Was Wilson a Progressive?

Woodrow Wilson unlike Roosevelt was a very quiet president but he drastically changed america during his presidency. Wilson was very progressive in fact, he introduced many new laws that were passed by the congress such as the 8 hour labor for kids if they worked for a government job. He also introduced laws which had to deal with people’s rights. Wilson was very progressive with some people but he did not show his progressive side towards black people. In fact he banned the mixed race marriage in the united states. Overall, Wilson was progressive with the people he thought deserved to get more rights. As the war came by, wilson had to take control of the situation and be able to keep the americans as calm as possible. Wilson wanted to avoid conflict at all costs, he believed that if the US would stay out, we could be the mediator and said the war was destructive and anti-civilization. Wilson feared that joining the fight would split the union put larger amount of immigrants in the US . After the sinking of the Lusitania and 128 Americans were killed in the attack, Wilson had decided it was time for America to join the war because they had already given Germany a warning and especially a second chance. The German move seemed like a wanted murder from the American's eyes which really shocked the entire country. Wilson was elected again due to his flexibility and his views on war. Now that America had joined war, Wilson did not want people to hide behind the battles, he wanted people to go out and fight. The reason why Wilson was not entirely progressive was because of the Stamp Act which was written by Wilson and which stated that people could be incarcerated for disobeying (ex: not going to war). Also, Wilson seemed selfish because he wanted to go out and fight unlike everybody else in the country. Overall, we can sya that Wilson was a progressive president although sometimes he put the country's power over the people's security which did not seem progressive at all.

Was Wilson a Progressive or Conservative?

I think that Wilson was neither a progressive nor a conservative. Even though for the majority of his presidential term, Wilson worked toward implementing progressive ideals, including the 14 Points, the anti trust law, and the banning of child labor, his support of policies that took rights away from African Americans and his support of force feeding women on strike took away from his perception as a progressive.

Rich Homie Roosevelt

I think that president Roosevelt should definitely be called a progressive, as I believe he has done mostly positive things for the overall outcome of the country. He may have been conceived as a big, strong, rambunctious man that often acted only on his impulses, yet if anyone were to take  look at what he had accomplished during his presidency, they would find many positive progressive reforms in comparison to any dis progressive ideas. He ended up passing many bills and reforms that helped out most of the people and their rights that were previously being imposed upon such as helping out the coal miners, passing bills to protect national forests and the environment, he also targeted the major monopolies that he felt were doing many Americans wrong. I think that none of these things could necessarily be called negative, and most of what he has accomplished has been done to help further the overall benefit of America.

Rich homie Wilson

President Woodrow Wilson is honestly a mixture of both a progressive and not a progressive. When he came into office he got things done, always passing laws to help out with the american people. He specifically targeted all of the monopolies, unlike Roosevelt who only targeted some. He was very pro-individualism and fought hard to make sure that all the average american people had rights and the opportunities to find their own personal success, he did this by passing many laws to try and help out. Although he did increase the individual opportunities for normal people by cutting down big business, he also allowed some laws to pass that negate almost all of the positive things that he has achieved. Wilson, while harboring the power to veto any bill he wants, let some bills pass that promoted racial segregation, including jobs in the postal service. He was a southerner and showed some of those tendencies when allowing such bills to pass.

Wilson's 14 Points

After world war one, the nations had to work together in order to find stability. Wilson believed that if all the Nations came together they would be able to rebuild their economy and create piece. President Woodrow Wilson decided to write 14 points, and just like the name states, they were 14 points which discussed ways in order to make the world safer for everyone, examples of the points were: “Freedom of the seas”, “no secret organization”, wilson also wanted the world to become more progressive and be open to new ideas.  The 14 Points also discussed punishment for the german, such as demilitarization of rhineland, and they would have to pay $33 billion dollars to France and Britain. After Wilson had written these “14 points”, the points were discussed in Paris in 1919 at the Paris peace conference. At the conference it was decided that Germany would have to be punished, Italy would gain Land and both France and Britain would gain power over Germany. Overall, The fourteen Points were successful to a certain extent, the rules were then broken by Germany at the start of WWII.

President Wilson and His 14 points By: Cooper Cornell

Cooper Cornell

Period. 4

11/2/15

President Wilson and His 14 points

When it came to dealing with the terms of peace after WWI, Wilson tried to unite all the conflicting nations to work together for collective security. Unlike the rest of the leaders meeting at Versailles who only cared about revenge and reparations, President Wilson believed in a "peace without victory" and a world "safe for democracy". Wilson projected these ideas to the European leaders through the 14 points and the concept of a group with a goal of preventing future war. This group was to be called the League of Nations.  The 14 points were the rules that the league would be based off of. Together the league and the points would be used to prevent future conflict between nations thus keeping collective security and peace. Wilson's issue is that he has trouble finding support for his plan from the other European nations. For example, Britain and France's leaders did not agree with Wilson's "peace without victory", they wanted revenge and reparations for all the lives they lost to Germany in the war. President Wilson's 14 points are flawed in that they don't account for individual interest. Wilson's idea of collective security doesn't account for the human nature of individual interest or greed. Nations will only work together as long as they want to. There is nothing keeping Wilson's plan in place. The terms of peace are discussed at the Peace Conference of 1919. All nations come to this conference with different ideas of how to deal with peace. Britain wants to strengthen themselves and punish Germany to an extent. France wants to punish and weaken Germany. Italy just wants to receive territory. All of these nations differ on the idea of the question of reparations. Since Germany loses the war all of the other nations make Germany the scapegoat. The big European powers want money from Germany as revenge. Germany is clearly not responsible for everything however Britain and France want Germany to admit it was their fault in the Guilt Clause. Wilson's one major victory at this conference is he get everyone to agree to the League of Nations. This is good for Wilson because this is is main belief to achieve collective security. The most controversial point for Wilson to deal with is Article X.

Theodore Roosevelt and his Progressive Actions

Theodore Roosevelt was the US president from 1901 to 1909.  During his time as president, Roosevelt made many reforms that were progressive.  Roosevelt believed that certain businesses and trusts were too large, and that they were hurting the economy.  He especially disliked JP Morgan, because he was too rich and controlled all of the railroads, so Roosevelt tried to break up the monopoly that Morgan had.  This outraged Morgan, but Roosevelt did not quit, because he felt that Morgan still had too much power.  Roosevelt also helped miners when they went on strike.  He sent troops into the mines to take them away from the owners, so the miners could go back to work.  Eventually, the miners got some of what they wanted from the strike, which included a 10% pay increase an 9 hour work days.