Wilsonian Progressivism
at Home & Abroad
1912 - 1916
The Emergence of Wilson
Entered politics in 1910
NJ bosses needed a respectable “front”
candidate for the governorship
Waged a reform campaign in which he assailed the
“predatory” trusts & promised to return state gov’t to the
people
Made NJ one of the more liberal states
Democratic Platform
Wilson’s “New Freedom”
Called for stronger antitrust legislation
Banking reform
Tariff reductions
The “Bull Moose” Campaign of 1912
TR ran on the third-party Progressive Republican ticket
Divided the Republican vote
TR’s “New Nationalism”
The Candidates - 1912
TR’s “New Nationalism” or Wilson’s “New Freedom”
Both favored a more active gov’t role in economic & social
affairs
Disagreed sharply over specific strategies
TR preached the theories of Herbert Coley from his
book The Promise of American Life (1910)
TR v. Wilson
TR’s “New Nationalism”
Favored consolidation of
trusts & labor unions &
regulatory agencies

Regulation of trust
Favored women’s suffrage
and children’s rights
Social welfare


Minimum-wage laws
Social insurance
Wilson’s “New Freedom”
Favored small enterprise,
entrepreneurship, & free
functioning of unregulated &
nonmonopolized markets
Shunned social welfare;
favored competition
Wanted fragmentation of big
industrial companies

Split up trust
Election of 1912
Offered voters a choice not merely of policies but of
political & economic philosophies
TR was shot in the chest by a fanatic
Wilson won easily over Taft, TR, & Debs
Progressive Party had no future
Socialists elected more than a thousand
Republicans – minority status in Congress
Taft became chief justice of the
Supreme Court in 1921
Wilson- The Idealist in Politics
Second Democratic president since 1861
Ideal of self-determination for people of other countries
Shared Jefferson’s faith in the masses
If they were properly informed
Very religious / morally righteous
President was to provide leadership &
be out in front of Congress
Cold & standoffish in public
Wilson Tackles the Tariff
Assault on the “triple wall of privilege”
Tariff, Banks, Trusts
Tariff
Called Congress into a special session – 1913

He appeared in person to address Congress
Underwood Tariff Bill (1913) – substantial reduction of rates

Reduced import fees & was a landmark in tax legislation
16th Amendment – graduated income tax
Wilson Battles the Banks
Problem: reserves were concentrated in NY
& other large cities
Could not be mobilized in times of financial stress
Congress ordered an investigation
Aldrich recommended a third Bank of the US
Pujo – (D) traced the problems to the banks & business
1913 – Federal Reserve Act
Federal Reserve Board oversaw a system of 12 regional
district banks // owned by financial institutions
Board could issue paper money
Wilson Battles the Trusts
Federal Trade Commission Act – 1914
Empowered a commission to investigate interstate commerce

Expected to crush monopoly by rooting out unfair trade practices
Clayton Anti-Trust Act – 1914
Listed business practices that were deemed objectionable
including price discrimination & interlocking directories (same people serve as directors of supposedly competing firms)
Exempted labor & agricultural organizations - legalized
strikes & peaceful picketing
Wilsonian Progressivism
Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916
Made credit available to farmers at low rates of interest
Warehouse Act of 1916
Authorized loans on the security of staple crops
Highway construction & agricultural extension work
La Follette Seamen’s Act of 1915
Required decent treatment & a living wage
on American merchant ships

Caused freight rates to increase
Conti
Workingmen’s Compensation Act of 1916
Granted assistance to federal civil-service employees during
periods of disability
Restricted child labor on products flowing into interstate
commerce
Later invalidated by Supreme Court
Adamson Act of 1916
Established an 8 hour day for all employees on trains in
interstate commerce, with extra pay for overtime
Wilson as President
1916 – nominate reformer Louis D. Brandeis to
Supreme Court
1st Jew
Did nothing for better treatment of African Americans
Appeased businesspeople by making conservative
appointments
Federal Reserve Board & the Federal Trade Commission
Wilson & Foreign Policy
Wilson – hated imperialism
Repelled by TR’s big stickism
Suspicious of Wall Street, he detested dollar diplomacy
Declared war on dollar diplomacy after 1 week
Gov’t would no longer offer special support to American
investors in Latin America & China
American bankers pull out the next day
Wilson’s Anti-Imperialism
1914 – Panama Canal Tolls Act of 1912 repealed
Had exempted American shipping from tolls & thereby provoked
sharp protests from injured Britain
1916 – Jones Act
Granted the Philippines territorial status & promised
independence as soon as a “stable gov’t” could be established
1913 – Japan & California Problem
CA prohibited Japanese from owning land
Wilson sent Sec of State Bryan to plead
with CA to soften its stand
Tensions were eased
Problems in the Caribbean
1914-1915 – Haiti
Outraged populace killed their president
1915 -Wilson sent Marines to protect American lives & property
1916 –treaty with Haiti that provided for US supervision of
finances & the police
1916 – Dominican Republic
Marines sent to stop riots // remained for 8 years
1917 – Virgin Islands
Wilson purchased islands from Denmark
Moralistic Diplomacy in Mexico
1913 – Mexican Revolution
Clique murdered the popular new revolutionary
president & installed General Victoriano Huerta
Massive migration of Mexicans to US

