Progressivism

Period VII (1890-1945)

Vocabulary I (1890-1920)

1. 16^th amendment
2. 17^th amendment
3. 18^th amendment
4. 19^th amendment
5. Anti-Imperialist League
6. Big Stick Policy
7. Bimetallism
8. Bull Moose Party
9. Clayton Antitrust Act
10. Conservation
11. Cross of Gold Speech
12. Dollar diplomacy
13. Elkins Act
14. Federal Reserve Act
15. Foraker Act
16. Free Silver
17. Gentlemen’s Agreement
18. Hepburn Act
19. Imperialism
20. Initiative
21. Jingoism
22. Meat Inspection Act
23. Muckraker
24. New Nationalism
25. Newlands Act
26. Northern Securites
27. Open Door Policy
28. Panama Canal
29. Pan-American Conference
30. Payne-Aldrich Act
31. Platt Amendment
32. Progressivism
33. Pure Food and Drug Act
34. Recall
35. Referendum
36. Roosevelt Corollary
37. Rough Riders
38. Settlement House
39. Social Gospel Movement
40. Teller Amendment
41. Treaty of Paris, 1898
42. Trust
43. U.S.S. Maine
44. White Man’s Burden
45. Yellow Journalism

“The White Man’s Burden”

Rudyard Kipling’s Hymn to U.S. Imperialism

In February 1899, British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem entitled “The White Man’s Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands.” In this poem, Kipling urged the U.S. to take up the “burden” of empire, as had Britain and other European nations. Published in the February, 1899 issue of McClure’s Magazine, the poem coincided with the beginning of the Philippine-American War and U.S. Senate ratification of the treaty that placed Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippines under American control. Theodore Roosevelt, soon to become vice-president and then president, copied the poem and sent it to his friend, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, commenting that it was “rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view.” Not everyone was as favorably impressed as Roosevelt. The racialized notion of the “White Man’s burden” became a euphemism for imperialism, and many anti-imperialists couched their opposition in reaction to the phrase.

Take up the White Man’s burden—

Send forth the best ye breed—

Go send your sons to exile

To serve your captives' need

To wait in heavy harness

On fluttered folk and wild—

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,

Half devil and half child

Take up the White Man’s burden

In patience to abide

To veil the threat of terror

And check the show of pride;

By open speech and simple

An hundred times made plain

To seek another’s profit

And work another’s gain

Take up the White Man’s burden—

And reap his old reward:

The blame of those ye better

The hate of those ye guard—

The cry of hosts ye humour

(Ah slowly) to the light:

"Why brought ye us from bondage,

“Our loved Egyptian night?”

Take up the White Man’s burden-

Have done with childish days-

The lightly proffered laurel,

The easy, ungrudged praise.

Comes now, to search your manhood

Through all the thankless years,

Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,

The judgment of your peers!

Source: Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden: The United States & The Philippine Islands, 1899.” Rudyard Kipling’s Verse: Definitive Edition (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1929).

Chapter 28

America on the World Stage

1899-1909

On February 4, 1899, the Filipinos erupted in rebellion against the occupying United States forces after the Senate refused to pass a bill giving the Filipinos their independence.  The insurrection was led by Emilio Aguinaldo.

 "Little Brown Brothers" in the Philippines

·         American soldiers as well as Filipino guerillas resorted to brutal fighting tactics.

·         The backbone of the Filipino rebellion was broken in 1901 when American soldiers captured Emilio Aguinaldo.

·         President McKinley appointed the Philippine Commission in 1899 to set up a Filipino government.  William H. Taft, who referred to the Filipinos to "little brown brothers," led the body in 1900.  He genuinely liked the Filipinos while the American soldiers did not.

·         President McKinley's plan of "benevolent assimilation" of the Filipinos was very slow and involved improving roads, sanitation, and public health.  The plan developed economic ties and set a school system with English as the 2nd language.  It was ill received by the Filipinos who preferred liberty over assimilation.

