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 ...
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(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, ...
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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 signed the Federal Farm Loan Act, providing low-interest credit to
farmers; the Adamson Act, granting an 8-hour day to interstate railroad
workers; and the Child Labor Act, ...
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"Wilson, Woodrow." Essayworld.com. July 3, 2008. Accessed November 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Wilson-Woodrow/86193.
"Wilson, Woodrow." Essayworld.com. July 3, 2008. Accessed November 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Wilson-Woodrow/86193.
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