The New Freedom


The New Freedom was Woodrow Wilson's campaign platform in the 1912 presidential election, and also refers to the progressive programs enacted by Wilson during his first term as president from 1913 to 1916 while the Democrats controlled Congress. First expressed in his campaign speeches and promises, Wilson later wrote a 1913 book of the same name. In terms of legislation, wartime policies are generally not considered part of the New Freedom. After the 1918 midterm elections, Republicans took control of Congress and were mostly hostile to the New Freedom. As president, Wilson focused on three types of reform:
  1. Tariff reform: This came through the passage of the Underwood Tariff Act of 1913, which lowered tariffs for the first time since 1857 and went against the protectionist lobby.
  2. Business reform: This was established through the passage of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, which established the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and halt unfair and illegal business practices by issuing "cease and desist" orders, and the Clayton Antitrust Act.
  3. Banking reform: This came in 1913 through the creation of the Federal Reserve System and in 1916 through the passage of the Federal Farm Loan Act, which set up Farm Loan Banks to support farmers.

    Campaign slogan in 1912

Wilson's position in 1912 stood in opposition to Progressive party candidate Theodore Roosevelt's ideas of New Nationalism, particularly on the issue of antitrust modification. According to Wilson, "If America is not to have free enterprise, he can have freedom of no sort whatever." In presenting his policy, Wilson warned that New Nationalism represented collectivism, while New Freedom stood for political and economic liberty from such things as trusts. Wilson was strongly influenced by his chief economic advisor Louis D. Brandeis, an enemy of big business and monopoly.
Although Wilson and Roosevelt agreed that economic power was being abused by trusts, Wilson and Roosevelt were split on how the government should handle the restraint of private power as in dismantling corporations that had too much economic power in a large society. Wilson wrote extensively on the meaning of "government" shortly after his election.

Wilson in office

Once elected, Wilson seemed to abandon his "New Freedom" and adopted policies that were more similar to those of Roosevelt's New Nationalism. Wilson appointed Brandeis to the US Supreme Court in 1916. He worked with Congress to give federal employees worker's compensation, outlawed child labor with the Keating–Owen Act and passed the Adamson Act, which secured a maximum eight-hour workday for railroad employees. Most important was the Clayton Act of 1914, which largely put the trust issue to rest by spelling out the specific unfair practices that business were not allowed to engage in.
By the end of the Wilson Administration, a significant amount of progressive legislation had been passed, affecting not only economic and constitutional affairs, but farmers, labor, veterans, the environment, and conservation as well. The reform agenda actually put into legislation by Wilson, however, did not extend as far as what Roosevelt had called for but had never actually passed, such as a standard 40-hour work week, minimum wage laws, and a federal system of social insurance.
This was arguably a reflection of Wilson's own ideological convictions, who according to Elizabeth Warren and Herbert Hoover, was an adherent of Jeffersonian Democracy. While seemingly supportive of benefits for workers such as pensions, injury compensation, and profit-sharing plans, Wilson and his administration never pushed legislation through Congress extending these benefits to the entire workforce, while a national health insurance system of the kind advocated by Roosevelt was never established, despite the fact that Wilson, according to one study, “promoted Roosevelt’s policy of universal health insurance coverage when he was elected president.” Despite this, the New Freedom did much to extend the power of the federal government in social and economic affairs, and arguably paved the way for future reform programs such as the New Deal and the Great Society.

Legislation and programs

Note: This listing contains reforms drawn up by the Wilson Administration as part of its New Freedom program together with wartime reforms and reforms drawn up by individual Congressmen. The latter two have been included because it is arguable that the progressive nature of these reforms was compatible with the liberalism of the New Freedom.

Farmers

In 1913 Woodrow Wilson's book The New Freedom was published, detailing his thoughts about the concepts and program. He had previously written two other books, Congressional Government published in 1900, followed in 1901 by When a Man Comes to Himself.