Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

1
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad
2
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Woodrow Wilson won the governorship of New Jersey
  waging a reform campaign in which he attacked the
  predatory trusts and promised to return the state
  government to the people.

3
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The "Bull Moose" Campaign of 1912
• The Democrats chose Woodrow Wilson as their
  presidential candidate for the election of 1912. 

4
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The Democrats saw in Wilson an outstanding
  reformist leader of whom they felt would beat
  Republican Taft.  The Democrats had a
  strong progressive platform that called for
  stronger antitrust laws, banking reform, and
  tariff reductions.

5
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Theodore Roosevelt ran again in the election as a
  3rd party candidate.  It was unsure whether
  Roosevelt's New Nationalism or Wilson's New
  Freedom would prevail.  Both men favored a more
  active government role in economic and social
  affairs, but they disagreed over specific
  strategies. 

6
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Roosevelt's New Nationalism campaigned for
  stronger control of trusts, woman suffrage, and
  programs of social welfare. 
• .
•  

7
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Wilson's New Freedom favored small enterprise,
  entrepreneurship, and the free functioning of
  unregulated and unmonopolized markets. 

8
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Democrats shunned the social-welfare programs and
  supported the fragmentation of trusts.

9
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The campaign cooled down when Roosevelt was shot
  by a fanatic.  He eventually recovered after
  suspending campaigning for a couple weeks

10
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Woodrow Wilson  A Minority President
• Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican votes,
  giving Woodrow Wilson the presidency.

11
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Roosevelt's Progressive Party soon died out due
  to lack of officials elected to state and local
  offices.
•  

12
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Wilson  The Idealist in Politics
• Wilson relied on sincerity and moral appeal to
  attract the public.   

13
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• He was extremely smart but lacked the common
  touch with the public. 

14
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• He didn't have people skills.)  Wilson's idealism
  and sense of moral righteousness made him
  incredibly stubborn in negotiating.

15
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Wilson Tackles the Tariff
• President Wilson called for an all-out war on
  what he called "the triple wall of privilege" 
  the tariff, the banks, and the trusts.

16
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Wilson called a special meeting of Congress
  in 1913 to address the tariff.  He convinced
  Congress to pass the Underwood Tariff Bill, which
  significantly reduced the tariff rates. 

17
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Under authority from the 16th Amendment, Congress
  also enacted a graduated income tax.
•  

18
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• In 1913, President Wilson delivered a plea to
  Congress for a reform of the banking system. 
  Congress answered and in the same year, he signed
  the Federal Reserve Act. 

19
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The new Federal Reserve Board, appointed by the
  president, oversaw a nationwide system of 12
  regional Federal Reserve banks. 

20
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Each reserve bank was the central bank for its
  region.  The final authority of the Federal
  Reserve Board guaranteed a substantial level of
  public control. 

21
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The board was empowered to issue paper
  money, Federal Reserve Notes, backed by
  commercial paper. 

22
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Thus, the amount of money in circulation could be
  increased as needed for the requirements of
  business. 

23
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The President Tames the Trusts
• After Wilson's persuasion, Congress passed
  the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914.   

24
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• This law authorized a presidentially-appointed
  commission to oversee industries engaged in
  interstate commerce, such as the meatpackers. 
  The commissioners were expected to crush
  monopolies at the source.
• .

25
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 lengthened the
  Sherman Act's list of business practices that
  were deemed objectionable. 

26
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• It also sought to exempt labor and agricultural
  organizations from antitrust prosecution, while
  legalizing strikes and peaceful picketing.  Union
  leader Samuel Gompers praised the act

27
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Wilsonian Progressivism at High Tide
• The Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 made loans
  available to farmers at low rates of interest. 
  The Warehouse Act of 1916 authorized loans on the
  security of staple crops.

28
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The La Follette Seamen's Act of 1915 benefited
  sailors by requiring decent treatment and a
  living wage on American ships.

29
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• President Wilson assisted the workers with
  the Workingmen's Compensation Act of 1916, giving
  assistance to federal civil-service employees
  during periods of disability. .
•  

30
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Also in 1916, the president approved an act
  restricting child labor on products flowing into
  interstate commerce. 

31
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The Adamson Act of 1916 established an 8-hour
  work day for all employees on trains in
  interstate commerce.

32
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Wilson nominated for the Supreme Court
  reformer Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jew to be a
  Supreme Court justice.

