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Ulysses_S._Grant	Did Grant & Perkins not sell harnesses , saddles , and other leather goods and purchase hides from farmers in the prosperous Galena area ?	they did	data/set3/a5	Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant, See military career for a discussion of Grant's middle initial. born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27, 1822 July 23, 1885), was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869 1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War. Grant first reached national prominence by taking Forts Henry and Donelson in 1862 in the first Union victories of the war. The following year, his brilliant campaign ending in the surrender of Vicksburg secured Union control of the Mississippi andâwith the simultaneous Union victory at Gettysburgâturned the tide of the war in the North's favor. Named commanding general of the Federal armies in 1864, he implemented a coordinated strategy of simultaneous attacks aimed at destroying the South's ability to carry on the war. In 1865, after conducting a costly war of attrition in the East, he accepted the surrender of his Confederate opponent Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House. Grant has been described by J.F.C. Fuller as "the greatest general of his age and one of the greatest strategists of any age." His Vicksburg Campaign in particular has been scrutinized by military specialists around the world. In 1868, Grant was elected president as a Republican. Grant was the first president to serve for two full terms since Andrew Jackson forty years before. He led Radical Reconstruction and built a powerful patronage-based Republican party in the South, with the adroit use of the army. He took a hard line that reduced violence by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Although Grant was personally honest, he not only tolerated financial and political corruption among top aides but also protected them once exposed. Presidential experts typically rank Grant in the lowest quartile of U.S. presidents, primarily for his tolerance of corruption. In recent years, however, his reputation as president has improved somewhat among scholars impressed by his support for civil rights for African Americans. See Skidmore (2005); Bunting (2004), Scaturro (1998), Smith (2001) and Simpson (1998) Unsuccessful in winning a third term in 1880, bankrupted by bad investments, and terminally ill with throat cancer, Grant wrote his Memoirs, which was enormously successful among veterans, the public, and the critics. Ulysses Grant Birthplace, Point Pleasant, Ohio Ulysses S. Grant Boyhood Home, Georgetown, Ohio Grant was born in a log cabin in Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, 25 miles (40 km) east of Cincinnati on the Ohio River. He was the eldest of the six children of Jesse Root Grant (1794 1873) and Hannah Simpson Grant (1798 1883). His father, a tanner, was from Pennsylvania, and his mother was born in Horsham Township, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1823, they moved to the village of Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio. On August 22, 1848, Grant married Julia Boggs Dent (1826 1902), the daughter of a slave owner. They had four children: Frederick Dent Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. (Buck), Ellen Wrenshall Grant (Nellie), and Jesse Root Grant. At the age of 17, Grant entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, after securing a nomination through his U.S. Congressman, Thomas L. Hamer. Hamer erroneously nominated him as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio," Smith, Grant, p. 24. knowing Grant's mother's maiden name was Simpson and forgetting that Grant was referred to in his youth as "H. Ulysses Grant" or "Lyss." Grant wrote his name in the entrance register as "Ulysses Hiram Grant" (concerned that he would otherwise become known by his initials, H.U.G.), but the school administration refused to accept any name other than the nominated form. Upon graduation, Grant adopted the form of his new name with middle initial only. Smith, Grant, p. 83. In a letter to his wife Julia dated March 31, 1853, Grant wrote, "Why did you not tell me more about our dear little boys ? ... What does Fred. call Ulys. ? What does the S stand for in Ulys.'s name? In mine you know it does not stand for anything!" McFeely, p. 524, n. 2: "Grant himself never used more than 'S.'; others converted the single letter to 'Simpson.' He graduated from West Point in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. At the academy, he established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman. Although this made him seem a natural for cavalry, he was assigned to duty as a regimental quartermaster, managing supplies and equipment. Lieutenant Grant served in the Mexican-American War (1846â1848) under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, where, despite his assignment as a quartermaster, he got close enough to the front lines to see action, taking part in the battles of Resaca de la Palma, Palo Alto, Monterrey (where he volunteered to carry a dispatch on horseback through a sniper-lined street), and Veracruz. Once Grant saw his friend, Fred Dent, later becoming his brother-in-law, lying in the middle of the battlefield; he had been shot in the leg. Grant ran furiously into the open to rescue Dent; as they were making their way to safety, a Mexican was sneaking up behind Grant, but the Mexican was shot by a fellow U.S soldier. Grant was twice brevetted for bravery: at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. He was a remarkably close observer of the