The Election of 1912
Theodore
Roosevelt
Woodrow
Wilson
William
Howard
Taft
Democratic Candidate:
Woodrow Wilson
New Freedom Platform:
• Regulate all corporations (All are “Bad”)
• New strong anti-trust laws
• Banking & currency regulations
• Federal income tax
• Direct election of senators
• Independence for the Philippines
Republican Candidate:
President William Howard
Platform:
• Protective tariff
• Civil Service Protection
• Conservation of
Natural Resources
• Restriction of immigration
Progressive (“Bull Moose”) Party Candidate:
President Theodore Roosevelt
New Nationalism Platform:
• Women’s suffrage
• Minimum wage for women
• 8-hour work day
• Social Security System
• National Health Care
• Regulation of business
• Ease in amending the Constitution
• Pro-Union tariffs
The 1912 Election Results
Wilson as President
Founding Fathers’ Position
 Human nature is unchanging.
 Man’s ultimate motivation is
self-interest.
 There is a permanent
standard for what is right and
wrong.
 Power of the government is a
threat to individual liberty
and thus must be limited.
Woodrow Wilson’s Position
 Human nature is
evolving…progressing.
 The only valid knowledge is
scientifically based knowledge.
 Govt is no threat, and ought to
be the organ of individualism.
 Govt is not grounded on
unchanging truths, but should
instead evolve to meet
historical circumstances.
Wilson’s Governing Philosophy
*As the only nationally elected official, the president
represented the “national will”.
1. Wilson was cynical about the separation of powers.

Favored the British Parliamentary System, with a Prime Minister who was
not just an executive, but the legislative leader as well
*Why did the Founding Fathers create the US system of government the
way they did?
2. The separation of powers impeded genuine
democracy.

Thought it was inefficient and prevented government from solving the
problems of modern life in a coordinated way.
3. Favored a transition from politics to administration

To Wilson, experts were better suited to make policy, not elected
representatives
Implies the consent of the governed.
To Wilson, politics and administration must be separate.
Disparages politics and moves
focal point away from consent of
the governed into the hands of
experts and the creation of
bureaucracy.