Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom
Chapter 17, Section 5
October 11, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 12
Roosevelt and Taft Differ
✤
Roosevelt leaves office after
two terms satisfied with what
he had accomplished.
✤
Roosevelt helps campaign for
and elect President William
Howard Taft.
✤
Taft was seen as a “puppet” for
Roosevelt. Everyone was of the
opinion that Taft would simply
follow the policies that and
ideas that Roosevelt put forth.
Thursday, October 11, 12
Roosevelt and Taft
Differ
✤
Taft takes his own course in the
presidency and sets his own
agenda.
✤
Taft takes stances that
Roosevelt heavily disagrees
with.
✤
Roosevelt begins going around
the country speaking out about
Taft’s policies and speaking out
for what he calls “New
Nationalism”.
Thursday, October 11, 12
New
Nationalism
✤
The New Nationalism was a
program Roosevelt pushed to
restore the Government’s
trustbusting power.
✤
Declaring himself as “strong as
a moose,” Roosevelt vowed to
enact this program in a third
presidential term.
✤
Taft-Roosevelt battle splits the
Republican party.
Thursday, October 11, 12
Progressive
Party
✤
As the election neared,
Progressives bolted from the
Republican party and set up
the Progressive Party.
✤
The Progressives nominated
Roosevelt as the party’s
candidate for the 1912 election.
✤
The Republicans nominated
Taft.
Thursday, October 11, 12
1912 Election
✤
The split between the
Republicans and Progressives
created an opportunity for the
Democrats and their candidate
Woodrow Wilson.
✤
Wilson: 435 E.V., 6.3 Million
P.V.
✤
Roosevelt: 88 E.V., 4.1 Million
P.V.
✤
Taft: 8 E.V., 3.5 Million P.V.
Thursday, October 11, 12
Woodrow Wilson
(1856-1924)
✤
Lawyer
✤
Professor
✤
13th President of Princeton
University (1902-1910)
✤
34th Governor of New Jersey
(1911-1913)
✤
28th President of the United
States (1913-1921)
Thursday, October 11, 12
Wilson’s New
Freedom
✤
Wilson shaped his ideas into a
platform he called the New
Freedom.
✤
Much like Roosevelt’s New
Nationalism, Wilson wanted to
place strict government
controls on corporations.
Thursday, October 11, 12
“The man with only a little capital is finding it harder and harder to get into the field , more
and more impossible to compete with the big fellow. Why? Because the laws of this country
do not prevent the strong from crushing the weak.”
Woodrow Wilson, “The New Freedom,” 1913
Date
Thursday, October 11, 12
Wilson Regulates
The Economy
✤
President Wilson attacks what
he calls the “triple wall of
privilege”-the tariffs, the banks,
and the trusts-that blocked
businesses from being free.
✤
In his first term, Wilson pushed
for new laws that would break
down those 3 walls and give
the government more control
over the economy.
Thursday, October 11, 12
Congress Lowers
Tariffs
✤
Wilson aimed to prevent big
manufacturers from unfairly charging
high prices.
✤
One way to do this was to lower tariffs
on goods imported from foreign
countries.
✤
This way, if American companies’
prices were too high, consumers could
buy foreign goods.
✤
Wilson presses Congress to pass
Underwood Tariff Bill which lowers
taxes.
Thursday, October 11, 12
Congress Raises
Taxes
✤
The Underwood Tariff Act of
1913 included a provision to
create a graduated income tax.
✤
A graduated income tax means
that wealthy people pay a
higher percentage of their
income than do poor people.
Thursday, October 11, 12
At the time, the country had no central authority to supervise banks. As a result, interest rates for loans could
fluctuate wildly, and a few wealthy bankers had control over the national, state, and local banks’ reserve funds.
Wilson pushed Congress to pass the Federal Reserve Act (1913). This law placed banks under a control of a
Federal Reserve Board which set up regional banks to hold the reserve funds from commercial banks. This
system helps the American economy from having too much money end up in the hands of one person, bank, or
region.
Thursday, October 11, 12
Federal Trade
Commission
✤
Wilson persuaded Congress in
1914 to create the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC).
✤
Members of this group were
named by the president to
monitor business practices that
might lead to monopoly.
Thursday, October 11, 12
Progressivism Leads a Lasting Legacy
The Progressive Presidents
Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, And Woodrow Wilson
Thursday, October 11, 12
Thursday, October 11, 12