war, learning to judge the actions of colonels and generals. In the 1880s he wrote that the war was unjust, accepting the theory that it was designed to gain land open to slavery. After the Mexican-American war ended in 1848, Grant remained in the army and was moved to several different posts. He was sent to Fort Vancouver in the Washington Territory in 1853, where he served as quartermaster of the 4th U.S. Infantry regiment. His wife, eight months pregnant with their second child, could not accompany him because his salary could not support a family on the frontier. In 1854, Grant was promoted to captain (one of only 50 still on active duty) and assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at Fort Humboldt, California. However, he still could not afford to bring his family out West. He tried some business ventures, but they failed. Grant resigned from the Army with little advance notice on July 31, 1854, offering no explanation for his abrupt decision. Rumors persisted in the Army for years that his commanding officer, Bvt. Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanan, found him drunk on duty as a pay officer and offered him the choice between resignation or court-martial. According to Smith, pp. 87-88, and Lewis, pp. 328-32, two of Grant's lieutenants corroborated this story and Buchanan himself confirmed it to another officer in a conversation during the Civil War. Years later, Grant told educator John Eaton, "the vice of intemperance had not a little to do with my decision to resign." Some biographers discount the rumors and suggest Grant's resignation, and his drinking, were both prompted by profound depression. According to this view, Buchanan hated Grant and concocted the drunkenness story years later to protect Buchanan's action in removing the man who became one of the most famous generals in history. The War Department stated, "Nothing stands against his good name." McFeely, p. 55-56; Simpson, Triumph, pp. 60-61. Buchanan tolerated drunkenness in other officers, and in Grant's successor, and surprised fellow officers by forcing Grant's resignation. Garland, p. 126, notes that at the time the War Department made clear that Grant did not leave under a cloud. He wrote in his memoirs about the war against Mexico: "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation". Ulysses S Grant Quotes on the Military Academy and the Mexican War A civilian at age 32, Grant struggled through seven lean years. From 1854 to 1858 he labored on a family farm near St. Louis, Missouri, using slaves owned by his father-in-law, but it did not prosper. Grant owned one slave (whom he set free in 1859); his wife owned four slaves (two women servants and their two small boys). His wife's slaves were leased in St. Louis in 1860 after Grant gave up farming. The land and cabin where Grant lived is now an animal conservation reserve, Grant's Farm, owned and operated by the Anheuser-Busch Company. In 1858-59 he was a bill collector in St. Louis. Failing at everything, in humiliation he asked his father for a job, and in 1860 was made an assistant in the leather shop owned by his father and run by his younger brother in Galena, Illinois. Grant & Perkins sold harnesses, saddles, and other leather goods and purchased hides from farmers in the prosperous Galena area. McFeely, ch. 5. Although Grant was essentially apolitical, his father-in-law was a prominent Democrat in St. Louis (a fact that lost Grant the good job of county engineer in 1859). In 1856 he voted for Democrat James Buchanan for president to avert secession and because "I knew FrÃ©mont" (the Republican candidate). In 1860, he favored Democrat Stephen A. Douglas but did not vote. In 1864, he allowed his political sponsor, Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, to use his private letters as campaign literature for Abraham Lincoln The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Retrieved April 28, 2007. and the Union Party, which combined both Republicans and War Democrats. He refused to announce his political affiliation until 1868, when he finally declared himself a Republican. Hesseltine, chapter 6. . The home of President Grant while he lived in Galena, Illinois. Shortly after Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers. Grant helped recruit a company of volunteers and accompanied it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. Grant accepted a position offered by Illinois Governor Richard Yates to recruit and train volunteers, which he accomplished with efficiency. Grant pressed for a field command; Yates appointed him colonel of the undisciplined and rebellious 21st Illinois Infantry in June 1861. Grant was deployed to Missouri to protect the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Under pro-Confederate Governor Claiborne Jackson, Missouri had declared it was an armed neutral in the conflict and would attack troops from either side entering the state. By the first of August the Union army had forcibly removed Jackson and Missouri was controlled by Union forces, who had to deal with numerous southern sympathizers. In August, Grant was appointed brigadier general of volunteers by Lincoln, who had been lobbied by Congressman Elihu Washburne. At the end of August, Grant was selected by Western Theater commander Major General John C. FrÃ©mont to command the critical District of Southeast Missouri. Grant's first important strategic act of the war was to take the initiative to seize the Ohio River town of Paducah, Kentucky, immediately after the Confederates violated the state's neutrality by occupying Columbus, Kentucky. He fought his first battle, an indecisive action against