When you look closely at Theodore Roosevelt’s speech “The Strenuous Life,” you see how his argument leads his audience from praise of active and ambitious individuals to a call for an aggressive United States international policy.

In his opening paragraph, it seems that Roosevelt is praising individual effort and reminding his audience that individuals who personally strive to lead a productive life contribute to a growing nation.

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort ... In the last analysis a healthy state can exist only when the men and women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives.

Roosevelt takes the next step by reminding his audience that no failure is greater than the failure of people who never have the courage to attempt significant achievement. His often-quoted lines remind his listeners that virtuous and energetic people have a responsibility to their country to pursue lofty goals to add to the accomplishments of their country.

As it is with the individual, so it is with the nation. It is a base untruth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Having made this point, Roosevelt moves on to the real purpose of his speech.

We can not avoid the responsibilities that confront us in Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. All we can decide is whether we shall meet them in a way that will redound to the national credit, or whether we shall make of our dealings with these new problems a dark and shameful page in our history.

By appealing to the egos of his listeners, Roosevelt wants to encourage active involvement in the struggles of foreign lands, particularly those “great, fair tropic islands from which the valor of our soldiers and sailors has driven the Spanish flag.” Roosevelt argues for an assertive international policy by reminding everyone that the world is growing smaller and it is in our own best interests to think globally. As more and more countries have larger spheres of interest and move toward more global concerns, it is foolish to remain focused within our borders.

We can not sit huddled within our own borders and avow ourselves merely an assemblage of well-to-do hucksters who care nothing for what happens beyond. Such a policy would defeat even its own end; for as the nations grow to have ever wider and wider interests, and are brought into closer and closer contact, if we are to hold our own in the struggle for naval and commercial supremacy, we must build up our power without our own borders. We must build the Isthmian Canal, and we must grasp the points of vantage which will enable us to have our say in deciding the destiny of the oceans of the East and the West.

Roosevelt specifically plugs building the Panama Canal, his pet project. He sees the canal as a means to ensure that American military and commercial interests are supported all over the world. He seems to equate the interests of the global community with American interests, and he believes that the US military should be instrumental in achieving these objectives.

The army and the navy are the sword and the shield which this nation must carry if she is to do her duty among the nations of the earth ... Our proper conduct toward the tropic islands we have wrested from Spain is merely the form which our duty has taken at the moment.

Now that the US has “wrested” these countries from Spain, it is our duty to use our army and navy to mold these conquests into what we believe they should be. He urges the country to use the English occupation of India as an example of the “success” of an imperialistic foreign policy. He actually asserts that not only was this situation beneficial for England, but it helped India by promoting the advancement of civilization.

England’s rule in India and Egypt has been of great benefit to England, for it has trained up generations of men accustomed to look at the larger and loftier side of public life. It has been of even greater benefit to India and Egypt. And finally, and most of all, it has advanced the cause of civilization.

Roosevelt’s motives toward these tropical countries is overtly paternalistic.

Porto Rico is not large enough to stand alone. We must govern it wisely and well, primarily in the interest of its own people. Cuba is, in my judgment, entitled ultimately to settle for itself ... But until order and stable liberty are secured, we must remain in the island to ensure them ... The Philippines offer a yet graver problem. Their population includes half-caste and native Christians, warlike Moslems, and wild pagans. Many of their people are utterly unfit for self-government, and show no signs of becoming fit.

Does Roosevelt even recognize the inherent racism in his words? When analyzing the speech, one must consider the negative comments that make a modern reader uncomfortable, as well as the practical points about the necessity of a global point of view given the increasing interdependence of nations. And his call encourage ambition and hard work is truly inspirational. So with all these issues to consider, how do you feel about Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Strenuous Life” speech?

Teddy Roosevelt delivered this speech in Chicago in 1899. In the speech, he speaks about the virtues of living a life of effort and determination and says, "We admire the man who embodies victorious effort." He jumps from the idea that people should lead a vigorous life to the idea that the nation should pursue a vigorous future with the line at the beginning of the fourth paragraph, "As it is with the individual, so it is with the nation." He speaks of the valiant effort of the Union during the Civil War and then speaks about the responsibilities the United States has in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines following the Spanish-American War (which was fought in 1898). 

His speech then becomes a defense of imperialism and a statement against isolationism. He speaks about the need to bolster the American military and speaks in detail about the problems in the Caribbean and in the Philippines that demand our attention. At the end of the speech, he describes peace as "ignoble" and speaks against the idea of "slothful ease."

Your impressions of this speech are up to you. How do you feel about Roosevelt's desire to turn the United States into an imperialist nation after the Spanish-American War? Do you think that the United States has the right to intervene in foreign nations? How do you feel about Roosevelt characterizing peace as "ignoble" or dishonorable? Do you feel this way about peace?