In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson said that the United States should steer clear of “entangling alliances” with other nations. For almost a hundred years, the country followed that advice.
However, by the time Theodore Roosevelt was president, the United States was becoming a world power. Winning the Spanish-American War had left the nation in control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines—all former colonies of Spain. Roosevelt believed the country should take its place as a world leader, and he did everything in his power to make that happen.