Confederate Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, at Belmont, Missouri, in November 1861. Three months later, aided by Andrew H. Foote's Navy gunboats, he captured two major Confederate fortresses, Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. At Donelson, his army was hit by a surprise Confederate attack (once again by Pillow) while he was temporarily absent. Displaying the cool determination that would characterize his leadership in future battles, he organized counterattacks that carried the day. Both General Floyd and Pillow, the two senior Confederate commanders fled. The Confederate commander, Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, an old friend of Grant's and a West Point classmate, and senior commander with Floyd and Pillow fleeing, yielded to Grant's hard conditions of "no terms except unconditional and immediate surrender." Buckner's surrender of over 12,000 men made Grant a national figure almost overnight, and he was nicknamed "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. The captures of the two forts with over 12,000 prisoners were the first major Union victories of the war, gaining him national recognition. Desperate for generals who could fight and win, Lincoln promoted him to major general of volunteers. Although Grant's new-found fame did not seem to affect his temperament, it did have an impact on his personal life. At one point during the Civil War, a picture of Grant with a cigar in his mouth was published. He was then inundated with cigars from well wishers. Before that he had smoked only sporadically, but he could not give them all away, so he took up smoking them, a habit which may have contributed to the development of throat cancer later in his life; one story after the war claimed that he smoked over 10,000 in five years. Despite his significant victories (or perhaps because of them), Grant fell out of favor with his superior, Major General Henry W. Halleck. Halleck had a particular distaste for drunks and, believing Grant was an alcoholic, was biased against him from the beginning. After Grant visited Nashville, Tennessee, where he met with Halleck's rival, Don Carlos Buell, Halleck used the visit as an excuse to relieve Grant of field command on March 2. Personal intervention from President Lincoln caused Halleck to restore Grant, who rejoined his army on March 17. General Grant at Cold Harbor, photographed by Mathew Brady in 1864 In early April 1862, Grant was surprised by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard at the Battle of Shiloh. The sheer violence of the Confederate attack sent the Union forces reeling. Nevertheless, Grant refused to retreat. With grim determination, he stabilized his line. Then, on the second day, with the help of timely reinforcements, Grant counterattacked and turned a serious reverse into a victory. The victory at Shiloh came at a high price; with over 23,000 casualties, it was the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States up to that time. Halleck responded to the surprise and the disorganized nature of the fighting by taking command of the army in the field himself on April 30, relegating Grant to the powerless position of second-in-command for the campaign in Corinth, Mississippi. Despondent over this reversal, Grant decided to resign. The intervention of his subordinate and good friend, William T. Sherman, caused him to remain. When Halleck was promoted to general-in-chief of the Union Army, Grant resumed his position as commander of the Army of West Tennessee (later more famously named the Army of the Tennessee) on June 10. He commanded the army for the battles of Corinth and Iuka that fall. In an attempt to capture the Mississippi River fortress of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Grant spent the winter of 1862 1863 conducting a series of operations to gain access to the city through the region's bayous. These attempts failed. However, his strategy to take Vicksburg in 1863 is considered one of the most masterful in military history. Grant marched his troops down the west bank of the Mississippi and crossed the river by using U.S. Navy ships that had run the guns at Vicksburg. There, he moved inland and in a daring move that defied conventional military principles cut loose from most of his supply lines. One of the enduring myths about Grant is that he dispensed with all of his supply lines and lived entirely off the land. This story was first propagated by former journalist Charles A. Dana and years later, Grant wrote the same in his memoirs. However, supply requisitions show that, while the men and animals of the Army of the Tennessee foraged for much of their food, staples such as coffee, salt, hardtack, ammunition, and medical supplies kept a large fleet of wagons moving inland from Grand Gulf throughout the campaign. This supply train was a target of Pemberton until Champion Hill. Operating in enemy territory, Grant moved swiftly, never giving the Confederates, under the command of John C. Pemberton, an opportunity to concentrate their forces against him. Grant's army went eastward, captured the city of Jackson, Mississippi, and severed the rail line to Vicksburg. