The Wilson Years - Maija

         The election of 1912 was a competition between two candidates; Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Taft failed to live up to progressive ideals. Woodrow Wilson was the former governor of New Jersey and lived by what he called “New Freedom”. Woodrow Wilson won the election with 435 votes. Wilson signed laws introducing the direct primary, establishing utility regulatory boards, and gave the people a voice. He believed in destroying monopolies and signed laws to levy income tax. He signed the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission, Unfair Trade Practices, Clayton Antitrust Act, and the first law against child labor. The law made it impossible to have children under the age of 14 working in factories.