ShmoopTube

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Teddy's bull moose shenanigans in 1912 were a big deal by splitting the [political cartoon]

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Republican vote between he and Taft TR paved the way for Woodrow Wilson a

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Democratic president in a time where Republicans had been a dominant force

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well the Republicans were probably like thanks a lot Toby we can tell you where [Teddy in office with elephant]

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to stick the bull moose but the Democrats well they were over the moon [donkey jumps over the moon]

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Wilson differed from both Taft and Roosevelt in specific ways but it was

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Wilson's new freedom platform that made him stand out the most [old newspaper about Wilson]

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Woodrow wanted to change existing laws regarding tariffs banks and trusts and

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he put his money where his mouth was by passing the first child labor law and [political cartoon]

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establishing the eight-hour workday for railroad workers because yeah sleepy [Child Labor, 8-Hour Workday acts of 1916]

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train engineers are just a bad idea Wilson also remixed the existing banking [train wreck]

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structure to allow for more flexibility well how to do it by establishing the

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Federal Reserve Bank which moved reserve funds from a centralized location and

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distributed them into 12 locations across the u.s. because putting all your

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eggs in one basket makes for a mess that's not quite how that expression [eggs flying through basketball hoop]

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goes is it well it's true what made the Federal Reserve Bank system so important [eggs getting fried]

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was that if banks needed to get cash quickly there was always a piled nearby [political cartoon in newspaper]

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it was kind of like having a ginormous piggy bank buried in the backyard [piggy bank rising out of lawn]

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so we recommend against it if one's yard is prone to sieving moles don't laugh

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they're a threat Wilson also lowered the tariff that Taft had kept high and he

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established the Federal Trade Commission while Wilson was an office Congress

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passed two constitutional amendments and ratified two others well the first to

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pass was the eighteenth Amendment which started prohibition Wilson vetoed that [congress paper]

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amendment but Congress had enough votes to override his veto to which Wilson [congress paper veto'd]

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probably said something like alright fine let's see how that works out well

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the 19th amendment which granted women's suffrage also passed under Wilson's

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watch though he wasn't a big fan at first but it still was a big deal [women's suffragettes]

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Wilson was also in office when the 16th and 17th amendments were ratified yeah

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geez what's with all this amending sounds like the Constitution was

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starting to get too filled with red ink there right okay it makes sense that so

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many amendments were supported during the Progressive Era and especially

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during Wilson's administration Wilson was cool with founding fathers and

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thought they'd done a bang-up job on the Constitution but they also designed it

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so that we could change it just at the time like imagine if men were still

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forced to wear powdered wigs and hose actually that might not be too far away

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who knows what hipsters will do neck [wig-wearing hipsters in coffee shop]

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