my section is 9-4
Taft Becomes President
-it is about William Howard Taft and in the presidental election Roosevelt did not run for reelection in 1908 so he picked hs secratary of war William Haward Taft to run for president against William Jennings bryan. William Taft and the republicans won an easy victory.
-Taft Stumbles- Taft receved little credit for his accomplishments such as the Payne-Aldrich Tariff that changed average tariff from 46 to 41 percent, and Under Taft, the federal government for the first time began the regulation of the telephone and telegraph industries. The government also had the authority to fix interstate commerce rates. Taft confesed in a letter that he never really felt like the president, and he said when he is addressed as mr. president I turn to see if you are not at my elbow.
-The payne-Aldrich Tariff- Taft had campaingned on a platform of lowering tarrifs. When the house passed the Payne Bill that lowered rates on imported manufactured goods, so the senate proposed an alternative bill called the Aldrich bill which made fewer cuts and increased many rates.
-Disputing Public Lands-Next Taft angered Conservationists by appointing as his secretary of the interior Richard A. Ballinger, a wealthy lawer from Seattle. Ballinger disapproved of conservationist controls on westernlands, removed 1 million acres of forest and mining lands from the reserved list and returned it to the public domain. when an official from the Department of the interior was fired for protesting Ballinger's actios. Gifford Pinchot, the head of the u.s forest service accused Ballinger for letting commercial intrest take advantage of the natural recources that rightfully belonged to the public. President Taft talked to Ballinger and Taft fired Gilfford Pinchot from the u.s Forest Service.
The Republican Party Splits
-President Taft's cautios nature made it impossible to hold together the two wings of the republican party together, there were the progressives who wanted change and there were the conservatives who did not want change, and that is when the Republican party began to split.
-Problems within the party- The progressives and the Republic conservativs split over Taft's support of the politiacal boss Joseph Cannon he was the House Speaker from Illinois. He decides what bills congress considers, Cannon often weakens or ignores progressive bills. The Republican's decided that there only alternitive was to take Cannons power away, with the help of the Democrats they succeeded in March 1910. In the midterm elections in 1910, Voters were concerned over the rising cost of living, and they blamed that on the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, they also belived that Taft was against Conservation. When the Republicans lost the election the Democrats gained control over the house of representatives for the first time in 18 years.
-The Bull Moose Party-in 1912 Roosevelt decided to run for a third term president, from the primary elections they showed that the Republicans wanted Roosevelt, but Taft had the advantage of being the holder of the office. in June 1912 at the Republican convention, Taft's supporters were trying to replace Roosevelts delagates with Tafts delegates in a couple of delegations. The Republican Progressives refused to vote and they formed a new third party called the Progressive Party and they nominated Roosevelt for president. The progressives called it the Bull Moose Party because when Roosevelt recoverd from being shot they said he was as strong as a bull moose. In the 1912 presidential election, the Democrats put Woodrow Wilson a reform governer of New Jersey as there candidate.
Democrats Win in 1912-
-Under Governor Woodrow Wilson's leadership, he endorsed a progressive platform called the New Freedom. The New Freedom demanded even stronger antitrust legislation, banking reform, and reducing tarrifs. The 1912 election offered voters several choices Wilson's New Freedom, Taft's sconservatism, Roosevelt's progressivism and Eugene V. Debs. Both Roosevelt and wilson supported a stronger government role in economic affairs but they were different over strategies. Roosevelt supported government action to supervise big business but did not oppose all busines monopolies, Debs calles for a end to capitalism, Wilson supported small busines and free-market competition and characterized all business monopolies as evil. Wilson got only 42 percent of the popular votes, but he won an overwelming victory. Roosevelt defeated Taft in both popular and electorial votes. Reform clamed the real victory, with more than 75 percent of the vote going to the reform candidates Wilson, Roosevelt, and Debs. In Wilsons victory, Wilson could claim a mandate to break up trusts and to expand the government's role in social reform.
Sorces
-http://www.historycentral.com/Bio/presidents/taft.html
-The Americans Reconstructions to the 21st Cenury by McDougal Littell
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft
-http://americanhistory.about.com/od/williamhowardtaft/p/ptaft.htm
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