 Framework of WI Government

• Describe the purpose of having state and local governments in addition to the national government.

• What topics might be most important to Wisconsin’s state and local governments and why?

• What topics are meaningful and of interest to you as a Wisconsinite and why?

 WI Government

 Three branches:

• Legislative (senate and assembly)

• Executive (governor)

• Judicial (courts)

• Local Units:

• 72 counties

• 190 cities

• 404 villages

• 1,257 towns

• 425 school districts

 Origins of the State Government

 Became the WI Territory in 1836

• 1846 U.S. Congress authorized the people in the territory to form a constitution and state gov’t in order to be admitted into the Union.

 First proposal was rejected due to provisions of banking, voting rights, property rights of married women, and homesteading.

 Second draft was ratified in 1848 (30th state)

 All aspects of WI are subject to the U.S. Constitution

 Tenth Amendment

• “Powers not delegated to the U.S…are reserved to the State…”

 Making the State Gov’t Work

 Legislative branch enacts laws that give the greatest benefit to the greatest number while protecting individual rights.

• All members may introduce bills

• All members may also offer amendments (changes)  Executive branch carries out the law

• Governor’s State of the State address – tells the legislature the condition of the state, and recommend suggestions.

• Once enacted, the governor actively implements the policy through oversight of agencies

 “faithfully executed”

 Judicial branch interprets the law

 Bill becomes a Law

 Passed by the legislature and signed by the governor.

• If vetoed, it can only become a bill if approved a second time by two-thirds vote in each house of the legislature.

 Opinions/concerns of WI citizens are the major source for ideas

• Write a letter to a newspaper, legislator, governor or hire a lobbyist

 State agencies will also voice concerns and recommendations

 Challenges faced as our population grows and changes

 Local Units of Government

 Within limits of statutory law, each unit (counties, cities, villages, and towns) has the power to tax and to make legally binding rules governing its own affairs.

 Each local unit operates differently in regards to personnel and operations

• Board of supervisors (counties), Village president, City mayor/common council, town meetings

 Immigrant Voting Reading Questions

 What voting requirement has become law under the administration of Scott Walker?

 What is “declarant alien” voting (we were the first state to include it in our constitution)?

 Describe the process for an immigrant to declare their intention to become a naturalized citizen.

• 3 steps

 Why did Wisconsin adopt an amendment in 1908 cancelling the right of declarants to vote?

 Why might this our voting history be considered important to know (aside from for your test)?

 Progressivism and the WI Idea

 1900-1925 – seek answers to problems caused by an increasingly industrial and technological society.

• In other states, social movements tried to address these changes  Greenback Party and Populist Party

• 1900 – “Progressives” gained control of the Republican Party.

 Following the Civil War, Republicans controlled state governments

 Interests and actions of government and business converged (personally and pragmatically)

 Progressive Republicans – business and government was to serve the people.

 Appealed to citizens who wanted honest government and moderate economic reforms – expand democracy and improve public morality.

 Robert La Follette

 La Follette WI

 “Fighting Bob” became a nationwide symbol of progressive reform making the state and emblem of progressive experimentation.

 Wisconsin Idea

• UW Faculty – helped draft laws and served as experts on gov’t commissions.

• University President Charles Van Hise

• Charles McCarthy

 The Progressive movement began as a small faction of the Republican Party

• Factions within factions – leaders who enlisted different groups to progressive causes.

 Accomplishments

 James Davidson (1906-11):

• State control of corporation stock issues

• Extension of the power of the railroad commission to regulate transportation

• Fixing of railroad fares

• Stricter regulation of insurance companies

 Francis McGovern

• Workers’ Compensation Law

• Regulate factory safety

• Formation of cooperatives

• State income tax

• State life insurance fund • Limited working hours for women and children

• Forest and waterpower conservation acts.

 Progressive Followers

 La Follette never gained complete control over the state’s Republican Party or even WI Progressives.

• Orderly change, rather than fundamental shift in economic and social order.

• Many of the reforms were moderate/acceptable

• WI citizens either viewed reforms as excessive state interference or wanted more sweeping changes (Socialist Party)

 1930s – Depression/Unemployment

• FDR’s New Deal

 Edwin Witte (Social Security 1935) trained by Progressive Wisconsin economics professor John R. Commons (unemployment compensation).

• Kennedy’s “New Frontier” and Johnson’s “Great Society”

 Socialism in Milwaukee

 Early 20th century was also the era of Socialism in Milwaukee

• “Sewer socialism” – back-to-basics strategies

• Cleaning up neighborhoods and factories with new sanitation systems, municipally-owned water and power systems, community parks, and improved education.

• Replace the capitalist system with a planned economy of state-owned industries

 Protect workers from business monopolies

 Improve conditions for the working class and achieve a more efficient administration of government

• Socialists did not advocate a violent revolution

 Come by ballots

 Social-Democratic Party in 1897

• After the violence and chaos of the eight-hour day campaign in 1886, Milwaukee’s laboring classes turned to political action.

• Joined with labor to form a new political party, the Social-Democrats

• Milwaukee became the first Socialist city in the United States.

 Victor Berger

 Victor Berger = symbol of Milwaukee Socialism. • Austrian immigrant

• Developed a program of political action that was a variety of moderate reform, under the name of Socialism.

• Drew on Milwaukee’s German population and active labor movement.

• Emphasized the need for honest government

 Popular appeal in a city long notorious for corruption and administrative inefficiency.

 1910 – Socialists won major electoral victories in Milwaukee

• Emil Seidel – nation’s first Socialist mayor

• Got most other city offices and a majority of seats on the city council and the county board.

• Victor Berger – first socialist Congressman.

 1916 – Milwaukee citizens elected another Socialist mayor – Daniel Hoan.

• Remained in office until 1940

• Socialists continued to exert a powerful influence in Milwaukee.

 Berger in Congress

 1918 – won a seat in Congress

• House of Representatives refused to permit him to take his seat.

 Violated the federal Espionage Act – supported the anti-war statement of the 1917 Socialist Convention in St. Louis

• Wisconsin’s governor called a special election to fill Berger’s seat in 1919

 Voters again elected him to Congress – but he was still refused to be seated.

• Ran again in 1920 but was defeated by Republican William Stafford

 1922 – ran for Congress and won

• House allowed Berger to take his seat (3 successive terms)

 Socialist vs. Progressivism

 Socialists and Progressives were suspicious of each other

• Socialists wanted nothing to do with the Republican Party, the parent party of the Progressives

 They saw them as weak on reform

 Both proved by example that honest, efficient government could work on the state and local level.

• Socialists got support from Milwaukee voters for their city-wide reform programs.

• Professionals supported a Socialist mayor – reputation as the best-governed city in the United States.