Settled in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, & California
Revolution was jeopardizing American live & property
Wilson refused to intervene & refused to recognize Huerta
1914 – Wilson allowed American arms to flow to
Huerta’s rivals
Problems Get Worse in Mexico
April 1914 – Atlantic seaport of Tampico
American soldiers were arrested
Mexicans quickly released the captives & apologized

But refused to salute admiral with 21 guns
Wilson wanted to eliminate Huerta

Asked Congress for authority to use force against Mexico
Wilson ordered navy to seize Vera Cruz
Meditation from the ABC Powers:

Argentina, Brazil, & Chile
Huerta collapsed in July 1914 & Venustiano Carranza took
over
Mexican – American Relations
“Pancho” Villa emerged as a rival to President Carranza
Carranza was supported with arms & diplomatic
recognition by Wilson
Pancho Villa’s Attacks on Americans
Jan 1916 - killed 16 Americans
Feb 1916 – killed another 19 Americans in New Mexico
General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing
ordered to break up bandit gang
Never captured Villa himself
Jan 1917 – US withdrew as threat of war with Germany
increased
Thunder Across the Sea
1914 – Serb patriot killed Archduke
Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia
Heir to the Austria-Hungry throne
Almost overnight, most of Europe was locked in war
Central Powers
Germany, Austria-Hungry, Ottoman Empire, & Bulgaria
Allies
France, Britain, & Russia (later Japan & Italy)
A Precarious Neutrality
Wilson urged the US to remain neutral in thought and deed
Both the Allies and the Central Powers wooed the US
British – common language, economic ties, close culture
Germans & Austro-Hungarians – counted on sympathies from
their transplanted countrymen

Blood ties to the Central Powers – 11 million in 1914
Most Americans were anti-German
Kaiser Wilhelm II & ruthless strike at neutral Belgium
Restored to violence in American factories & ports
America Earns Blood Money
British & French orders pulled the US out of recession &
into war-born prosperity
$2.3 billion during the period of American neutrality
Central Powers protested against trade
between US & Allies
Traffic did not violate the international neutrality laws
Germany was prevented from trading with the US because of
geography & the British navy


Mines & ships across the North Sea
Trade between US & Germany virtually ceased
Submarine Warfare
Feb 1915 – Germany announced a submarine war area
around the British Isles
US was trading in this area
Germany declared they would try not to sink neutral
shipping, but warned that mistakes would probably be
made
Wilson warned Germany it would be held
to “strict accountability” for any attacks
on American vessels or citizens
The German
U-boats
First months of 1915 – Germany sank 90 ships
May 7, 1915 - Lusitania was torpedoed & sank off the
coast of Ireland
1,198 died – 128 Americans died
Was carrying 4200 cases of small-arms ammunition
August 1915 – Arabic was sunk – 2 American lives lost
Germany agreed not to sink unarmed & unresisting passenger
ships without warning
Sussex Pledge
March 1916 – Germans torpedoed a French streamer,
the Sussex
Wilson informed Germany that unless they renounced the
inhumane practice of sinking merchant ships without warning,
he would break diplomatic relations
Sussex Pledge
Germany agreed not to sink passenger ships & merchant
ships without warning
US would have to persuade the Allies to modify the “Illegal
blockade”
Election of 1916 – The Candidates
Progressives – re-nominated TR but he declined
TR did not want to lead to Wilson’s reelection
Party disappeared after this
Republican – Charles Evans Hughes
Supreme Court Justice
Platform: Condemned



Democratic tariff
Assaults on the trusts
Wilson’s wishy-washiness in dealing with Mexico & Germany
Fence-straddling candidate
Democrat – Woodrow Wilson
Election Results
Wilson
Ignored Hughes - “one should not try to murder a man who is
committing suicide”
Slogan – “He Kept Us Out of War”
Supporters:
Wilson – Midwesterners & westerners,
working class, & bull moosers
Hughes – Eastern voters
Result of election hinged on CA
Wilson barely won / 277 to 254