Terms
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The ABC Powers
The countries of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. In 1914
they arbitrated the dispute between the United States and Victoriano Huerta's
dictatorship government in Mexico.
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Alligators
The Alligators was Wilson's eating club while an undergraduate student
at Princeton University. As president of the same university, Wilson
later attacked this and similar eating clubs as being snobbish,
and attempted to eliminate them with his quadrangle plan.
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Arabic
The Arabic was a passenger liner sunk
by a German U-boat in 1915.
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Big Four
The term Big Four refers to the leaders of the world's
most powerful nations that attended the Paris Peace Conference
and drafted the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I in
1918. The Big Four were American President Woodrow Wilson, British
Prime Minister Lloyd George, Italian Premier Vittorio Orlando,
and French Premier Georges Clemenceau.
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Bryn Mawr College
Woodrow Wilson served as Bryn Mawr College's first
history professor from 1885 until 1888. Located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania,
the college was modeled after Johns Hopkins and designed to educate
young women. While there, Wilson began writing The State. He
eventually left the school because he disliked teaching women.
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Central Powers
The Central powers in World War I were Germany, the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. They fought against
the Entente powers or Allies.
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Collective security
Collective security is the idea that nations can work
together constructively to prevent war. Wilson's believed that
a lasting peace after World War I could only be established if
the major powers worked together to ensure collective security
in the new League of Nations.
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Committee on Public Information
President Wilson established the Committee of Public Information
shortly after declaring war on Germany in 1917. The committee was
responsible for issuing pro- war propaganda; however, the committee's
director George Creel merely succeeded in spreading an already
growing anti-German hysteria.
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Congressional
Government
Published in 1885, Congressional Government was
Wilson's first book, and its success brought him academic fame.
The work analyzes the American legislative system, and is still
considered to be one of the best works on American government ever written.
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Constitutionalists
The Constitutionalists in Mexico opposed Mexican dictator Victoriano
Huerta and received support from Wilson during the country's civil
war.
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Davidson College
Woodrow Wilson's first undergraduate year was spent
at the Presbyterian Davidson College in North Carolina in 1873
where he earned average marks. He left Davidson after his first
year because the living conditions were harsh and his health was poor.
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Division and Reunion
Woodrow Wilson wrote Division and Reunion while
at Princeton University in 1893. The book analyzed the period of American
history between the 1830s and the end of Reconstruction after the
Civil War. It was published in the Epochs of American History
Series edited by Albert Bushell Hart.
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Dominican Republic
President Wilson authorized the invasion and occupation
of the Dominican Republic in 1916 to end widespread violence in
the country.
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Entente Powers
The Entente powers, or Allied powers, during World
War I were Great Britain, France, and Russia. The United States
joined the war to assist the Entente powers against the Central
powers.
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Espionage Act
Wilson signed the 1917 Espionage Act, which hindered
free speech by legalizing government censorship during World War
I.
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Federal Reserve Act
Passed in 1913, the Federal Reserve Act created a strong
national banking system.
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Fourteen Points
Wilson delivered his famous Fourteen Points Speech
on January 8, 1918, to encourage the Germans to negotiate for a
peace settlement to end World War I. The speech outlined fourteen specific
goals for the Allies to achieve in order to establish a lasting
peace after the war. Eight of those goals were very specific, five
promoted general ideas such as self-determination, and the final
called for the creation of the League of Nations.
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Geran Bill
The Geran Bill was New Jersey Governor Wilson's promised legislation
to attack the political machines in the state.
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Haiti
Wilson ordered U.S. military forces to invade and occupy
the small Caribbean island of Haiti in 1915 to end a bloody civil war.
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History
of the American People
Woodrow Wilson published his largest work, History
of the American People, in 1902.
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Johns Hopkins University
Woodrow Wilson studied at Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1883 to 1885. He received his Ph.D. in
political science from the University in 1886. While at Hopkins,
Wilson wrote and published Congressional Government, which
received high praise and made his reputation as a distinguished
and respected political scientist.
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Jones Act
Wilson fought for the passage of the 1916 Jones Act
to grant the American- occupied Philippine Islands more political
autonomy.
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League of Nations
Wilson fought for the creation of the League of Nations
during the Paris Peace Conference. The League was designed to be
a forum consisting of nations from around the world where leaders
and representatives could address grievances and promote ideals
such as self-determination. Such a forum, Wilson believed, would
ensure collective security. Wilson chaired the committee that drafted
the League's covenant that was eventually included in the Treaty
of Versailles. Many in the U.S. Senate bitterly opposed the League.
