1. Taft & Wilson
Chapter 16
Section 4

3. Progressivism under Taft
William Howard Taft will be Roosevelt’s choice to succeed him as President.
Taft will defeat William Jennings Bryan by a wide margin in the election
Soon, Taft will fall into disfavor with Roosevelt.

4. Taft & Progressivism
Taft worked to secure Roosevelt’s reforms rather than to build upon them.
He does create the Department of Labor & increase national forest reserves
Dept. of Labor enforces labor laws
Credited with passage of the 16th Amendment:
Income tax
Seen by Progressives as a way to more fairly pay for government programs

5. Loss of Support
His support of a tariff bill will outrage Progressives who see it hurting consumer costs.
The Ballinger-Pinchot Affair (accusations of sabotage of conservation efforts) & Taft’s firing of Pinchot also hurt Progressive view of Taft
Teddy Roosevelt turns on Taft after this.

6. Split in the Republican Party
Roosevelt supports Progressive Republicans who oppose Taft in Congressional elections.
TR proposes New Nationalism
Set of laws to protect workers, ensure public health, and regulate business.
Republicans still lose control of House (1st time in 16 years)
Republican Party is badly divided heading into 1912 election

7. 1912 election Many Republican still support Taft
Roosevelt challenges him but loses nomination.
Progressive Republicans break away and form Progressive (Bull Moose) Party with Roosevelt as candidate.
Democrats choose Woodrow Wilson
Eugene Debs is Socialist candidate
Debs gets 6% of vote (nearly 1 million votes)

8. 1912 election results

9. What effect did the split in the Republican Party have on the election of 1912?

11. Wilson takes over with the reputation of a reformer
Had fought political machines, permitted direct primaries & a program to compensate injured workers in New Jersey
New Freedom program calls for tariff reductions, banking reform, stronger antitrust laws
Progressive causes
Wilson’s New Freedom

12. Tariff Reduction
Wilson’s 1st priority is to lower tariffs (tax on imported goods)
Lower tariffs mean less government income; how to make up for that?
Graduated income tax means wealthier pay more; poorer pay less

13. (Borrow from Fed as needed)
Federal Reserve Board
Federal Reserve Act
Passed in 1913, created a central fund from which banks could borrow to prevent collapses during a panic.
Regulate the nation’s money supply
Bank failures had been common
12 Federal Reserve Banks
(serve other banks)
Private Banks
(Borrow from Fed as needed)

14. Stronger antitrust laws
Unfair business practices persisted after passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890.
Wilson urges passage of Clayton Antitrust Act
Prohibited companies from buying stock of competing companies (in order to form monopolies)
Also supports workers by making strikes, boycotts and peaceful picketing legal for the 1st time
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is established to enforce antitrust laws & get tough on companies using deceptive advertising.

15. What were the three major areas of reform in Wilson’s New Freedom?

16. Women Gain the Vote Split in Women’s movement during Wilson years:
NAWSA: state-by-state strategy
by 1901 only 4 western states gave full voting rights to women
Alice Paul & Lucy Burns leave to form National Women’s Party
Constitutional Amendment
Picket the White House, hunger strikes to draw attention
Under Carrie Chapman Catt, NAWSA begins pushing for suffrage at both levels
Female support during World War I helps change political views

17. 19th Amendment (1920): women get full voting rights

18. Progressivism & rights of African-Americans
Progressive movement had lot of achievements but little when it came to rights of African-Americans
Teddy Roosevelt had a mixed record but was 1st President to invite an African-American to White House dinner (Booker T. Washington)
“I cannot consent to take the positions that the doorway of hope- the door of opportunity- is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely upon the grounds or race or color. Such an attitude would, according to my contentions, be fundamentally wrong.”

19. Brownsville Incident
Though falsely accused, they are told if not accept responsibility, they will all be discharged
None do & Roosevelt signs papers discharging 167 men & denying them back pay & pensions.
Not until 1972 were records corrected to show ‘honorable discharge’
Wilson had a worse record: not supporting anti-lynching laws & allowing segregated offices
His reaction to an event in Brownsville, TX will disappoint

20. World War I will end the Progressive Era as more Americans will be focused on the war rather than reform at home.