Term Papers on Wilson, Woodrow

Term Paper Title	Wilson, Woodrow
# of Words	1941
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	7.76

Wilson, Woodrow

Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States (1913-21), secured a
legislative program of progressive domestic reform, guided his country
during WORLD WAR I, and sought a peace settlement based on high moral
principles, to be guaranteed by the LEAGUE OF NATIONS.

Early Life and Career

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Va., on Dec. 28, 1856. He was
profoundly influenced by a devoutly religious household headed by his
father, Joseph Ruggles Wilson, a Presbyterian minister, and his mother,
Janet Woodrow Wilson, the daughter of a minister. Woodrow (he dropped the
Thomas in 1879) attended (1873-74) Davidson College and in 1875 entered the
College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), graduating in 1879.
Wilson studied (1879-80) at the University of Virginia Law School, briefly
practiced law in Atlanta, and in 1883 entered The Johns Hopkins University
for graduate study in political science. His widely acclaimed book,
Congressional Government (1885), was published a year before he received
the doctoral degree. In 1885 he married Ellen Louise Axson; they had three
daughters.

Wilson taught at Bryn Mawr College (1885-88) and Wesleyan University
in Connecticut (1888-90) before he was called (1890) to Princeton as
professor of jurisprudence and political economy. A popular lecturer,
Wilson also wrote a score of articles and nine books, including Division
and Reunion (1893) and his five-volume History of the American People
(1902). In 1902 he was the unanimous choice of the trustees to become
Princeton's president. His reforms included reorganization of the
departmental structure, revision of the curriculum, raising of academic
standards, tightening of student discipline, and the still-famous
preceptorial system of instruction. But Wilson's quad plan--an attempt to
create colleges or quadrangles where students and faculty members would
live and study together--was defeated. Opposed by wealthy alumni and
trustees, he also lost his battle for control of the proposed graduate
college.

The Princeton controversies, seen nationally as a battle between
democracy and vested wealth, propelled Wilson into the political arena.
George Harvey, editor of Harper's Weekly, with help from New Jersey's
Democratic party bosses, persuaded Wilson to run for governor in 1910.
After scoring an easy victory, he cast off his machine sponsors and
launched a remarkable program of progressive legislation, including a
direct-primary law, antitrust laws, a corrupt-practices act, a workmen's
compensation act, and measures establishing a public utility commission and
permitting cities to adopt the commission form of government.

Success in New Jersey made him a contender for the Democratic
presidential nomination. Although Wilson entered the 1912 Democratic
National Convention a poor second to Speaker of the House Champ Clark, his
strength increased as Clark's faded, and he won the nomination after 46
ballots. Offering a program of reform that he called the New Freedom,
Wilson ran against a divided Republican party. In November, with only 42
percent of the popular vote, he won 435 electoral votes to 88 for
Progressive candidate Theodore Roosevelt and 8 for the Republican
candidate, President William Howard Taft.

Progressive as President

By presenting his program personally before the Democratically
controlled Congress, employing personal persuasion as well as patronage,
and appealing to the American public with his stirring rhetoric, Wilson won
passage of an impressive array of progressive measures. The Underwood
Tariff Act (1913), the first reduction in duties since the Civil War, also
established a modest income tax. The Federal Reserve Act (1913) provided
for currency and banking reform. Antitrust legislation followed in 1914,
when Congress passed the Federal Trade Commission Act and the CLAYTON
ANTI-TRUST ACT. In 1915, Wilson supported the La Follette Seamen's bill,
designed to improve the working conditions of sailors. The following year
he signe...

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