Chapter 29 Outline on Wilsonian Progressivism

Chapter 29 Outline format

Due Tuesday. January 25, 2011

Make sure you actually go back and answer the questions included here. Explain WHY items are significant, or what impact they had.

I. Was Wilson an idealist or a realist, and what effect did his mindset have upon his presidency?
—A. What was Wilson’s background?
——1. Birthplace/culture
——2. Academics
——3. Religious
——4. Personality
——5. Race- was he a progressive in this area?
—B. The Election of 1912
——1. How did disarray in the Republican Party aid Wilson? Explain fully.
——2. Outline the “New Freedom” program.
——3. Contrast with the “New Nationalism.”
———a. Croly’s influence
——4. What does “Minority” president mean?
——5. What was surprising about Wilson’s victory?

II. What impact did progressivism have economically?
—A. The “Triple Wall of Privilege:” what does that mean?
—B Tariffs and Taxes
——1. What happens to tariff levels?
——2. What takes their place for revenue?
——3. What impact does this have on the economy?
—C. Was there really a banking “system?”
——1. Explain Pujo and the “Money monster.”
——2. Outline the Democratic plan.
——3. Federal Reserve Act, Board, and Notes: what do they do and how do they work?
——(What did the Fed do in the last few weeks and why?)
——4. Why is control of the currency supply important?
—D. Why were trusts and monopolies viewed as dangerous by consumers and workers?
——1. What does the FTC do?
———a. Why could it only investigate interstate commerce?
———(See the Constitution, Article I, sec. VIII)
——2. Why was the Sherman Act not enough?
——3. The “Magna Carta for Labor”- what was its impact?
—E. Worker’s Protection and benefits increase—but at a price?
——1. Fed Farm Loan Act
——2. La Follette Seamen’s Act: pros and cons
——3. Where did the “eight-hour day” come from?
——4. What about black workers?

III. Progressivism and Foreign Policy
—A. The death of “dollar diplomacy”
——1. Panama Canal fairness
——2. Resolving the status of the Philippines
——3. Turning the Caribbean into an “American lake”
—B. The limits of anti-imperialist idealism
——1. Haiti
——2. Dominican Republic
——3. Problems with Japan
———a. California laws
———b. Chinese railroads
——4. Mexico
———a. Huerta and Carranza
———b. Tampico
———c. Pancho Villa- the Frito Bandito in New Mexico
———d. Pershing goes on a Taco Bell run?
———e. Who helps us out of this mess?
—C. Outbreak of WWI and its early impact on the US
——1. Neutrality- how real was it?
——2. Were Americans businessmen “Merchants of Death?”
——3. Submarines make neutrality costly:
———a. Lusitania
———b. Sussex and the pledge
——4. Impact on the election of 1916: Did he “Keep Us Out of War?”