PROGRESSIVISM UNDER TAFTCHAPTER 17.4

TAFT BECOMES PRESIDENT

TR handpicked William Howard Taft to be the (R) nominee for 1908

election

Spent entire 4-year term in TR’s shadow; never felt like the president

Taft was a cautious progressive often viewed as weak by the public

Campaigned on a platform of lowering tariffs…then signed the Payne-Aldrich

Tariff

Also appointed an anti-conservationist to his cabinet

REPUBLICAN PARTY SPLITS

Taft’s cautious nature made it impossible to hold (R) party together

Progressives vs conservatives

Voters turned on the (R) party and blamed Payne-Aldrich for high cost of living

Angry over Taft’s ineffective term, TR ran for a 3rd term as a spoiler (a

candidate that draws votes away from a similar candidate)

TR formed the Progressive Party to run (known as Bull Moose Party)

Called for women’s suffrage, 8-hour workday, minimum wage for women, federal law against child

labor, and initiative, recall, and referendum in all states

With voters split between Taft and TR, Woodrow Wilson (D) won in

1912

WILSON’S NEW FREEDOMCHAPTER 17.5

WILSON’S REFORMS

Woodrow Wilson was from the South and grew up during the Civil War and

Reconstruction

As president, Wilson began his progressive “New Freedom” program

Designed to attack large concentrations of power, make things more equal for the average American

Congress passed antitrust measures:

Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)

Strengthened Sherman AA and protected labor unions

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

A watchdog agency given power to investigate corporations and end unfair business practices

A NEW TAX SYSTEM

Wilson worked to lower tariffs

Plead with Congress in person to get it done; succeeded

Began practice of delivering State of the Union address in person

With lower tariffs, feds needed new source of revenue

16th Amendment: legalized a federal income tax that taxes individual earnings and corporate

profits

Income tax provide more revenue than tariffs ever did

Wilson established the Federal Reserve System

Nat’l banking system, controls U.S. money supply

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE AND CIVIL RIGHTS

Women were some of the most active members of the progressive movement; became increasingly impatient about suffrage

Coordinated efforts among women’s organizations, radical demonstrations, and involvement in WWI finally led to suffrage for women

1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment: granted women the right to vote

Wilson ignored civil rights; sometimes made it worse

Opposed anti-lynching legislation

Appointed many white Southerners to cabinet

Contributor to the “Lost Cause” narrative

Progressive Era ended with WWI