Hinging the Open Door in China

·         Following China's defeat by Japan in 1894-1895, Russia and Germany moved into China.  The American public, fearing that Chinese markets would be monopolized by Europeans, demanded that the U.S. Government do something.  Secretary of State John Hay dispatched to all the great powers a communication known as the Open Door note.  He urged the powers to announce that in their leaseholds or spheres of influence they would respect certain Chinese rights and the ideal of fair competition.  The note asked all those who did not have thieving designs to stand up and be counted.  Italy was the only major power to accept the Open Door unconditionally and Russia was the only major power not to accept it.

·         In 1900, a super-patriotic group in China known as the "Boxers" killed hundreds of foreigners.  A multinational rescue force came in and stopped the rebellion.

·         After the failed rebellion, Secretary Hay declared in 1900 that the Open Door would embrace the territorial integrity of China as well as its commercial integrity.

 Imperialism or Bryanism in 1900?

·         President McKinley was the Republican presidential nominee for the election of 1900 because he had led the country through a war, acquired rich real estate, established the gold standard, and brought prosperity to the nation.  McKinley and the Republican Party supported the gold standard and imperialism.  They proclaimed that "Bryanism" was the paramount election issue.  This meant that Bryan would destroy the nation's prosperity once he took office with his free-silver policy and other "dangerous" ideas.

·         Theodore Roosevelt was nominated as the vice president after the political bosses of New York (where Roosevelt was governor) found it hard to continue their "businesses" with the headstrong governor.  They wanted Roosevelt elected as vice president so that Roosevelt would no longer pose an authority problem to the political bosses.

·         William Jennings Bryan was the Democratic presidential candidate for the election.  Bryan and the Democratic Party supported the silver standard and anti-imperialism.  They proclaimed that the paramount election issue was Republican overseas imperialism.

·         McKinley and the Republican Party won the election of 1900.

 TR:  Brandisher of the Big Stick

·         In September 1901, a deranged anarchist murdered President McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt took over the presidency.

·         Roosevelt was a direct actionist in that he believed that the president should lead and keep things moving forward.  He had no real respect for the checks and balances system among the 3 branches of government.  He felt that he may take any action in the general interest that is not specifically forbidden by the laws of the Constitution.

 Colombia Blocks the Canal

·         In order for ships to cross quickly from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, a canal had to be built across the Central American isthmus.  There were initial legal issues blocking the construction of this canal.  By the terms of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, made with Britain in 1850, the U.S. could not gain exclusive control over a route for the canal.  But because of friendly relations with Britain, Britain signed the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty in 1901, which gave the U.S. a helping hand to build the canal and rights to fortify it.

·         Many Americans favored the Nicaraguan route for the canal, but Congress decided on the Panama route for the canal in June 1902 after the New Panama Canal Company dropped the price of its holdings significantly.

·         Colombia stood in the way of the construction of the canal.  After a treaty to buy land for the canal had been rejected by the Colombian senate, President Roosevelt, who was eager to win the upcoming election, demanded that the canal be built without Colombia's consent.

 Uncle Sam Creates Puppet Panama

·         On November 3, 1903, Panamanians, who feared the United States would choose the Nicaraguan route for the canal, made a successful revolution led by Bunau-Varilla.  Bunau-Varilla became the Panamanian minister to the United States and signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty in Washington.  The treaty gave the U.S. control of a 10-mile zone around the proposed Panama Canal.

Completing the Canal and Appeasing Colombia

·         The so-called rape of Panama marked a downward lurch in U.S relations with Latin America.

·         President Roosevelt defended himself against all charges of doing anything wrong.  He claimed that Colombia had wronged the United States by not permitting itself to be benefited by the construction of the canal.

·         In 1904 the construction of the Panama Canal began, and in 1914 it was completed at a cost of $400 million.