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Liberalism
Liberalism is a theory of foreign policy and international relations
that promotes ideals such as collective security, self-determination,
and democracy. Woodrow Wilson is regarded to be the father of the
liberalist school of thought.
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Lusitania
The Lusitania was a British ocean
liner sunk by a German U-boat in May of 1915. Nearly 1,200 civilians
died in the attack, including 124 Americans.
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Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine declared that European powers have
no authority in the Western Hemisphere and must not involve themselves
in the affairs of North and South American countries. The doctrine
also claimed that the United States had the right to intervene
anywhere in the hemisphere to ensure its security. The Monroe Doctrine
was named for President James Monroe who declared the doctrine
in the early 1820s.
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New Freedom
The New Freedom was President Wilson's domestic policy
plan. Wilson's goals under the New Freedom included reforming the national
banking system, reducing the national tariff, and strengthening
the Sherman Act.
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Nicaragua
Wilson ordered the occupation of Nicaragua in Central
America in 1914 after a bungled American attempt to end the country's civil
war.
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Overman Act
Wilson fought for and signed the Overman Act in 1918
when conservative Republicans tired to take control of the war
effort from him. The act gave him much personal power and established
him as the de facto head of the U.S. World War I war machine.
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Panama Canal Act
The Panama Canal Act of 1912 exempted United States merchant
ships sailing between U.S. ports via the canal from paying the
canal's toll. Wilson believed this act violated a treaty with Great
Britain and successfully encouraged Congress to repeal the act
in 1913.
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Payne-Aldrich Tariff
The Payne-Aldrich Tariff was a Republican tariff passed
in 1909 to protect American manufacturers. The tariff placed a
forty-percent tax on many of the nation's most heavily imported goods.
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Plutocracy
The plutocracy refers to the few Americans who controlled
an extraordinary amount of wealth. Prominent members included oil
tycoon John David Rockefeller, steel producer Andrew Carnegie,
and banker J.P. Morgan, who was also the richest man in the world
at the time, having a net worth of over one billion dollars.
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Political
Machine
Political machines were Democratic and Republican Party organizations
that controlled the election and campaigning processes. Machines
often controlled local and state politics in large cities during
the late 1800s and early 1900s. Powerful politicians called bosses
controlled the machines. Boss James Smith, Jr. ran the New Jersey
Democratic political machine around the turn of the century and
helped Woodrow Wilson become governor of the state in 1910.
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Populist
The Populist Party was a radical political party that
advocated extremely liberal legislation and policies to help primarily
poor Midwestern farmers. They desired "free silver"–more and cheaper
money to be printed–and the U.S. dollar to be backed by silver
instead of gold. The party's champion was William Jennings Bryan.
By the early 1900s, the party had become essentially dead because
Americans outside the Midwest did not seek the same goals. The
Progressive movement did spread throughout the country and many
of its original idealism stemmed from the Populist movement.
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Preceptorial system
The preceptorial system was a method of education that
Wilson devised while president of Princeton University. The system replaced
the standard lecture method of teaching with a more personal form
where small groups of students, or precepts, could interact with
a single professor, or preceptor, in their field of interest. The
system was highly successful and many schools throughout the U.S.
have adopted similar versions.
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Princeton University
Originally called the College of New Jersey, Princeton
University was founded in 1746 and soon became one of the nation's
most prestigious institutions of higher learning. Woodrow Wilson transferred
to the college in 1875 after spending a year at Davidson College,
and graduated with honors in the class of 1879. In 1890, Wilson
returned to Princeton to teach political economy and jurisprudence,
and later served as the university's president from 1902 to 1910.
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Progressive
Progressives were primarily northerners who sought
reform in government and society in the early 1900s. Prominent Progressive
Presidents include Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
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Punitive Expedition
The Punitive Expedition was a U.S. Army force of roughly
5,000 men commanded by General John J. Pershing sent by Wilson 1916
to pursue of rebel Pancho Villa. The expeditionary force pursued
Villa nearly 300 miles south of the border into Mexico and eventually
fought two battles against the Mexican army under Venustiano Carranza's
leadership. Wilson recalled the force in January of 1917.
