Progressivism in the Wilson, Roosevelt, and Taft Administrations

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Progressivism in the Wilson, Roosevelt, and Taft Administrations The order in which the presidents of the Progressive Era followed their ideals from greatest to least is Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921), Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909), and William Howard Taft (1909–1913). The goals of Progressivism were to strengthen the state, use government as an agent of human welfare, cure the ills of democracy with more democracy, and regain power of people usurped by “interests. Its political objectives were initiative, referendum, recall, secret ballot primary elections, direct election of senators, women’s suffrage, income tax, and prohibition. Wilson is first because he advocated votes for women and a graduated income tax for example and favored government action to prevent monopolies. Roosevelt is second because of his reputation as a “trustbuster” and for his legendary Square Deal. Taft is third because he supported Teddy Roosevelt's "Square Deal" policy of attempting to strike a balance between employers and employees and conservatives and Progressives. Woodrow Wilson, staying true to his campaign promises, tackled the tariff issue first. The Underwood-Simmons Tariff (1913) was the first law to substantially lower rates in 50 years. To make up for the revenue shortfall that the reduction in rates caused, the law included a provision for implementing the federal income tax provided for in the just-ratified Sixteenth Amendment. A congressional investigation found that the country's credit and money policies were largely controlled by a handful of eastern banks. The administration's response to this discovery was the creation of the Federal Reserve System. Under the Federal Reserve Act (1913), Federal Reserve banks were set up in 12 regions across the United States. The cornerstone of Wilson's antitrust policy was the Federal Trade Commission (1914) which was intended to

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