 TR's Perversion of Monroe's Doctrine

·         Several nations of Latin America were in debt to European countries.  President Roosevelt feared that if the European nations (mainly the Germany and Britain) got their feet in the door of Latin America, then they might remain there, in violation of the Monroe Doctrine.  Roosevelt therefore created a policy known as "preventive intervention."  The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine declared that in the event of future monetary problems of Latin American countries with European countries, the U.S. could pay off the Latin American counties' debts to keep European nations out of Latin America.

·         Latin American countries began to hate the Monroe Doctrine for it had become the excuse for numerous U.S. interventions in Latin America.  In actuality, President Roosevelt was the one to be blamed for the interventions.

 Roosevelt on the World Stage

·         Japan began war with Russia in 1904 after Russia failed to withdraw troops from Manchuria and Korea.  Japan was defeating Russia in the war when Japan's supply of troops began to run low.  Japan therefore asked President Roosevelt to step in and sponsor peace negotiations.  Roosevelt agreed and in 1905 forced through an agreement in which the Japanese received no compensation for the losses and only the southern half of Sakhalin.

·         Because of the treaty, friendship with Russia faded away and Japan became a rival with America in Asia.

 Japanese Laborers in California

·         When the Japanese government lifted its ban on its citizens emigrating in 1884, thousands of Japanese were recruited to work in California.  Japanese immigrants were confronted with racist hostility by whites.

·         In 1906, San Francisco's school board segregated the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students to make room for white students.  The Japanese saw this action as an insult and threatened with war.

·         President Roosevelt invited the entire San Francisco Board of Education to the White House to settle the dispute.  TR broke the deadlock and the Californians were persuaded to repeal the segregation and to accept what came to be known as the "Gentlemen's Agreement."  The Japanese agreed to stop the flow of immigrants to the United States.

·         In 1908, the Root-Takahira agreement was reached with Japan.  The U.S. and Japan pledged themselves to respect each other's territorial possessions.

Chapter 29

Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt

1901-1912

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the ethnically and racially mixed American people were convulsed by a reform movement.  The new crusaders, who called themselves "progressives," waged war on many evils including monopolies, corruption, inefficiency, and social injustice.

 Progressive Roots

·         Well before 1900, politicians and writers had begun to pinpoint targets for the progressive attack.  Henry Demarest Lloyd assailed the Standard Oil Company in 1894 with his book Wealth Against Commonwealth.  Jacob A. Riis shocked middle-class Americans in 1890 with How the Other Half Lives which described the dark and dirty slums of New York.

·         Socialists and feminists were at the front of social justice.

 Raking Muck with the Muckrakers

·         Popular magazines, Muckrakers, began to appear in American newsstands in 1902.  They exposed the corruption and scandal that the public loved to hate.

·         In 1902, New York reporter, Lincoln Steffens launched a series of articles in McClure's titled "The Shame of the Cities" which unmasked the corrupt alliance between big business and municipal government.

·         Ida M. Tarbell published a devastating but factual depiction of the Standard Oil Company.

·         David G. Phillips published a series, "The Treason of the Senate" in Cosmopolitan that charged that 75 of the 90 senators did not represent the people but they rather represented railroads and trusts.

·         Some of the most effective attacks of the muckrakers were directed at social evils.  The suppression of America's blacks was shown in Ray Stannard's Following the Color Line (1908).  John Spargo wrote of the abuses of child labor in The Bitter Cry of the Children (1906).

 Political Progressivism

·         Progressive reformers were mainly middle-class men and women.

·         The progressives sought 2 goals:  to use state power to control the trusts; and to stem the socialist threat by generally improving the common person's conditions of life and labor.

·         Progressives wanted to regain the power that had slipped from the hands of the people into those of the "interests."  Progressives supported direct primary elections and favored "initiative" so that voters could directly propose legislation themselves, thus bypassing the boss-sought state legislatures.  They also supported "referendum" and "recall."  Referendum would place laws on ballots for final approval by the people, and recall would enable the voters to remove faithless corrupt officials.

