Excerpt from Roosevelt’s “It Takes More Than That to Kill a Bull Moose” speech

And now, friends, this incident that has just occurred —this effort to assassinate me—emphasizes to a peculiar degree the need of the Progressive movement. Friends, every good citizen ought to do everything in his or her power to prevent the coming of the day when we shall see in this country two recognized creeds fighting one another, when we shall see the creed of the "Havenots" arraigned against the creed of the "Haves." When that day comes then such incidents as this to-night will be commonplace in our history. When you make poor men —when you permit the conditions to grow such that the poor man as such will be swayed by his sense of injury against the men who try to hold what they improperly have won, when that day comes, the most awful passions will be let loose and it will be an ill day for our country.

Now, friends, what we who are in this movement are endeavoring to do is forestall any such movement for justice now - a movement in which we ask all just men of generous hearts to join with the men who feel in their souls that lift upward which bids them refuse to be satisfied themselves while their countrymen and countrywomen suffer from avoidable misery. Now, friends, what we Progressives are trying to do is to enroll rich or poor, whatever their social or industrial position, to stand together for the most elementary rights of good citizenship, those elementary rights which are the foundation of good citizenship in this great Republic of ours.

Use the excerpt to answer the question.

Roosevelt references "the most elementary rights of good citizenship" as an outcome of which effort?

A.
the union of people from all economic classes

B.
collective work undertaken for the good of politicians

C.
individual action taken to promote individual interests

D.
the work of effective government on behalf of its citizens

D. the work of effective government on behalf of its citizens

The correct answer is D. the work of effective government on behalf of its citizens. In the excerpt, Roosevelt emphasizes the need for the Progressive movement to prevent a division between the "Havenots" and the "Haves" in America. He argues that if such a division occurs, it will lead to a clash of creeds and the unleashing of awful passions. To prevent this, Roosevelt calls for all just men, regardless of their social or industrial position, to stand together for the most elementary rights of good citizenship. This implies that the Progressive movement aims to promote effective government that works on behalf of its citizens and ensures their basic rights are protected.

The answer can be found in the excerpt where Roosevelt states, "Now, friends, what we Progressives are trying to do is to enroll rich or poor, whatever their social or industrial position, to stand together for the most elementary rights of good citizenship, those elementary rights which are the foundation of good citizenship in this great Republic of ours." From this statement, we can infer that the effort mentioned is the union of people from all economic classes in order to stand together for the most elementary rights of good citizenship. Therefore, the correct answer is A. the union of people from all economic classes.