Woodrow Wilson and the Presidency
Woodrow Wilson and The Presidency
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
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