Excerpt from Theodore Roosevelt’s The Strenuous Life (1899)
We of this generation do not have to face a task such as that our fathers faced, but we have our tasks, and woe to us if we fail to perform them! We cannot, if we would, play the part of China, and be content to rot by inches in ignoble ease within our borders, taking no interest in what goes on beyond them; sunk in a scrambling commercialism; heedless of the higher life, the life of aspiration, of toil and risk; busying ourselves only with the wants of our bodies for the day; until suddenly we should find beyond a shadow of question, what China has already found, that in this world the nation that has trained itself to a career of unwarlike and isolated ease is bound in the end to go down before other nations which have not lost the manly and adventurous qualities. If we are to be a really great people, we must strive in good faith to play a great part in the world. We cannot avoid meeting great issues. All that we can determine for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well or ill. Last year we could not help being brought face to face with the problem of war with Spain. All we could decide was whether we should shrink like cowards from the contest or enter into it as beseemed a brave and high-spirited people; and, once in, whether failure or success should crown our banners. So it is now. We cannot avoid the responsibilities that confront us in Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto 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. To refuse to deal with them at all merely amounts to dealing with them badly. We have a given problem to solve. If we undertake the solution there is, of course, always danger that we may not solve it aright, but to refuse to undertake the solution simply renders it certain that we cannot possibly solve it aright.
Use the excerpt to answer the question.
Use the passage to answer (a) and (b):
(a) In 2–3 sentences, explain the change in American foreign policy Roosevelt is advocating.
(b) In 2–3 sentences, explain Roosevelt’s rationale for this change.
(a) Roosevelt is advocating for a change in American foreign policy from isolationism to active involvement in world affairs. He argues that the nation cannot avoid meeting great issues and must strive to play a great part in the world.
(b) Roosevelt's rationale for this change is that a nation that isolates itself and focuses only on its own interests will ultimately decline and be overtaken by other nations that have not lost their adventurous and manly qualities. He believes that the United States must take on responsibilities in Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines and meet them in a way that will redound to the national credit, or risk making a dark and shameful page in its history. Refusing to deal with these issues at all would only lead to dealing with them badly.