Progressive Era Under Taft and Wilson

Taft as President a.William Howard Taft was Roosevelt’s Secretary of War. b.Taft was very cautious as president, and he never felt presidential. This caused him problems within his own party, because he did not exert much control. c.The Payne-Aldrich Tariff caused problems, because progressives wanted lower tariffs, taxes on imports, but this bill only lowered tariffs on a few nonessential items. d.Taft also had problems concerning another progressive idea, conservation. He appointed Richard A. Ballinger as Secretary of the Interior, and he opposed government control over lands, and he quickly lifted one million acres of land from protection. e.Because of these problems, the Republican Party split. Conservatives remained with the party, while progressives formed the Progressive Party, a.k.a. the Bull Moose Party. f.Because of the turmoil in the party, the Democrats regained power in the House of Representatives during the mid-term election.

Election of 1912 a.The Democratic candidate was Woodrow Wilson, the Republican candidate was President Taft, the Progressive candidate was Teddy Roosevelt and the Socialist candidate was Eugene Debs. b.Wilson won, in large part, due to the split of the Republican Party.

Wilson as President a.Wilson’s progressive agenda was known as the New Freedom, because he planned to attack what he called the triple wall of privilege: the trusts, tariffs, and high finance. b.To regulate trusts and big businesses, Wilson pushed for the Clayton Antitrust Act and the Federal Trade Act, which formed the Federal Trade Commission. i.Clayton Antitrust Act: Strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act by declaring certain business practices illegal, including purchasing stock of corporations in order to develop a monopoly. ii.Federal Trade Commission: Investigated possible violations of regulations, and worked to stop unfair business practices. c.Wilson wanted to reduce tariffs, because he thought they limited competition and hurt consumers. d.In order to compensate for the loss of income from tariffs, so they took advantage of the 16th Amendment, and used a graduated federal income tax to bring in money for the government. e.To reform banking and finance, the Federal Reserve Act was passed creating the Federal Reserve System. i.The system was under government control. ii.It had the power to issue new paper money, and it also helped with loans. iii.The system is still very important today.

Women’s Suffrage Movement a.The movement began at the Seneca Falls Convention in b.Leaders of the movement tried 3 strategies to get the right to vote for women. i.They tried to convince state governments to pass laws allowing women to vote. ii.They pursued court cases that tested the 14th Amendment. They were testing the relationship between citizenship and voting rights. iii.They pushed for a Constitutional Amendment that would grant women the right to vote. c.Women in higher education began to gain more support for the movement. d.Groups like NAWSA (National American Women Suffrage Association) pushed change. e.Eventually, the 19th Amendment was passed granting women the right to vote.

The End of Progressivism a.The start of WWI drew attention away from the reform movement. b.Focus left the reform movement and concentrated on the war, and reform efforts declined.