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant Knowing that the Confederates could no longer send reinforcements to the Vicksburg garrison, Grant turned west and won the Battle of Champion Hill. The Confederates retreated inside their fortifications at Vicksburg, and Grant promptly surrounded the city. Finding that assaults against the impregnable breastworks were futile, he settled in for a six-week siege. Cut off and with no possibility of relief, Pemberton surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863. It was a devastating defeat for the Southern cause, effectively splitting the Confederacy in two, and, in conjunction with the Union victory at Gettysburg the previous day, is widely considered the turning point of the war. For this victory, President Lincoln promoted Grant to the rank of major general in the regular army, effective July 4. A distinguished British historian has written that "we must go back to the campaigns of Napoleon to find equally brilliant results accomplished in the same space of time with such a small loss." Lincoln said after the capture of Vicksburg and after the lost opportunity after Gettysburg, "Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the War." After the Battle of Chickamauga Union general William S. Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Confederate Braxton Bragg followed to Lookout Mountain, surrounding the Federals on three sides. On October 17, Grant was placed in command of the Military Division of Mississippi, which included Chattanooga. He immediately relieved Rosecrans and replaced him with George H. Thomas. Devising a plan known as the "Cracker Line", Thomas' chief engineer, William F. "Baldy" Smith opened a new supply route to Chattanooga, helping to better supply the Army of the Cumberland. Upon reprovisioning and reinforcing, the morale of Union troops lifted. In late November, they went on the offensive. The Battle of Chattanooga started out with Sherman's failed attack on the Confederate right. He not only attacked the wrong mountain but committed his troops piecemeal, allowing them to be defeated by one Confederate division. In response, Grant ordered Thomas to launch a demonstration on the center, which could draw defenders away from Sherman. Thomas waited until he was certain that Hooker, with reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac, was engaged on the Confederate left before he launched the Army of the Cumberland at the center of the Confederate line. Hooker's men broke the Confederate left, while Thomas' men made an unexpected but spectacular charge straight up Missionary Ridge and broke the fortified center of the Confederate line. Grant was initially angry at Thomas that his orders for a demonstration were exceeded, but the assaulting wave sent the Confederates into a head-long retreat, opening the way for the Union to invade Atlanta, Georgia, and the heart of the Confederacy. Grant reportedly said afterward, "Damn, I had nothing to do with this battle," according to Hooker. Grant's willingness to fight and ability to win impressed President Lincoln, who appointed him lieutenant general in the regular army a rank not awarded since George Washington (or Winfield Scott's brevet appointment), recently re-authorized by the U.S. Congress with Grant in mind on March 2, 1864. On March 12, Grant became general-in-chief of all the armies of the United States. In March 1864, Grant put Major General William T. Sherman in immediate command of all forces in the West and moved his headquarters to Virginia where he turned his attention to the long-frustrated Union effort to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia; his secondary objective was to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, but Grant knew that the latter would happen automatically once the former was accomplished. He devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the heart of the Confederacy from multiple directions: Grant, George G. Meade, and Benjamin Franklin Butler against Lee near Richmond; Franz Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley; Sherman to invade Georgia, defeat Joseph E. Johnston, and capture Atlanta; George Crook and William W. Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia; and Nathaniel Banks to capture Mobile, Alabama. Grant was the first general to attempt such a coordinated strategy in the war and the first to understand the concepts of total war, in which the destruction of an enemy's economic infrastructure that supplied its armies was as important as tactical victories on the battlefield. The Overland Campaign was the military thrust needed by the Union to defeat the Confederacy. It pitted Grant against the great commander Robert E. Lee in an epic contest. It began on May 4, 1864, when the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River, marching into an area of scrubby undergrowth and second growth trees known as the Wilderness. It was such difficult terrain that the Army of Northern Virginia was able to use it to prevent Grant from fully exploiting his numerical advantage. The Battle of the Wilderness was a stubborn, bloody two-day fight, resulting in advantage to neither side, but with heavy casualties on both. After similar battles in Virginia against Lee, all of Grant's predecessors had retreated from the field. Grant ignored the setback and ordered an advance around Lee's flank to the southeast, which lifted the morale of his army. Grant's strategy was not just to win individual battles, it was to fight constant battles in order to wear down and destroy Lee's army. Poster of "Grant from West Point to Appomattox." Sigel's Shenandoah campaign and Butler's James River campaign both failed. Lee was able to reinforce with troops used to defend against these assaults. The campaign continued, but Lee, anticipating Grant's move, beat him to Spotsylvania, Virginia, where, on May 8, the fighting resumed. