In a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, in August 1910, Theodore Roosevelt made the case for what he called the New Nationalism. The central issue, he argued, was human welfare versus property rights. New Nationalism was Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive political philosophy during the 1912 election. He insisted that only a powerful federal government could regulate the economy and guarantee social justice. Roosevelt believed that the concentration in industry was not necessarily bad, if the industry behaved itself. He wanted executive agencies (not the courts) to regulate business. The federal government should be used to protect the laboring man and the weak in society, like women and children, from exploitation. Accordingly, the New Nationalism supported child labor laws and a minimum wage laws for women.

This is in direct contrast with Woodrow Wilson's policy of The New Freedom, which promoted antitrust modification, tariff reduction, and banking and currency reform.