THE WILSON YEARSThe Election of 1912

Picking the Candidates

Republican Party: President Taft

Democratic Party: Woodrow Wilson (governor of New Jersey/progressive)

Progressive Party (Bull Moose Party): Former President Teddy Roosevelt

Socialist Party: Eugene Debs

Wilson vs. Roosevelt

Wilson: New Freedom Roosevelt: New Nationalism

• Criticized Roosevelt’s New Nationalism for supporting regulated monopolies

• Said that approach gave the federal gov’t too much power in the economy

• Argued for Free Enterprise

Accepted large trusts as a fact of life—sought regulation

Favored legislation to protect women and children and workers

Roosevelt and Taft split the Republican vote—and Wilson wins!

Wilson’s Reforms

Reforming Tariffs Reforming the Banks

Personally appeared before Congress to support a tariff reduction bill

Underwood Tariff (1913): reduced the avg. tariff on imported goods to about ½ of what it was in 1890’s

Provided an income tax on the earnings of individuals

Supported the establishment of a federal reserve system

Federal Reserve Act of 1913: Banks had to keep portion of reserves in a regional reserve bank

It created 12 regional banks supervised by Board of Governors. –national supervision of banking system

Antitrust Action

Wilson began to agree with Roosevelt on trusts once in office

Progressives in office still demanded reform

Federal Trade Commission (FTC): to monitor American business—monitor “unfair trade practices”

Clayton Antitrust Act: outlawed certain practices that restricted competition

Passing of this Act corrected some of the problems of Sherman Antitrust

Regulating Business

Keating-Owen Child Labor Act: prohibited the employment of children under the age of 14 in factories producing goods for interstate commerce

In 1918: Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional because child labor was not “interstate commerce” and therefore only states could regulate it

Adamson Act: established 8 hour workday for RR workers

Federal Farm Loan Act: helped farmers get low interest loans

The Limits of Progressivism

Failure to address racial and religious discrimination

However, African Americans were absorbing the reform spirit and launched some campaigns of their own. NAACP was established in 1909

Race Riots occurred in 1908

• Jewish people also lived in fear of mob violence

• ADL-Anti-Defamation League was established