Wilson, Woodrow in United States

Wilson, Woodrow

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WILSON, Woodrow (christened Thomas), 28th President of the United States: b. Staunton, Va., 28 Dec. 1856. He is the son of Scotch-Irish parents, who had lived in Pennsylvania, Canada and Ohio. James Wilson, his paternal grandfather, emigrated from Ireland in 1807. When young Wilson was about a year old the father, Rev. Joseph Ruggles Wilson, became the pastor of the Presbyterian church in Augusta, Ga., where the family remained till 1870 when Dr. Wilson removed to Columbia, S. C., where he was a professor in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Woodrow experienced some of the terrors of the Civil War when the people of the town of Augusta daily expected a visit from Sherman’s army, and again in Columbia where a large part of the city remained a burnt-over area till the Wilson’s moved away to Wilmington, N. C, in 1875. Woodrow’s early training was received in private schools in Augusta and Columbia, and from his father and grandfather, Dr. Thomas Woodrow, of Columbus, Ohio, the latter being a devotee of the ancient classics and frequently in the Wilson home. From this Presbyterian home, Woodrow went to Davidson College, North Carolina, a staunch Presbyterian college, in the autumn of 1874, where he remained a year. But in the autumn of 1875 he went to Princeton where the father had studied theology and where the great Presbyterian leaders of the country were wont to live and teach.

At Princeton, Wilson took rank as a leader among his fellows, attained a fair standing in his class, but made it plain to all that wide reading and close study of public affairs were his chief interests. He and his family were already close observers of British politics, Gladstone being a hero in their circle. Wilson showed this interest in a remarkable article published, while he was still an undergraduate, in the International Review, in which the germ of his first book was uncovered. He was graduated in 1879 and the next year went to the University of Virginia to study law. There he took a law degree in 1881 and early in 1882 settled in Atlanta to practise his profession. There he probably did not make his mark as a lawyer; but he continued his study of government and politics, as illustrated in the workings of Congress. True to his bent, he abandoned the law and entered Johns Hopkins University in 1883 where he wrote his first book, ‘Congressional Government,’ published in 1885. The same autumn he began teaching history and political economy in Bryn Mawr College and the next year, somewhat against his wishes, he took his examinations at Johns Hopkins and was awarded the degree of doctor of philosophy, then so highly prized among college teachers everywhere. In 1888 he went to Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., as professor of history and political economy. There he gained a grip upon student life and opinion that marked all his later educational career. But the popularity of ‘Congressional Government’ and the importance of its criticism of American governmental practices were making him a national and even international reputation. At Wesleyan he wrote a review of Bryce’s ‘American Commonwealth,’ which brought him into close friendly relations with that eminent Englishman. In this review one sees the reflection of a keen historical mind and independent thinker.

In 1890 Wilson was called to Princeton as professor of jurisprudence and political economy, which position he held till 1910 when he ceased his connection with the university to become governor of New Jersey. As professor at Princeton, he practically founded the department of political science, as it is now taught in all American universities. His power over students, his activity as a leader in the rapid development of the college into a university, his many articles in periodicals, his lectures in various parts of the country and his books raised him to the foremost position in the faculty and when President Patton resigned in 1902, he was chosen to head the university. He at once set about far-reaching reforms. American college and university students, reflecting the growing riches of their parents, had already become loiterers at their work. Wilson endeavored to compel them to study. Instead of increasing the number of students at Princeton, he pressed so closely his requirements that scores, even hundreds, of young men were sent away each year because they failed in their examinations. Some witty undergraduate is reported to have said that if Dr. Wilson kept on he would make Princeton an educational institution. But the necessity of passing the examinations was not all. Wilson introduced what has been called the preceptorial system at Princeton. By this method every student was brought into close relations with a teacher who made it his business to lead a small group of young men in their work and introduce them to the world of books. The new system cost a great deal of money and Wilson endeavored to collect it. His activity in that direction brought him into closer touch with Princeton men all over the country and he became very popular. His next reform was of a similar nature. There had grown up at Princeton an elaborate club system which was more important to most of the undergraduates than the passing of examinations. To become a member of one of the clubs was the first ambition of most students. Moreover the social life of the students was absorbed by these clubs. Wilson proposed in 1907 that as soon as suitable dormitories could be provided, all students should live together and have their rooms assigned to them by lot; that they should eat together, the rich and the poor, in dining-places on or near the quadrangle; and that the unmarried tutors should live with the students in the dormitories. This reform was aimed at making student life democratic and helpful to all alike. This, too, would cost large sums of money and require several years to become effective. It was, however, too much for the students. Some professors also found the new pace a little too swift and the alumni encouraged resistance.

But before the resistance became effective, a gift to the proposed graduate school, which all held as necessary to the very existence of the university, introduced a new subject of discussion. Dean Andrew West, a close friend of the president, desired the graduate school to be set up at a distance from the quadrangle which Wilson would make the centre of college life. Wilson objected gently. The matter remained in abeyance till in 1909 a conditional gift of something like a million dollars to the graduate school compelled a decision. The gift was to be applied according to the wishes of Dean West. Wilson refused to accept it on those conditions. The segregation of the graduate students seemed to him to thwart the democratic purposes of his whole reform program. The trustees sided with Wilson and the gift was formally declined, but not before the subject had become a national one, for the newspapers of the country discussed the issue. In May 1910, Isaac Wyman of Boston died and left a reported to be several millions, to the graduate school. Dean West was to be one of the executors of the will and he was to use the new millions to carry out his ideals in the new school. Wilson could not refuse these millions. And, before this time, the opposition to his quadrangle reforms had assumed formidable proportions. Dean West’s influence and that of the students and professors who opposed the president were united. The Wilson reforms, popular as they were in educational circles throughout the country, were halted. It was commonly rumored that Wilson would resign at commencement 1910.