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House lasted 14 days. On May 11, Grant wrote a famous dispatch containing the line "I propose to fight it out along this line if it takes all summer". These words summed up his attitude about the fighting, and the next day, May 12, he ordered a massive assault by Hancock's 2nd Corps that broke a portion of Lee's line, captured 30 artillery pieces, took 4,000 prisoners, and broke forever the famous Stonewall Division. In spite of mounting Union casualties, the contest's dynamics changed in Grant's favor. Most of Lee's great victories in earlier years had been won on the offensive, employing surprise movements and fierce assaults. Now, he was forced to continually fight on the defensive without a chance to regroup or replenish against an opponent that was well supplied and had superior numbers. The next major battle, however, demonstrated the power of a well-prepared defense. Cold Harbor was one of Grant's most controversial battles, in which he launched on June 3 a massive three-corps assault without adequate reconnaissance on a well-fortified defensive line, resulting in horrific casualties (3,000 7,000 killed, wounded, and missing in the first 40 minutes, although modern estimates have determined that the total was likely less than half of the famous figure of 7,000 that has been used in books for decades; as many as 12,000 for the day, far outnumbering the Confederate losses). Grant said of the battle in his memoirs "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22nd of May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained." But Grant moved on and kept up the pressure. He stole a march on Lee, slipping his troops across the James River. Arriving at Petersburg, Virginia, first, Grant should have captured the rail junction city, but he failed because of the overly cautious actions of his subordinate William Smith. Over the next three days, a number of Union assaults to take the city were launched. But all failed, and finally on June 18, Lee's veterans arrived. Faced with fully manned trenches in his front, Grant was left with no alternative but to settle down to a siege. As the summer drew on and with Grant's and Sherman's armies stalled, respectively in Virginia and Georgia, politics took center stage. There was a presidential election in the fall, and the citizens of the North had difficulty seeing any progress in the war effort. To make matters worse for Abraham Lincoln, Lee detached a small army under the command of Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, hoping it would force Grant to disengage forces to pursue him. Early invaded north through the Shenandoah Valley and reached the outskirts of Washington, D.C.. Although unable to take the city, Early embarrassed the Administration simply by threatening its inhabitants, making Abraham Lincoln's re-election prospects even bleaker. In early September, the efforts of Grant's coordinated strategy finally bore fruit. First, Sherman took Atlanta. Then, Grant dispatched Philip Sheridan to the Shenandoah Valley to deal with Early. It became clear to the people of the North that the war was being won, and Lincoln was re-elected by a wide margin. Later in November, Sherman began his March to the Sea. Sheridan and Sherman both followed Grant's strategy of total war by destroying the economic infrastructures of the Valley and a large swath of Georgia and the Carolinas. At the beginning of April 1865, Grant's relentless pressure finally forced Lee to evacuate Richmond, and after a nine-day retreat, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. There, Grant offered generous terms that did much to ease the tensions between the armies and preserve some semblance of Southern pride, which would be needed to reconcile the warring sides. Within a few weeks, the American Civil War was effectively over; minor actions would continue until Kirby Smith surrendered his forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2, 1865. Immediately after Lee's surrender, Grant had the sad honor of serving as a pallbearer at the funeral of his greatest champion, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had been quoted after the massive losses at Shiloh as saying, "I can't spare this man. He fights." It was a two-sentence description that completely caught the essence of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant's fighting style was what one fellow general called "that of a bulldog". The term accurately captures his tenacity, but it oversimplifies his considerable strategic and tactical capabilities. Although a master of combat by out-maneuvering his opponent (such as at Vicksburg and in the Overland Campaign against Lee), Grant was not afraid to order direct assaults, often when the Confederates were themselves launching offensives against him. Such tactics often resulted in heavy casualties for Grant's men, but they wore down the Confederate forces proportionately more and inflicted irreplaceable losses. Many in the North denounced Grant as a "butcher" in 1864, an accusation made both by Northern civilians appalled at the staggering number of casualties suffered by Union armies for what appeared to be negligible gains, and by Copperheads, Northern Democrats who either favored the Confederacy or simply wanted an end to the war, even at the cost of recognizing Southern independence. Grant persevered, refusing to withdraw as had his predecessors, and Lincoln, despite public outrage and pressure within the government, stuck by Grant, refusing to replace him. Although Grant lost battles in 1864, he won all his campaigns. Historian Michael Korda explained his strategic genius: Korda, (2004) After the war, on July 25, 1866, Congress authorized the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States, the equivalent of a full (four-star) general in the modern U.S. Army. Eicher, Civil War High Commands, p. 264. Grant was appointed as