33
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• New Directions in Foreign Policy
• President Wilson was an anti-imperialist and
  withdrew from aggressive foreign policy.
• .
•  

34
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• He persuaded Congress in 1914 to repeal the Panama
  Canal Tolls Act of 1912, which had exempted
  American coastal shipping from tolls. 

35
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• He also signed the Jones Act in 1916, which
  granted the Philippines territorial status and
  promised independence as soon as a stable
  government could be established.

36
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• When political turmoil broke out
  in Haiti in 1915, Wilson dispatched marines to
  protect American lives and property. 

37
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• In 1916, he signed a treaty with Haiti providing
  for U.S. supervision of finances and the police.

38
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• In 1917, Wilson purchased the Virgin Islands from
  Denmark

39
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Moralistic Diplomacy in Mexico
• In 1913, the Mexican revolution took an ugly turn
  when the president was murdered and replaced
  by General Victoriano Huerta.  Because of the
  chaos in Mexico, millions of Spanish-speaking
  immigrants came to America.
•  

40
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• At first, President Wilson refused to intervene
  with the war in Mexico.  But after a small party
  of American sailors was accidentally captured by
  the Mexicans, Wilson ordered the navy to seize
  the Mexican port of Vera Cruz.

41
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Just as war seemed imminent with Mexico,
  Argentina, Brazil, and Chile intervened and
  pressured Huerta to step down.
• .

42
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Venustiano Carranza became the president of
  Mexico.  Francisco Villa, rival to President
  Carranza, attempted to provoke a war between
  Mexico and the U.S by killing Americans. 

43
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Wilson, rather, ordered General John J.
  Perishing to break up Villa's band of outlaws. 

44
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The invading American army was withdrawn from
  Mexico in 1917 as the threat of war with Germany
  loomed

45
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Thunder Across the Sea
• In 1914,World War I was sparked when the heir to
  the throne of Austria-Hungary was murdered by a
  Serb patriot. 

46
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• An outraged Vienna government, backed by Germany,
  presented an ultimatum to Serbia. .

47
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Serbia, backed by Russia, refused to budge. 
  Russia began to mobilize its army, alarming
  Germany on the east, and France confronted
  Germany on the west.  Germany struck at France
  first and the fighting began. 

48
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The Central Powers consisted of Germany,
  Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria. 

49
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The Allies consisted of France, Britain, Russia,
  Japan, and Italy

50
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• A Precarious Neutrality
• President Wilson issued the neutrality
  proclamation at the outbreak of WWI.
•  

51
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Most Americans were anti-Germany from the outset
  of the war.  Kaiser Wilhelm II, the leader of
  Germany, seemed the embodiment of arrogant
  autocracy. 

52
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Yet, the majority of Americans were against war.

53
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• America Earns Blood Money
• American industry prospered off trade with the
  Allies.  Germany and the Central Powers protested
  American trading with the Allies, although
  America wasn't breaking the international
  neutrality laws --

54
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Germany was free to trade with the U.S., but
  Britain prevented this trade by controlling the
  Atlantic Ocean by which Germany had to cross in
  order to trade with the U.S.

55
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• In 1915, several months after Germany started to
  use submarines in the war, one of Germany's
  submarines sunk the British liner Lusitania,
  killing 128 Americans.

56
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Americans demanded war but President Wilson stood
  strong on his stance against war.  When Germany
  sunk another British liner, the Arabic, in 1915,
   

57
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Berlin agreed to not sink unarmed passenger ships
  without warning.  Germany continued to sink
  innocent ships as apparent when one of its
  submarines sank a French passenger steamer,
  the Sussex. .

58
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• President Wilson informed the Germans that unless
  they renounced the inhuman practice of sinking
  merchant ships without warning, he would break
  diplomatic relations, leading to war. 

59
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Germany agreed to Wilson's ultimatum, but
  attached additions to their Sussex pledge  the
  United States would have to persuade the Allies
  to modify what Berlin regarded as their illegal
  blockade. 

60
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Wilson accepted the Germany pledge, without
  accepting the "string" of additions

61
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Wilson Wins the Reelection in 1916
• The Progressive Party and the Republican Party
  met in 1916 to choose their presidential
  candidate.   

62
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• Although nominated by the Progressives, Theodore
  Roosevelt refused to run for president. 

63
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The Republicans chose Supreme Court
  justice Charles Evans Hughes.  The Republican
  platform condemned the Democratic tariff,
  assaults on the trusts, and Wilson's dealings
  with Mexico and Germany.

64
Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

• The Democrats chose Wilson and ran an anti-war
  campaign.  Woodrow Wilson won the election of
  1916 and was reelected to the presidency.