A large factor which conducted the emergence of the Strenuous life was the evident loss of raw determination to be a strong and self-made society, which had been so prevalent in the past. The country had become extremely “soft” in the eyes of people such as Theodore Roosevelt. In Roosevelt's speech before the Hamilton Club of Chicago, he stated, “A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual (Theodore Roosevelt, “The Strenuous Life”).” His message relayed his disappointment in what the nation had become. The Strenuous Life was exactly what the United States needed to revive the intense motivation to remain an innovative, bold, and simply exciting nation, whic