such by President Andrew Johnson on the same day.'' As commanding general of the army, Grant had a difficult relationship with President Johnson. Although he accompanied Johnson on a national stumping tour during the 1866 elections, he did not appear to be a supporter of Johnson's moderate policies toward the South. Johnson tried to use Grant to defeat the Radical Republicans by making Grant the Secretary of War in place of Edwin M. Stanton, whom he could not remove without the approval of Congress under the Tenure of Office Act. Grant refused but kept his military command. That made him a hero to the Radicals, who gave him the Republican nomination for president in 1868. He was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in Chicago in May 1868, with no real opposition. In his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which became the Republican campaign slogan. In the general election that year, he won against former New York governor Horatio Seymour with a lead of 300,000 out of a total of 5,716,082 votes cast but by a commanding 214 Electoral College votes to 80. He ran about 100,000 votes ahead of the Republican ticket, suggesting an unusually powerful appeal to veterans. When he entered the White House, he was politically inexperienced and, at age 46, the youngest man yet elected president. The second president from Ohio, Grant was the 18th President of the United States and served two terms from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. In the 1872 election he won by a landslide against the breakaway Liberal Republican party that nominated Horace Greeley. Grant presided over the last half of Reconstruction, watching as the Democrats (called Redeemers) took the control of every state away from his Republican coalition. When urgent telegrams from state leaders begged for help, Grant and his attorney general replied that "the whole public is tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South," saying that state militias should handle the problems, not the Army. He supported amnesty for Confederate leaders and protection for the civil rights of African-Americans. He favored a limited number of troops to be stationed in the South sufficient numbers to protect rights of Southern blacks, suppress the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan, and prop up Republican governors, but not so many as to create resentment in the general population. In 1869 and 1871, Grant signed bills promoting voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing voting rights, was ratified in 1870. Recent historians have emphasized Grant's commitment to protecting Unionists and freedmen in the South until 1876. Grant's commitment to black civil rights was demonstrated by his address to Congress in 1875 and by his attempt to use the annexation of Santo Domingo as leverage to force white supremacists to accept blacks as part of the Southern political polity. Grant confronted an apathetic Northern public, violent KKK organizations in the South, and a factional Republican party. He was charged with bringing order and equality to the South without being armed with the emergency powers that Lincoln and Johnson employed . Grant signed a bill into law that created Yellowstone National Park (America's first National Park) on March 1, 1872. General Grant National Memorial by the National Park Service. Retrieved March 29, 2006. Grant also signed into law making Christmas a federal holiday in 1870. Federal Holidays: Evolution and Application, CRS Report for Congress, 98-301 GOV, updated February 8, 1999, by Stephen W. Stathis The Panic of 1873 hit the country hard during his presidency, and he never attempted decisive action, one way or the other, to alleviate distress. The first law that he signed, in March 1869, established the value of the greenback currency issued during the Civil War, pledging to redeem the bills in gold. In 1874, he vetoed a bill to increase the amount of a legal tender currency, which defused the currency crisis on Wall Street but did little to help the economy as a whole. The depression led to Democratic victories in the 1874 off-year elections, as that party took control of the House for the first time since 1856. By 1875 the Grant administration was in disarray and on the defensive on all fronts other than foreign policy. With the Democrats in control of the House, Grant was unable to pass legislation. The House discovered gross corruption in the Interior, War, and Navy Departments; they did much to discredit the Department of Justice, forced the resignation of Robert Schenck, the Minister to Britain, and cast suspicion upon Blaine's conduct while Speaker. Nevins, Hamilton Fish 2:811ff. Historian Allan Nevins concludes: Nevins, Fish 2:811 In 1876, Grant helped to calm the nation over the Hayes-Tilden election controversy; he made clear he would not tolerate any march on Washington, such as that proposed by Tilden supporter Henry Watterson . The Grant administration's first economic accomplishment was the signing of the Act to Strengthen the Public Credit which the GOP Congress had passed after Grant ` s inaugural in March 1869 . The act had the effect that the gold price on New York exchange fell to 310 dollar an ounce - the lowest point since the suspension of specie payment in 1862 . As Jean Edward Smith notes in his 2002 biography on Grant, the presidential treasury secretary Boutwell reorganized the Treasury by discharging unnecessary employees, started sweeping changes in Bureau of Printing and Engraving to protect the currency from counterfeiters and revitalized tax collections to hasten the collection of revenue. This changes soon led the Tresury having a