build the canal because of disease