Writing about his new reform program or the “New Freedom,” President WoODROW WiLSON wrote, “the concern of patriotic men is to put our government again on its right basis by substituting the popular will for the rule of guardians, the processes of common council for those of private arrangement.” To do this, the Wilson administration would let the light in on all government affairs. Wilson sought to substitute public for private machinery in overseeing the economy and society. In the 1912 election Wilson voiced his program of reform as the “New Freedom,” hearkening back to the American ideal of family farms and small businesses and fair competition. Roosevelt, his major opponent, called for a New Nationalism of increased federal government power. Wilson won the day.
The Democratic Party regained the presidency under Wilson in 1912 due, in great part, to divisions within the Republican Party. Theodore Roosevelt’s decision to establish the Progressive Party cost the incumbent William Howard Taet the presidency. Wilson’s own progressive policy, the “New Freedom,” concentrated on opening the processes of politics and capital.
Wilson’s hallmark “New Freedom” legislation included tariff, currency, election, banking, and child labor reform.
The Wilson administration’s first attacks on the domestic front were on TARiees, the banks, and the trusts, known as the “triple wall of privilege.” Wilson personally presented his appeal to Congress for the Underwood Tariff Bill, which instituted a large reduction in rates and import fees. Many thought Wilson was committing political suicide, but he felt that the existing tariff placed undue hardship on average Americans. Wilson was successful in his lobbying efforts on the bill. A related measure was the new progressive income tax attached to the bill.
A second area of interest for Wilson’s New Freedom was the banking system. Once again, Wilson took his appeal to the “sovereign people” and won. In 1913 he signed the Federal Reserve Act. This act created the new Federal Reserve Board, which controlled 12 regional reserve districts, each with a central bank. They issued federal reserve notes backed by paper money, thus controlling the amount of currency. Trusts also were targeted with the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. This commission focused on monopolies and tried to prevent unfair trade practices. Other progressive measures put forth under Wilson included the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916, making credit available to farmers at low interest rates; the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1916 for federal civil service employees; and the Adamson Act of 1916, establishing an eight-hour day for railroad workers. In 1916 the child labor Keating-Owen Act was passed, which prohibited the shipment of products that had been made by workers under 14 years of age for some products and 16 for others. A Supreme Court decision later declared the act unconstitutional, but it was an important first step toward barring child labor.
Finally, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, which provided for the direct election oe senaToRs and was considered a move toward more democratic representation, was passed during the Wilson years. It was designed to take away the influence of “party machines” and other threats to democratic elections. Wilson strove to give selection of candidates over to direct primaries and elections and get it out of the hands of “small groups of men.” Wilson had wanted to leave a legacy more concerned with human rights than property rights.
Further reading: Kendrick A. Clements, The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1992); Arthur S. Link and Richard McCormick, Progressiv-ism (Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harland Davidson, 1983).
—Annamarie Edelen
World History
