1912 Presidential Election
1912 Presidential Election
Although the election of 1912 had four candidates running for president, the two most important were the Progressive Candidate, Theodore Roosevelt and the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson. Both had their own individual views on what the future of the country should be like and what the government’s role should be. Most of their views were opposite of each other, but they also had a few that overlapped. Even though Wilson won the election in the end, both candidates had strong platforms and a passion to change this country for the better. Wilson named his platform the “New Freedom” and had based all his ideas around the one central thought of limiting the government. His goals were to break up monopolies and promote small businesses. The only thing he wanted the government to do was to strengthen anti-trust laws, allow workers to form unions, and encourage small entrepreneurs (Voices, pg. 95). By allowing these small businesses to exist, Wilson believed the competition between them would benefit the economy and the consumers. Wilson also believed that corporations had too much influence, and that trying to regulate them would not work. He supported this view by saying that these corporations would influence the federal government, which was supposed to control them. Basically, the government’s attempt to regulate would backfire. It would not be successful and monopolies would continue to invest in controlling political affairs. The government would begin to look to the large corporations since they would have the biggest influence in the political process. Wilson feared this, and believed that it would be a terrible thing for the economy. All in all, Wilson believed that economic problems did exist at this time, but that it was not the role of the government to fix this problem. He believed that the government was the antagonist of freedom (Story, pg. 159). He highly encouraged the people to be the ones to step in because
Although the election of 1912 had four candidates running for president, the two most important were the Progressive Candidate, Theodore Roosevelt and the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson. Both had their own individual views on what the future of the country should be like and what the government’s role should be. Most of their views were opposite of each other, but they also had a few that overlapped. Even though Wilson won the election in the end, both candidates had strong platforms and a passion to change this country for the better. Wilson named his platform the “New Freedom” and had based all his ideas around the one central thought of limiting the government. His goals were to break up monopolies and promote small businesses. The only thing he wanted the government to do was to strengthen anti-trust laws, allow workers to form unions, and encourage small entrepreneurs (Voices, pg. 95). By allowing these small businesses to exist, Wilson believed the competition between them would benefit the economy and the consumers. Wilson also believed that corporations had too much influence, and that trying to regulate them would not work. He supported this view by saying that these corporations would influence the federal government, which was supposed to control them. Basically, the government’s attempt to regulate would backfire. It would not be successful and monopolies would continue to invest in controlling political affairs. The government would begin to look to the large corporations since they would have the biggest influence in the political process. Wilson feared this, and believed that it would be a terrible thing for the economy. All in all, Wilson believed that economic problems did exist at this time, but that it was not the role of the government to fix this problem. He believed that the government was the antagonist of freedom (Story, pg. 159). He highly encouraged the people to be the ones to step in because