From the beginning of the 1912 election, the people could sense the new ideas of Woodrow
Wilson would move them in the right direction. Wilson's idea of New Freedom would almost
guarantee his presidential victory in 1912. In contrast to Wilson's New Freedom,
Roosevelt's New Nationalism called for the continued consolidation of trusts and labor
unions, paralleled by the growth of powerful regulatory agencies. Roosevelt's ideas were
founded in the Herbert Croly's novel, The Promise Of American Life written in 1910.
Although both Wilson and Roosevelt favored a more active government role in economic and
social affairs, Wilson's favored small enterprise, entrepreneurship, and the free
functioning of unregulated and unmonopolized markets. Obviously, from the results of the
1912 election, the people favored Wilson's New Freedom.
Wilson entered office with a more clear cut plan of what he wanted to achieve than any
other president before him. The new president called for an all out assault on what
Wilson called "the triple wall of privilege": the tariff, the banks, and the trusts. In
early 1913, Wilson attempted to lower the tariff. Wilson shattered the precedent set by
Jeffer-son to send a messenger to address Congress when Wilson himself formally addressed
Congress. This had a huge effect on Congress to pass the proposed Underwood Tariff Bill,
which provided a substantial reduction of rates. The new Underwood Tariff substan-tially
reduced import fees. It also was a landmark in tax legislation. Under authority granted
by the Sixteenth Amendment, Congress enacted a graduated income tax. By 1917, revenue
from income tax was greatly more than from the tariff and would continue on this trend
for many years.
Next, Woodrow Wilson was determined to conquer the Bankers. The old banking system had
been greatly outgrown by economic expansion. The country's banking was still under the
old Civil War National Banking Act which revealed many glaring defects. In the Panic of
1907, many flaws of the banking system, including the inelasticity of the currency, were
overwhelmingly obvious. Wilson was determined to fix these problems. In June of 1913,
Wilson made his second personal appearance to address Congress, this time for a plea to
reform the banking system. And in 1913, again appealing to the public, Wilson signed the
Federal Reserve Act, now considered the most important piece of eco-nomic legislature
between the Civil War and the New Deal. The new Federal Reserve Board, appointed by the
president, oversaw a nationwide system of twelve regional re-served districts, each with
its own central bank. The final authority over these banks was granted to the Federal
Reserve Board, which guaranteed a substantial measure of public control. The board was
also empowered to issue paper money called "Federal Reserve Notes." The amount of money
in circulation could be swiftly increased as needed for the legitimate requirements of
business.
In 1914, Woodrow Wilson tried to tame the trusts. Again making a personal ap-pearance
to address Congress with his propositions helped dramatize the situation and sway the
support towards his ideas. Congress responded with the Federal Trade Commis-sion Act of
1914. The new law empowered a presidentially appointed commission to toughen regulations
on interstate commerce. This was supposed to crush monopolies by wiping out unfair trade
policies. Next came the Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914, which was meant to further
strangle the major monopolies. It lengthened the list of business practices deemed
objectionable in the Sherman Act. Now, price discrimination and inter-locking
directorates were gravely forbidden.
Wilson had caught the attention of the public by conquering the "triple wall of
privilege." With the full support of the public, Wilson pressed ahead with further
reforms. The Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 made credit available to farmers at low rates
of inter-est. The Warehouse Act of 1916 authorized loans on the security of staple
crops. Other laws also benefited rural America by providing for highway construction and
the estab-lishment of agricultural extension work in the state colleges. In 1915, Wilson
passed the La Follette Seamen's Act which required decent treatment and a living wage on
American merchant ships. Wilson further helped the workers with the Workingmen's
Compensation Act of 1916, granting assistance to federal civil-service employees during
periods of dis-ability. In the same year the president approved an act restricting child
labor on products flowing into interstate commerce, though the Supreme Court deemed the
law unconstitu-tional. And in 1916, the Adamson Act of 1916 established an eight-hour
work day for all employees on trains in interstate commerce, with extra pay for overtime.
