Campaigns of Grant and Wilson Essay

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However, he advocated a policy of conservative, limited government and opposed the policies of the Republican's view of punishing the South during Reconstruction. Seymour was quite competitive in his run against Grant with the popular vote, but was soundly defeated by an electoral vote of 214 (Grant) to 80 (Waugh, 2009).

Grant had a particularly easy campaign, running on his war record, a desire to repair the Union, and a campaign slogan of "Let us have peace" He had never held elected office, and was the youngest, at 46, to assume the Presidency. Grant was not a political genius, and left most of the details of Reconstruction to suggestions from the Republican Party. He was not as conservative as many of his colleagues, however, and supported amnesty y for former Confederates, favorite a limited number of troops stationed in the South, and promised that the Union would be whole again as quickly as possible (Smith, 2001).

Wilson - Woodrow Wilson was one of the predominant leaders of the Progressive Movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913. He was an academic by training, and tended to view the problems and challenges of the early 20th century (isolationism, immigration, rampant industrialization) as solvable through changes and reform through governmental programs and action. Wilson remained interested in helping workers and the disenfranchised live a better life, to eliminate child labor, establish basic housing and health rights, and improve the working conditions for women. He was a deeply religious man, Presbyterian, and remained idealistic with a profound sense of moralism, for both domestic and foreign policy issues (Cooper, 2009).

The issues of the 1912 election focused mainly on social issues. The Republicans were split in ideas between the Progressive side (Theodore Roosevelt) who favored restrictions on the employment of women and children, ecological conservation, were favorable towards labor, and opposed import tariffs.

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The conservative Republicans, under William Taft, favored high tariffs and were decidedly pro-business and against government intervention. Oddly, Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party, and Wilsons Progressive views. The campaign was, by all accounts, quite bitter. Vice President James Sherman died in Office less than a week prior to election, leaving Taft without a running mate; in October, Roosevelt was shot, but not fatally. Essentially, Wilson promised greater government oversight, greater attention to the needs of the lower and middle classes, and a firm and moral stance to politics. This, too, was what Roosevelt promised, but with more Congressional negotiation and less legal means for change. Roosevelt's 3rd party candidacy split the Republican vote, allowing Wilson to win; 27% of the popular vote to Roosevelt, 23% to Taft; while Wilson received on 42%. The country was ripe for change, and change is what Wilson promised; and a focus towards internal improvement and the modernization and liberalization of a number of urban policies. Unfortunately, foreign policy and the looming war in Europe took much of the focus away from Wilson's campaign promised and placed it more on his Foreign Policy and international relations views; giving rise to a movement that to this day is called Wilsonianism (Chace; Cooper, 1983).

REFERENCES

Chase, J. (2004). 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft and Debs -- The Election that

Changed the Country. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Cooper, J.W. (2009). Woodrow Wilson: A Biography. New York: Random House.

Cooper, J.W. (1983). The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore

Roosevelt. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.

Dinkin, R.J. (1989). Campaigning in America: A History of Election Practice.

Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Link, Arthur (1945). "The Baltimore Convention of 1912." American Historical

Review. 50 (4): 691-713.

McFeely, W. (1981). Grant: A Biography. New York: Norton.

Smith, J. (2001). Grant. New York: Simon and….....

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