·         As a result of pressure from the public's progressive reformers, the 17th Amendment was passed to the Constitution in 1913.  It established the direct election of U.S. senators.

Progressivism in the Cities and States

·         States began the march toward progressivism when they undertook to regulate railroads and trusts.  In 1901, the governor of Wisconsin and significant figure of the progressive era, Robert M. La Follette took considerable control from the corrupt corporations and returned it to the people.

·         Governor of California, Hiram W. Johnson helped to break the dominant grip of the Southern Pacific Railroad on California politics in 1910.

 Progressive Women

·         A crucial focus for women's activism was the settlement house movement.  Settlement houses exposed middle-class women to poverty, political corruption, and intolerable working and living conditions.

·         Most female progressives defended their new activities as an extension of their traditional roles of wife and mother.

·         Female activists worked through organizations like the Women's Trade Union League and the National Consumers League.

·         Florence Kelley took control of the National Consumers League in 1899 and mobilized female consumers to pressure for laws safeguarding women and children in the workplace.

·         Caught up in the crusade, some states controlled, restricted, or abolished alcohol.

TR's Square Deal for Labor

·         President Roosevelt believed in the progressive reform.  He enacted a "Square Deal" program that consisted of 3 parts:  control of the corporations, consumer protection, and conservation of natural resources.

·         In 1902, coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike and demanded a 20% raise in pay and a workday decrease from 10 hours to 9 hours.  When mine spokesman, George F. Baer refused to negotiate, President Roosevelt stepped in a threatened to operate the mines with federal troops.  A deal was struck in which the miners received a 10% pay raise and an hour workday reduction.

·         Congress, aware of the increasing hostilities between capital and labor, created the Department of Commerce in 1903.

 TR Corrals the Corporations

·         Although the Interstate Commerce Commission was created in 1887, railroad barons were still able to have high shipping rates because of their ability to appeal the commission's decisions on high rates to the federal courts.

·         In 1903, Congress passed the Elkins Act, which allowed for heavy fines to be placed on railroads that gave rebates and on the shippers that accepted them. (Railroad companies would offer rebates as incentives for companies to use their rail lines.)

·         Congress passed the Hepburn Act of 1906, restricting free passes and expanding the Interstate Commerce Commission to extend to include express companies, sleeping-car companies, and pipelines.  (Free passes:  rewards offered to companies allowing an allotted number of free shipments; given to companies to encourage future business.)

·         In 1902, President Roosevelt challenged the Northern Securities Company, a railroad trust company that sought to achieve a monopoly of the railroads in the Northwest.  The Supreme Court upheld the President and the trust was forced to be dissolved.

 Caring for the Consumer

·         After botulism was found in American meats, foreign governments threatened to ban all American meat imports.  Backed by the public, President Roosevelt passed the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.  The act stated that the preparation of meat shipped over state lines would be subject to federal inspection.

·         The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was designed to prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals.

 Earth Control

·         The first step towards conservation came with the Desert Land Act of 1887, under which the federal government sold dry land cheaply on the condition that the purchaser would irrigate the soil within 3 years.  A more successful step was the Forest Reserve Act of 1891.  It authorized the president to set aside public forests as national parks and other reserves.  The Carey Act of 1894 distributed federal land to the states on the condition that it be irrigated and settled.

·         President Roosevelt, a naturalist and rancher, convinced Congress to pass the Newlands Act of 1902, which authorized the federal government to collect money from the sale of public lands in western states and then use these funds for the development of irrigation projects.

·         In 1900 Roosevelt, attempting to preserve the nation's shrinking forests, set aside 125 million acres of land in federal reserves.

·         Under President Roosevelt, professional foresters and engineers developed a policy of "multiple-use resource management."  They sought to combine recreation, sustained-yield logging, watershed protection, and summer stock grazing on the same expanse of federal land.  Many westerners soon realized how to work with federal conservation programs and not resist the federal management of natural resources.