monthly surplus . The Grant administration reduced the debt by appromixately 435 million dollar. That was achieved by selling the growing gold surplus at weekly auctions for greenbacks and buying back wartime bonds with the currency . With this Grant ` s treasury secretary Boutwell had established a policy if continued had payed of the national debt in a quarter of a century . Newspapers like the New York Tribune wanted that the Government buy more bonds and Greenbacks, the New York Times praised the the Grant administration `s debt policy . On other economic fronts did the Grant administration have acomplishments . Under Grant the nation `s credit was substantially raised. Taxes was reduced by 300 million dollar. Annual interest rates were reduced by approximately 30 million dollar . The U . S balance of trade was changed from 130 million dollar against the United States to 120 million dollar in favor of the United States . He also reduced inflation and to 1873 bolstered economic recovery . He also promoted economy in federal expenditures . His veto of the Inflation Bill in 1874 saved the aftermath of the Panic of 1873 to get worse and the veto was praised by the financial community and many newspapers . The Resumption of Species Act of 1875 which was signed by Grant and helped to end the crisis in 1879 when the law came in to effect He also pressed for internal improvements and increased shipbuilding and foreign trade. He also wanted to enhance and improve the commercial marine . Grant/Wilson campaign poster In foreign affairs, a notable achievement of the Grant administration was the 1871 Treaty of Washington, negotiated by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. It settled American claims against Britain concerning the wartime activities of the British-built Confederate raider CSS Alabama. He also proposed to annex the independent, largely black nation of Santo Domingo. Not only did he believe that the island would be of use to the navy tactically, but he sought to use it as a bargaining chip. By providing a safe haven for the freedmen, Grant believed that the exodus of black labor would force Southern whites to realize the necessity of such a significant workforce and accept their civil rights. At the same time he hoped that U.S. ownership of the island would urge nearby Cuba to abandon slavery. The Senate refused to ratify it because of (Foreign Relations Committee Chairman) Senator Charles Sumner's strong opposition. Grant helped depose Sumner from the chairmanship, and Sumner supported Horace Greeley and the Liberal Republicans in 1872. Another notable foreign policy action under Grant was the settlement of the Liberian-Grebo War of 1876 through the dispatchment of the USS Alaska to Liberia where US envoy James Milton Turner negotiated the incorporation of Grebo people into Liberian society and the ousting of foreign traders from Liberia. Liberian-Grebo War of 1876 The first scandal to taint the Grant administration was Black Friday, a gold-speculation financial crisis in September 1869, set up by Wall Street manipulators Jay Gould and James Fisk. They tried to corner the gold market and tricked Grant into preventing his treasury secretary from stopping the fraud. However, Grant eventually released large amounts of gold back onto the market, causing a large-scale financial crisis for many gold investors. Jay Gould had already prepared and quietly sold out while Fisk denied many agreements and hired thugs to intimidate his creditors. The most famous scandal was the Whiskey Ring of 1875, exposed by Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow, in which over 3 million dollars in taxes were stolen from the federal government with the aid of high government officials. Orville E. Babcock, the private secretary to the President, was indicted as a member of the ring but escaped conviction because of a presidential pardon. Grant's earlier statement, "Let no guilty man escape" rang hollow. Secretary of War William W. Belknap was discovered to have taken bribes in exchange for the sale of Native American trading posts. Grant's acceptance of the resignation of Belknap allowed Belknap, after he was impeached by Congress for his actions, to escape conviction, since he was no longer a government official. Other scandals included the Sanborn Incident involving Treasury Secretary William Adams Richardson and his assistant John D. Sanborn. Another was a problem with U.S. Attorney Cyrus I. Scofield. The CrÃ©dit Mobilier of America scandal also ruined the political career of his first vice president, Schuyler Colfax, who was replaced on the Republican ticket in the 1872 election with Henry Wilson, who was also involved in the scandal. President Grant with his wife, Julia, and son, Jesse, in 1872. Although Grant himself did not profit from corruption among his subordinates, he did not take a firm stance against malefactors and failed to react strongly even after their guilt was established. When critics complained, he vigorously attacked them. He was weak in his selection of subordinates, favoring colleagues from the war over those with more practical political experience. He alienated party leaders by giving many posts to his friends and political contributors rather than supporting the party's needs. His failure to establish working political alliances in Congress allowed the scandals to spin out of control. At the conclusion of his second term, Grant wrote to Congress that "Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent." Grant's legacy has been marred by charges of anti-Semitism. The most frequently cited example is the infamous General Order No. 11, issued by Grant's headquarters in