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Transcript of Freedom today is something more than being let alone. Without the watchful…resolute interference...
“Freedom today is something more than being
let alone. Without the watchful…resolute interference of the
government, there can be no fair play between individuals and such
powerful institutions as the trust.”
~ Woodrow Wilson
NCSCOS Goal #7
Page 44
Woodrow Wilson spent his youth in the South during the Civil War and
Reconstruction. The son, grandson, and nephew of Presbyterian
ministers, he received a strict upbringing. Before entering politics, Wilson worked as a lawyer, a history professor, and later as president of
Princeton University. In 1910, Wilson became the governor of New Jersey.
As governor, he supported progressive legislation programs such as a direct primary, worker’s
compensation, and the regulation of public utilities and railroads.
As America’s newly elected president, Wilson moved to enact his
program, the “New Freedom,” and planned his attack on what he called
the triple wall of privilege.
His Pledge
•New Freedom
-to fight the evils of society
-tariffs
-trusts
-banking
-poverty
-disease
-corrupt gov’t•Wants to fight the Triple Wall of Privilege
“There has been a change of government… Nowhere else in the world have noble men and women exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and the energy of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak in
the way of strength and hope.” ~Woodrow Wilson’s 1st Inaugural
According to Wilson, most Americans were trapped
inside a Triple Wall of Privilege, fighting high tariffs, trusts, and high
finance.
Wilson wants to break down these walls with his “New Freedom” plan, and he wants to make America
more affordable for ALL Americans.
Tariffs:
cos
ts w
ere
too
hig
h
for m
ost Am
eric
ans
to
affor
d, ye
t ta
riffs
wer
e th
e
mai
n s
ourc
e of
rev
enue
for
the
feder
al g
over
nm
ent
Trusts: com
pan
ies were
still limitin
g com
petition
for small b
usin
esses and
keepin
g overall p
rices
hig
h b
y formin
g larg
e
trusts
High Finance: people in America did not have the money to pay for the interest
rates on loans and borrowing.
Wilson’s New Freedom:
Fighting the Triple Wall of Privilege
Tariff and Taxes
-Wilson addressed Congress in person
-1st to do so since Madison’s 1812 War message
-Tariffs were lowered for 1st time since Civil War
Underwood Tariff
• Big business angry, Progressives happy
-Income tax provision was included
• Needed revenue for the federal government
Allowed by 16th Amendment
• Graduated tax on personal and cooperate income
-soon became main revenue source – main source today
Wilson lobbied hard in 1913 for the Underwood Act, which would
substantially reduce tariff rates for the first time since the Civil War. He
summoned Congress to a special session to plead his case, and established a
precedent of delivering the State-of-the-Union Address in person. Because of the new President’s use of the bully pulpit, Congress voted to cut tariffs in the face
of strong opposition.
According to Wilson, most Americans were trapped
inside a Triple Wall of Privilege, fighting high tariffs, trusts, and high
finance.
Wilson wants to break down these walls with his “New Freedom” plan, and he wants to make America
more affordable for ALL Americans.
Tariffs:
cos
ts w
ere
too
hig
h
for m
ost Am
eric
ans
to
affor
d, ye
t ta
riffs
wer
e th
e
mai
n s
ourc
e of
rev
enue
for
the
feder
al g
over
nm
ent
Trusts: com
pan
ies were
still limitin
g com
petition
for small b
usin
esses and
keepin
g overall p
rices
hig
h b
y formin
g larg
e
trusts
High Finance: people in America did not have the money to pay for the interest
rates on loans and borrowing.
Wilson’s New Freedom:
Fighting the Triple Wall of Privilege
Federal Reserve
-Wilson addresses Congress
-gov’t needs to be able to control money supply
•Should be able to adjust amount of money in economy
-this reform would remove control of monetary supply from the banking trusts
-set up system of 12 national banks
•Gave federal gov. the ability to control money supply
-Federal reserve is an essential part of our economy today
• Issue money, transfer funds
•Protects banks and overall economy
To protect the banks and allow the federal government to easily control
the money supply, the Wilson Administration set up the Federal
Reserve System. The system has 12 national banks, in which every bank
in the United States becomes a member of one district bank. That
bank loans the smaller banks money and keeps them from going
bankrupt. This also puts the banking and monetary systems
under federal control.
According to Wilson, most Americans were trapped
inside a Triple Wall of Privilege, fighting high tariffs, trusts, and high
finance.
Wilson wants to break down these walls with his “New Freedom” plan, and he wants to make America
more affordable for ALL Americans.