 The "Roosevelt Panic" of 1907

·         Theodore Roosevelt was elected as president in 1904.  President Roosevelt made it known that he would not run for a 3rd term.

·         A panic descended upon Wall Street in 1907.  The financial world blamed the panic on President Roosevelt for unsettling the industries with his anti-trust tactics.

·         Responding to the panic of 1907, Congress passed the Aldrich-Vreeland Act in 1908 which authorized national banks to issue emergency currency backed by various kinds of collateral.

 The Rough Rider Thunders Out

·         For the election of 1908, the Republican Party chose William Howard Taft, secretary of war to Theodore Roosevelt.  The Democratic Party chose William Jennings Bryan.

·         William Howard Taft won the election of 1908.

·         In Roosevelt's term, Roosevelt attempted to protect against socialism and to protect capitalists against popular indignation.  He greatly enlarged the power and prestige of the presidential office, and he helped shape the progressive movement and beyond it, the liberal reform campaigns later in the century.  TR also opened the eyes of Americans to the fact that they shared the world with other nations.

 Taft:  A Round Peg in a Square Hole

·         President Taft had none of the arts of a dashing political leader, such as Roosevelt, and none of Roosevelt's zest.  He generally adopted an attitude of passivity towards Congress.

 The Dollar Goes Abroad as a Diplomat

·         Taft encouraged Wall Street bankers to invest in foreign areas of strategic interest to the United States.  New York bankers thus strengthened American defenses and foreign policies, while bringing prosperity to America.

·         In China's Manchuria, Japan and Russia controlled the railroads.  President Taft saw in the Manchurian monopoly a possible strangulation of Chinese economic interests and a slamming of the Open Door policy.  In 1909, Secretary of State Philander C. Knox proposed that a group of American and foreign bankers buy the Manchurian railroads and then turn them over to China.  Both Japan and Russia flatly rejected the selling of their railroads.

 Taft the Trustbuster

·         Taft brought 90 lawsuits against the trusts during his 4 years in office as opposed to Roosevelt who brought just 44 suits in 7 years.

·         In 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Standard Oil Company, stating that it violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890.

·         Also in 1911, the Courts handed down its "rule of reason"; a doctrine that stated that only those trusts that unreasonably restrained trade were illegal.

 Taft Splits the Republican Party

·         President Taft signed the Payne-Aldrich Bill in 1909, a tariff bill that placed a high tariff on many imports.  With the signing, Taft betrayed his campaign promises of lowering the tariff.

·         Taft was a strong conservationist, but in 1910, the Ballinger-Pinchot quarrel erased much of his conservationist record.  When Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger opened public lands in Wyoming, Montana, and Alaska to corporate development, he was criticized by chief of the Agriculture Department's Division of Forestry, Gifford Pinchot.  When Taft dismissed Pinchot, much protest arose from conservationists.

·         By the spring of 1910, the reformist wing of the Republican Party was furious with Taft and the Republican Party had split.  One once supporter of Taft, Roosevelt, was now an enemy.  Taft had broken up Roosevelt's U.S. Steel Corporation, which Roosevelt had worked long and hard to form.

 The Taft-Roosevelt Rupture

·         In 1911, the National Progressive Republican League was formed with La Follette as its leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

·         In February of 1912, Theodore Roosevelt, with his new views on Taft, announced that he would run again for presidency, clarifying that he said he wouldn't run for 3 consecutive terms.

·         The Taft-Roosevelt explosion happened in June of 1912 when the Republican convention met in Chicago.  When it came time to vote, the Roosevelt supporters claimed fraud and in the end refused to vote.  Taft subsequently won the Republican nomination.

Chapter 30

Wilsonian Progressivism at Home and Abroad

1912-1916

Woodrow Wilson won the governorship of New Jersey waging a reform campaign in which he attacked the predatory trusts and promised to return the state government to the people.

