The End of The Progressive Movement

Wilson Presidency Woodrow Wilson helped enact several major Progressive laws as President While New Freedom argued that the gov’t should be less involved the policies did make it more involved Wilson also believed that the Constitution could be a constraining thing that held back “progress” that the gov’t could make to better the lives of the people

The Federal Reserve In 1913Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act which created a “national bank” that was responsible for creating currency for the nation to use (dollars) and lending these to the banks to lend to the people The Fed. would also be able to control the money supply to ward off inflation or deflation by taking money out of the system or putting money into the system The Fed. was led by an appointee of the president which was important for taking power away from the Big Bankers in New York

Tax Reform 1913 Wilson passed the Underwood Tariff which slashed the current tariffs to stimulate business A national income tax was created to off set the revenue lost by the cutting of tariffs (passed as a Constitutional Amendment just before Wilson took office)

Trusts Wilson’s focus was to go after Trusts in general and not focus on individual trusts 1914 Federal Trade Commission created  focused on “consumer protection” and attacking “anit- competitive” business practices 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act focused on attacking unfair business practices  attacked price issues and product issues  could punish officers of companies that violated the Antitrust Law

Labor and Immigrants Wilson was generally seen as friendly to labor as long as they were friendly to him  during WWI Wilson went after labor groups that openly opposed the war effort (many were arrested or pestered by the D.O.J. Wilson began cracking down on immigrants during his second term  he had a law passed that allowed him to deport troublemaker immigrants  after WWI Wilson’s D.O.J. began targeting radical immigrant groups with special units to silence them

Criticism of Progressives While the Progressives tried to help they did nothing for these groups  African Americans  American Indians Some also say that Progressives are all about control and big government  Does this overstep the bounds of what a government should be able to do?  Does this take away freedom from the individual? By the end of the teens the U.S. economy was in a sharp downturn  Business Re[publicans were successful in blaming Progressives for this