Wilson made giant steps in improving the quality of life for Americans.
Although Wilson had much success in America policies, Woodrow Wilson did lack the
ability to achieve greatness when dealing with foreign policy. Wilson stopped dollar
diplomacy immediately after entering office. Then in 1914, Wilson persuaded Congress to
repeal the Panama Canal Tolls Act of 1912, which had exempted American shipping tolls
which provoked major protests from Britain. Wilson also signed the Jones Act in 1916
granting the Philippines independence as soon they could operate a stable governmental
system. Wilson also partially defused a dangerous situation between Japan and
California. California passed a law prohibiting Japanese settlers from owning land. The
main reason California did this was to discourage Japanese from settling in California.
Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan pleaded with California to ease its position.
California gave in and the problem was partially defused for the time being.
But Wilson did have trouble in Haiti and Mexico. The climax of disorders was in
1914-1915 when the Haitian leader was overthrown. Wilson sent troops into Haiti to
protect the American citizens living there. Wilson concluded a treaty with Haiti under
the conditions that the United States provide supervision of finances and the police for
the Haitian nation. In the same year Wilson sent marines to stop rioting in the
Dominican Re-public. And in 1917, Wilson purchased from Denmark the Virgin Islands in
the West In-dies. Wilson's plan of anti-imperialism did not hold any more.
In April, 1914, a small group of American sailors was mistakenly arrested in the
Atlantic Seaport of Tampico, Mexico. The Mexicans promptly released the captives and
apologized, but they to give the twenty-one gun salute that the American admiral
de-manded. Wilson, determined to eliminate Huerta, asked Congress for authority to use
forces against Mexico. Before Congress could act, Wilson ordered the navy, which was
seeking to intercept a German ship bearing arms to Huerta, to seize the Mexican port of
Vera Cruz, Huerta as well as Carranza condemned this American intervention. If it was
for the intervention of the ABC Powers?Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, America would have
most likely gone to war with Mexico over this ridiculous issue. But in January 1916,
"Pancho" Villa killed eighteen American citizens in Santa Ysabel, Mexico. Then in March
1916, Villa and his gang shot up Columbus, New Mexico, killing seventeen Americans.
Under Wilson's orders, General John J. ("Black Jack") Pershing commanded his army into
Mexico killing most of Villa's gang and innocent bystanders, but they never caught Villa
himself. This was not one of America's finest moments.
But Wilson's greatest blunder in foreign policy was after the end of World War I.
Wilson's fourteen points was a brilliant set of ideas to help both the Allies and the
Central Powers. Wilson was never out to hurt any country, unlike Britain and France who
wanted revenge on Germany. Wilson knew that if they punished Germany for World War I,
that it would only come back to haunt them. He was right. But many people did not
listen to him. Wilson decided to go to Paris in person to fight for his fourteen points.
This infuri-ated the Republicans. The Republicans were even more infuriated with what
Wilson did next. Wilson needed people from Congress to attend the Paris Peace Conference
with him. He neglected to bring one Republican from the Senate. Little did he know that
the Republicans would not sign the treaty because of Wilson's political blunder. In
Paris, Wil-son was extremely disappointed with Britain and France. They did not agree
with his fourteen points and at the end Wilson had to sacrifice many of his ideas to get
the League of Nations in the treaty. As you know, the United States did not enter the
League because of Wilson's stubborn attitude of all or nothing. Wilson's political
blunder in dealing with foreign relations hurt him as president.
Although Wilson was a master in forming American polices, his scheme on foreign policies
was not as clear cut and precise. In America, Wilson passed many invaluable laws
fighting the tariff and the trusts. He also set up a brilliant banking system which
could fluctuate with the good times and bad times. But Wilson was stubborn, which was
espe-cially seen when his fourteen points failed. He would not settle for just some of
his plan. It was either all or nothing. And as it turned out, it was nothing. Wilson
was a genius at working with the Americans, but failed at being one of our greater
presidents dealing with foreign policy.
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