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Quadrangle Plan
The quadrangle plan was Wilson's plan to eliminate
the eating clubs and bring diverse groups of students together
at Princeton University. The plan called for a several dormitories
to be built throughout the campus that would also serve as self
contained colleges where students could eat, attend classes, and
receive academic counseling and help from tutors. Each dormitory would
surround a central inner courtyard, forming a quadrangle.
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Sedition Act
Wilson signed the Sedition Act of 1918 which outlawed
speaking out against the government and American involvement in
World War I. Socialist Eugene V. Debs was the most prominent dissenter
who was prosecuted under the law.
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Self-Determination
Self-determination is the idea that people throughout
the world have the right to determine their own form of government
and destiny. This was one of the key concepts of Wilson's Fourteen Points.
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Sherman Act
Congress passed the Sherman Act in 1890 in an attempt
to eliminate trusts and the unfair business practices they employed to
secure monopolies on their products. Although President Theodore
Roosevelt had much success in attacking the trusts with the act,
Wilson only had moderate success.
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Sixteenth Amendment
Ratified in 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution permits
Congress to levy a federal income tax.
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Square Deal
The Square Deal was President Theodore Roosevelt's
bundle of progressive domestic policies and programs.
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The State
While he taught at Wesleyan University Professor Woodrow Wilson
wrote and published The State in 1889. It was
the first textbook ever written on comparative government, and
many Wilson scholars and political scientists regard it as his
best work.
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Staunton
Staunton, Virginia, was the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson.
It is now a National Historic Site.
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Sussex
The Sussex was a passenger liner sunk
by a German U-boat in March 1916.
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Tariff
A tariff is a tax on imported goods.
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Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles drafted at the Paris Peace
Conference was the primary treaty that ended World War I. Over
thirty nations participated in drafting the treaty, but its major
authors were the Big Four nations. The Treaty included the charter
for the new League of Nations drafted by President Wilson. The U.S.
Senate refused to ratify the treaty.
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Trusts
Trusts are large corporations that specialize in producing
one product and attempt to create a monopoly. There were scores
of trusts in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Within months of becoming
President, Theodore Roosevelt attacked the trusts, prosecuting
them under the authority of the Sherman Act. President Wilson tried
to continue Roosevelt's trust-busting tradition, but had only little
success.
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U-boat
A U-boat, or underwater boat, was a German submarine
in World War I.
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Underwood Act
The Underwood Act was a law passed in 1913 to reduce
the Republican Payne-Aldrich Tariff. This act reduced the overall tariff
to approximately twenty-five percent; eliminated the tax entirely
on steel, wool, clothing, and sugar; and created a federal income
tax.
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University of Virginia
Founded by a generous grant from President Thomas Jefferson
in the 1790s, the University of Virginia is the nation's oldest
public university. Woodrow Wilson entered the school of law at
the university in 1879 but left in 1880 because of poor health.
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War Revenue Act
The 1917 War Revenue Act increased taxes to an unprecedented level
to pay for the American war effort in World War I. The act increased
the highest income tax bracket to sixty-seven percent the first
year and seventy-seven percent the following year.
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Wesleyan University
Woodrow Wilson taught at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut,
from 1888 until 1900. While there he coached a championship football
team, published The State, and organized the school's
debating society. He left Wesleyan to accept a teaching position
at Princeton University.
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Zimmerman Note
The Zimmerman Note was a communiqué authored by German Foreign
Secretary Arthur Zimmerman and intercepted by American Intelligence.
The note had been designed to entice Mexico into declaring war
against the United States should the U.S. declare war on Germany.
As a reward, Mexico would then receive Arizona, New Mexico, and
Texas after the war.
Events
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Civil War
The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 when several
southern states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate
States of America led by President Jefferson Davis. It was the
bloodiest war in the history of the United States.
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Paris Peace Conference
The Paris Peace Conference was the convention held in
France in 1918 to draft a treaty to end World War I. Over thirty
nations attended the conference and wrote the Treaty of Versailles.
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Reconstructionist
Reconstruction was the North's plan to formally bring
the seceded Southern states back into the Union after the Civil
War. Reconstruction succeeded in reuniting the country, it also succeeded
in further destroying the economy of the South.
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World War I
Also known as the Great War, World War I was fought between 1914
and 1918 between the Entente powers or Allies (Britain, France,
and for a time, Russia) and the Central powers (Germany, the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, and the Ottoman Empire). The United States entered the
war in 1917 to assist the Allies against the Central powers.
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