Tariffs:
cos
ts w
ere
too
hig
h
for m
ost Am
eric
ans
to
affor
d, ye
t ta
riffs
wer
e th
e
mai
n s
ourc
e of
rev
enue
for
the
feder
al g
over
nm
ent
Trusts: com
pan
ies were
still limitin
g com
petition
for small b
usin
esses and
keepin
g overall p
rices
hig
h b
y formin
g larg
e
trusts
High Finance: people in America did not have the money to pay for the interest
rates on loans and borrowing.
Wilson’s New Freedom:
Fighting the Triple Wall of Privilege
Trust Regulation
-FTC, 1914
Federal Trade Commission•“Watchdog” agency of businesses
-FTC could investigate corporate practices and regulate them if needed
•400 companies stopped in illegal activity
Woodrow Wilson’s administration began the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 1914. This group, still in use
today, investigates the business practices of big businesses to ensure
that trusts and monopolies do not form, making business in America more
competitive.
-Clayton Anti-trust Act, 1914
•Strengthened Sherman Act•Could not own stock in one another to form monopolies
stronger law
protected unions•Strikes, peaceful picketing, boycotting all legal
• Injunctions against strikers not allowed
Trust Regulation
Also a trustbuster, Woodrow Wilson is pictured here as a farmer keeping “Big Business” from Wall Street behind the
anti-trust fence, keeping the small businesses from being eaten up by
hungry pigs.
According to Wilson, most Americans were trapped
inside a Triple Wall of Privilege, fighting high tariffs, trusts, and high
finance.
Wilson wants to break down these walls with his “New Freedom” plan, and he wants to make America
more affordable for ALL Americans.
Tariffs:
cos
ts w
ere
too
hig
h
for m
ost Am
eric
ans
to
affor
d, ye
t ta
riffs
wer
e th
e
mai
n s
ourc
e of
rev
enue
for
the
feder
al g
over
nm
ent
Trusts: com
pan
ies were
still limitin
g com
petition
for small b
usin
esses and
keepin
g overall p
rices
hig
h b
y formin
g larg
e
trusts
High Finance: people in America did not have the money to pay for the interest
rates on loans and borrowing.
Wilson’s New Freedom:
Fighting the Triple Wall of Privilege
Suffrage Issue
-one of the Progressive reforms
•Right to vote for women
-Carrie Chapman Catt
a leader of the modern suffrage movement
• Invited Wilson to convention
•Wilson told women to wait
-some women moved to more militant efforts
•Picketing, hunger strikes
-women’s support in WW I eventually guaranteed success
•Very instrumental in WWI
Susan B. Anthony’s successor as president of NAWSA was Carrie
Chapman Catt. When Catt returned to NAWSA, she concentrated on five
tactics: painstaking organization; close ties between local, state, and national workers; establishing a wide base of
support; cautious lobbying; and gracious, ladylike behavior. Although suffragists saw victories, the greater
number of failures led some suffragists to try more radical tactics. They
pressured the federal government to pass a suffrage amendment, and they picketed the White House and went on
hunger strikes. Their efforts, and America’s involvement in WWI, finally
made women’s suffrage inevitable.
While the Progressive Presidents believed in giving greater freedom to average citizens, Roosevelt, Taft, and
Wilson all retreated on civil rights once in office. Wilson, with his Southern
background, maintained his prejudicial beliefs once in office, which prevented
him from using federal power to fight off attacks directed at the civil rights of
African Americans.
During the Presidential campaign of 1912, Wilson won support of the
NAACP’s black intellectuals and white liberals by promising to treat blacks
equally and to speak out against lynching.
As President, however, Wilson opposed federal anti-lynching legislation, arguing
that these crimes fell under state jurisdiction. In addition, the Capitol and the federal offices in Washington, D.C., which had been desegregated during
Reconstruction, resumed the practice of segregation shortly after Wilson’s
election.
“Only two years ago you were heralded as perhaps the second
Lincoln, and now the Afro-American leaders who supported you are hounded as false leaders
and traitors to their race…As equal citizens and by virtue of your public promises we are
entitled at your hands to freedom from discrimination, restriction, imputation, and
insult in government employ. Have you a ‘new freedom’ for white Americans and a new
slavery for your ‘Afro-American fellow citizens’? God forbid!”
~William Monroe Trotter, address to President Wilson
The Limits of Progressivism
Progressive Results
-laissez-faire policy fades
•Government becomes involved in the lives of its citizens
-social reforms help many
-Women have the right to vote, 19th Amendment
•1920, 70 years after they started the fight
-African Americans still ignored
•Still segregated•No anti-lynching laws
-World War I seems to end reforms
•Focus on world problems rather than home
Women celebrate as the 19th Amendment is ratified, which officially gave women the
right to vote in all federal elections, in 1920. This result was the capstone of the
Progressive Movement.
“There is no chance of progress and reform in an administration in which war
plays the principal part.”
~Woodrow Wilson