 The "Bull Moose" Campaign of 1912

·         The Democrats chose Woodrow Wilson as their presidential candidate for the election of 1912.  The Democrats saw in Wilson an outstanding reformist leader of whom they felt would beat Republican Taft.  The Democrats had a strong progressive platform that called for stronger antirust laws, banking reform, and tariff reductions.

·         Theodore Roosevelt ran again in the election as a 3rd party candidate.  It was unsure whether Roosevelt's New Nationalism or Wilson's New Freedom would prevail.  Both men favored a more active government role in economic and social affairs, but they disagreed over specific strategies.

·         Roosevelt's New Nationalism campaigned for stronger control of trusts, woman suffrage, and programs of social welfare.

·         Wilson's New Freedom favored small enterprise, entrepreneurship, and the free functioning of unregulated and unmonopolized markets.  Democrats shunned the social-welfare programs and supported the fragmentation of trusts.

·         The campaign cooled down when Roosevelt was shot by a fanatic.  He eventually recovered after suspending campaigning for a couple weeks.

 Woodrow Wilson:  A Minority President

·         Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican votes, giving Woodrow Wilson the presidency.

·         Roosevelt's Progressive Party soon died out due to lack of officials elected to state and local offices.

Wilson:  The Idealist in Politics

·         Wilson relied on sincerity and moral appeal to attract the public.  He was extremely smart but lacked the common touch with the public.  (He didn't have people skills.)  Wilson's idealism and sense of moral righteousness made him incredibly stubborn in negotiating.

 Wilson Tackles the Tariff

·         President Wilson called for an all-out war on what he called "the triple wall of privilege":  the tariff, the banks, and the trusts.

·         Wilson called a special meeting of Congress in 1913 to address the tariff.  He convinced Congress to pass the Underwood Tariff Bill, which significantly reduced the tariff rates.  Under authority from the 16th Amendment, Congress also enacted a graduated income tax.

 Wilson Battles the Bankers

·         The most serious problem of the National Banking Act passed during the Civil War in 1863 was the inelasticity of currency.  Banking reserves were located in New York and a handful of other large cities and could not be mobilized in times of financial stress into areas that needed money.

·         In 1913, President Wilson delivered a plea to Congress for a reform of the banking system.  Congress answered and in the same year, he signed the Federal Reserve Act.  The new Federal Reserve Board, appointed by the president, oversaw a nationwide system of 12 regional Federal Reserve banks.  Each reserve bank was the central bank for its region.  The final authority of the Federal Reserve Board guaranteed a substantial level of public control.  The board was empowered to issue paper money, Federal Reserve Notes, backed by commercial paper.  Thus, the amount of money in circulation could be increased as needed for the requirements of business.  (More information)

 The President Tames the Trusts

·         After Wilson's persuasion, Congress passed the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914.  This law authorized a presidentially-appointed commission to oversee industries engaged in interstate commerce, such as the meatpackers.  The commissioners were expected to crush monopolies at the source.

·         The Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914 lengthened the Sherman Act's list of business practices that were deemed objectionable.  It also sought to exempt labor and agricultural organizations from anti-trust prosecution, while legalizing strikes and peaceful picketing.  Union leader Samuel Gompers praised the act.

 Wilsonian Progressivism at High Tide

·         The Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 made loans available to farmers at low rates of interest.  The Warehouse Act of 1916 authorized loans on the security of staple crops.

·         The La Follette Seamen's Act of 1915 benefited sailors by requiring decent treatment and a living wage on American ships.

·         President Wilson assisted the workers with the Workingmen's Compensation Act of 1916, giving assistance to federal civil-service employees during periods of disability.  Also in 1916, the president approved an act restricting child labor on products flowing into interstate commerce.  The Adamson Act of 1916 established an 8-hour work day for all employees on trains in interstate commerce.

·         Wilson nominated for the Supreme Court reformer Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jew to be a Supreme Court justice.

