Chapter 8, Section 3
The Election of 1912
 Big Ideas:
Wilson

won the election because
Republican voters split with some
voting for Taft and others for
Roosevelt.
Election of 1912

 Roosevelt felt that Taft was not
progressive enough and did not
live up to expectations.
 Roosevelt told his friends that
he would challenge Taft for
the Republican nomination.
 At the Republican Convention,
conservatives supported Taft
while progressives supported
Roosevelt.
 Taft won the nomination, so
Roosevelt left the Republican to
run as an independent.
Election of 1912

 Taft won the nomination, so
Roosevelt decided to create his
own political party.
 Roosevelt created the
Progressive Party which was
referred to as the ‘Bull Moose
Party.’
 The Democrats nominated
New Jersey Governor
Woodrow Wilson.
Election of 1912

While both Wilson and
Roosevelt were
progressives, they had
different approaches to
making reforms.
 Roosevelt called his
program New Nationalism
which focused on:
 Women’s rights
 Worker’s compensation
Election of 1912

"The essence of any struggle for
healthy liberty has always
been, and must always be, to
take from some one man or
class of men the right to enjoy
power, or wealth, or position,
or immunity, which has not
been earned by service to his or
their fellows. That is what you
fought for in the Civil War, and
that is what we strive for now."
Election of 1912

 Wilson called his program
New Freedom which
focused on:
 Destroying monopolies
 Worker’s compensation
(payment for workers
injured on the job)
Election of 1912

"If America is not to have
free enterprise, he can
have freedom of no sort
whatever."
Election of 1912

 Since Republican
voters were split
between Taft and
Roosevelt, Wilson
won a landslide
victory.
 Wilson 435 votes
 Roosevelt 88 votes
 Taft 8 votes
Wilson’s Reforms

 Big Ideas:
Wilson
focused on reforming banks,
stock trading, and tariffs.
Wilson’s Reforms

 Wilson wanted to lower
tariffs. He believed that
lower tariffs would lead
to more efficient
businesses and lower
prices.
 In 1913 Wilson signed
the Underwood Tariff
which cut the tax on
imported goods by 50%.
 The Underwood Tariff
also created an income
tax.
Wilson’s Reforms

 During bad economic times, it
was not uncommon for banks
to fail. When this happened
people who had money in the
bank, lost their savings.
 In order to restore confidence
in banks, Wilson supported a
Federal Reserve System.
 Banks would have to keep a
portion of their money in a
federal bank, so that if the
bank collapsed, people would
not lose everything.
 The Federal Reserve Act
created 12 regional federal
banks.
Wilson’s Reforms

 Wilson campaigned against
trusts and monopolies, but
once he became president
he feared that breaking up
big companies would hurt
the economy and cost jobs.
 Wilson did request the
creation of the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC).
 The job of the FTC is to
investigate and stop unfair
trading practices.
Wilson’s Reforms

Progressives in Congress
did not think the FTC was
enough to stop corruption,
so they passed the Clayton
Antitrust Act in 1914. The
act stated that:
 Businesses could not charge
different customers different
prices
 Unions were exempt from
antitrust laws.
Wilson’s Reforms

Wilson also signed the
Keating-Owen Child
Labor Act (the first federal
law regulating child labor).
 But the Supreme Court
ruled the law
unconstitutional since
child labor did not involve
interstate commerce.
 That left the issue up to
individual states.

Progressivism’s Legacy & Limits
 Big Ideas:

 Progressivism
changed how people viewed
the government’s role in managing social
issues.
Before
progressivism most Americans did not
expect the government to pass laws that regulated
businesses or protected workers, consumers, &
children.
Progressivism’s Legacy & Limits

While progressives were
successful in many areas,
they failed to address
issues of racial and
religious discrimination.
Progressivism’s Legacy & Limits

 While Wilson is thought of as a
progressive, his forward thinking
did not extend to improving
conditions for African Americans.
 As the president of Princeton
University, he refused to allow
black students to attend. Princeton
was the only university in the
North to refuse black students.
 After becoming president, Wilson
re-segregated the federal
government.
 He supported the passage of a law
making interracial marriage in
Washington D.C. a felony.
Progressivism’s Legacy & Limits

John Abraham Davis, for example, experienced declining fortunes
in the Progressive Era. In 1912, the year of the presidential
election that pitted Progressive Theodore Roosevelt against
progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson, Davis was earning
$1200 a year supervising federal clerks in the Government
Printing Office. At 50 years old, he owned valuable real estate in
Virginia and the District of Columbia, and he was so confident of
his rising status that he chose the inimitable Roosevelt as his
personal model. Two years later, Davis was ferrying letters as a
low-level messenger, his pay a paltry $500 a year. In order to
continue to educate his brilliant children (at the elite colleges
Williams and Wellesley), Davis was forced to liquidate his
wealth and take on debt. He died in 1928, 66 years old and
financially ruined.
Progressivism’s Legacy & Limits

However, a new
organization was created to
demand equal rights for
African Americans.
 W.E.B. Du Bois and 28 other
Americans met on the
Canadian side of Niagara
Falls and launched the
NAACP.
 The goal of the NAACP was
to secure voting rights.
Progressivism’s Legacy & Limits

Jewish people also lived in
fear of mob violence.
Sigmund Livingston, a
lawyer, started the Anti
Defamation League
(ADL).
 The goal of the ADL was to
combat stereotypes and
discrimination.