Progressivism Under Taft and Wilson
1 Progressivism Under Taft and Wilson TEKS 4(C), 8(B) 2 Listen When William Howard Taft was elected President in 1908, he promised to continue progressive policies, but he also sided with big business. Taft favored lowering tariffs and angered conservationists, who worked to protect natural resources, by supporting business interests that wanted to develop public lands. 3 Listen Progressives in the Republican party rebelled against Taft, and former President Theodore Roosevelt turned against him, calling for more reforms in business regulation, welfare laws, workplace protection for women and children, and voting reforms. Roosevelt called his program the New Nationalism. 4 Listen Roosevelt and Progressives formed the Progressive party, nicknamed the Bull Moose Party, and in 1912 Roosevelt ran for President. His candidacy split the Republican party, and the election went to Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Wilson supported many progressive reforms. Tariffs were lowered, and the Clayton Antitrust Act strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act by stating that labor unions were not monopolies, thereby legalizing unions and preventing courts from issuing injunctions. 5 Listen Wilson established the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce regulation on businesses. To regulate the supply of credit, Wilson created the Federal Reserve System, a network of federal banks that hold money deposits from national banks and use the money to increase the credit supply when necessary. 6 Listen But Wilson took little action to pursue social justice reform. Reform was of less interest in America as World War I approached, and Progressivism began to die out. However, the voice for women’s suffrage only grew stronger.
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