 New Directions in Foreign Policy

·         President Wilson was an anti-imperialist and withdrew from aggressive foreign policy.

·         He persuaded Congress in 1914 to repeal the Panama Canal Tolls Act of 1912, which had exempted American coastal shipping from tolls.  He also signed the Jones Act in 1916, which granted the Philippines territorial status and promised independence as soon as a stable government could be established.

·         When political turmoil broke out in Haiti in 1915, Wilson dispatched marines to protect American lives and property.  In 1916, he signed a treaty with Haiti providing for U.S. supervision of finances and the police.

·         In 1917, Wilson purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark.

 Moralistic Diplomacy in Mexico

·         In 1913, the Mexican revolution took an ugly turn when the president was murdered and replaced by General Victoriano Huerta.  Because of the chaos in Mexico, millions of Spanish-speaking immigrants came to America.

·         At first, President Wilson refused to intervene with the war in Mexico.  But after a small party of American sailors was accidentally captured by the Mexicans, Wilson ordered the navy to seize the Mexican port of Vera Cruz.

·         Just as war seemed imminent with Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile intervened and pressured Huerta to step down.

·         Venustiano Carranza became the president of Mexico.  Francisco Villa, rival to President Carranza, attempted to provoke a war between Mexico and the U.S by killing Americans.  Wilson, rather, ordered General John J. Perishing to break up Villa's band of outlaws.  The invading American army was withdrawn from Mexico in 1917 as the threat of war with Germany loomed.

 Thunder Across the Sea

·         In 1914,World War I was sparked when the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was murdered by a Serb patriot.  An outraged Vienna government, backed by Germany, presented an ultimatum to Serbia.  Serbia, backed by Russia, refused to budge.  Russia began to mobilize its army, alarming Germany on the east, and France confronted Germany on the west.

·         Germany struck at France first and the fighting began.  The Central Powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria.  The Allies consisted of France, Britain, Russia, Japan, and Italy.

 A Precarious Neutrality

·         President Wilson issued the neutrality proclamation at the outbreak of WWI.

·         Most Americans were anti-Germany from the outset of the war.  Kaiser Wilhelm II, the leader of Germany, seemed the embodiment of arrogant autocracy.  Yet, the majority of Americans were against war.

 America Earns Blood Money

·         American industry prospered off trade with the Allies.  Germany and the Central Powers protested American trading with the Allies, although America wasn't breaking the international neutrality laws -- Germany was free to trade with the U.S., but Britain prevented this trade by controlling the Atlantic Ocean by which Germany had to cross in order to trade with the U.S.

·         In 1915, several months after Germany started to use submarines in the war, one of Germany's submarines sunk the British liner Lusitania, killing 128 Americans.

·         Americans demanded war but President Wilson stood strong on his stance against war.  When Germany sunk another British liner, the Arabic, in 1915, Berlin agreed to not sink unarmed passenger ships without warning.  Germany continued to sink innocent ships as apparent when one of its submarines sank a French passenger steamer, the Sussex.  President Wilson informed the Germans that unless they renounced the inhuman practice of sinking merchant ships without warning, he would break diplomatic relations, leading to war.  Germany agreed to Wilson's ultimatum, but attached additions to their Sussex pledge:  the United States would have to persuade the Allies to modify what Berlin regarded as their illegal blockade.  Wilson accepted the Germany pledge, without accepting the "string" of additions.

 Wilson Wins the Reelection in 1916

·         The Progressive Party and the Republican Party met in 1916 to choose their presidential candidate.  Although nominated by the Progressives, Theodore Roosevelt refused to run for president.  The Republicans chose Supreme Court justice Charles Evans Hughes.  The Republican platform condemned the Democratic tariff, assaults on the trusts, and Wilson's dealings with Mexico and Germany.

·         The Democrats chose Wilson and ran an anti-war campaign.  Woodrow Wilson won the election of 1916 and was reelected to the presidency.