Oxford, Mississippi, on December 17, 1862, during the early Vicksburg Campaign. The order stated in part: The order was almost immediately rescinded by President Lincoln. Grant maintained that he was unaware that a staff officer issued it in his name. Grant's father Jesse Grant was involved; General James H. Wilson later explained, "There was a mean nasty streak in old Jesse Grant. He was close and greedy. He came down into Tennessee with a Jew trader that he wanted his son to help, and with whom he was going to share the profits. Grant refused to issue a permit and sent the Jew flying, prohibiting Jews from entering the line." Grant, Wilson felt, could not strike back directly at the "lot of relatives who were always trying to use him" and perhaps struck instead at what he maliciously saw as their counterpart â opportunistic traders who were Jewish. McFeely, p 124. Although it was portrayed as being outside the normal inclinations and character of Grant, it has been suggested by Bertram Korn that the order was part of a consistent pattern. "This was not the first discriminatory order [Grant] had signed [...] he was firmly convinced of the Jews' guilt and was eager to use any means of ridding himself of them." Bertram Korn, American Jewry and the Civil War, p. 143). Korn cites Grant's order of November 9 and 10, 1862, "Refuse all permits to come south of Jackson for the present. The Israelites especially should be kept out," and "no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the railroad southward from any point. They may go north and be encouraged in it; but they are such an intolerable nuisance that the department must be purged of them." The issue of anti-Semitism was raised during the 1868 presidential campaign, and Grant consulted with several Jewish community leaders, all of whom said they were convinced that Order 11 was an anomaly, and he was not an anti-Semite. He maintained good relations with the community throughout his administration, on both political and social levels. Grant's second inauguration as President by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase on March 4, 1873. Grant appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: * Edwin M. Stanton 1869 (sworn in but died before taking seat) * William Strong 1870 * Joseph P. Bradley 1870 * Ward Hunt 1873 * Morrison Remick Waite (Chief Justice) 1874 * Colorado August 1, 1876 * Department of Justice (1870) * Office of the Solicitor General (1870) * "Advisory Board on Civil Service" (1871); after it expired in 1873, it became the role model for the "Civil Service Commission" instituted in 1883 by President Chester A. Arthur, a Grant faithful. (Today it is known as the Office of Personnel Management.) * Office of the Surgeon General (1871) * Army Weather Bureau (currently known as the National Weather Service) (1870) Ulysses S. Grant in his postbellum. After the end of his second term in the White House, Grant spent over two years traveling the world with his wife. He visited Ireland, Scotland, and England; the crowds were huge. The Grants dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and with Prince Bismarck in Germany. They also visited Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Siam, and Burma. In Japan, they were cordially received by Emperor Meiji and Empress ShÅken at the Imperial Palace. Today in the Shibakoen section of Tokyo, a tree still stands that Grant planted during his stay. In 1879, the Meiji government of Japan announced the annexation of the Ryukyu Islands. China objected, and Grant was asked to arbitrate the matter. He decided that Japan's claim to the islands was stronger and ruled in Japan's favor. That same year, Grant was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Medical School. In 1879, the "Stalwart" faction of the Republican Party led by Senator Roscoe Conkling sought to nominate Grant for a third term as president. He counted on strong support from the business men, the old soldiers, and the Methodist church. Publicly Grant said nothing, but privately he wanted the job and encouraged his men. Hesseltine (2001) pp 432-39 His popularity was fading however, and while he received more than 300 votes in each of the 36 ballots of the 1880 convention, the nomination went to James A. Garfield. Grant campaigned for Garfield, who won by a very narrow margin. Grant supported his Stalwart ally Conkling against Garfield in the terrific battle over patronage in spring 1881 that culminated in Garfield's assassination. Grant writing his memoirs. In 1881, Grant purchased a house in New York City and placed almost all of his financial assets into an investment banking partnership with Ferdinand Ward, as suggested by Grant's son Buck (Ulysses, Jr.), who was having success on Wall Street. Ward swindled Grant (and other investors who had been encouraged by Grant) in 1884, bankrupted the company, Grant & Ward, and fled. Grant appears on the U.S. $50 bill. Grant learned at the same time that he was suffering from throat cancer. Grant and his family were left destitute; at the time retired U.S. Presidents were not given pensions, and Grant had forfeited his military pension when he assumed the office of President. It was not until 1958 that Congress, feeling it inappropriate that a former president or his wife might be poverty-stricken, passed a bill granting a pension to such individuals, a practice that continues to this day. Grant first wrote several articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century Magazine, which were warmly received. Mark Twain offered Grant a generous contract for the publication of his memoirs, including 75% of the book's sales as royalties. Terminally ill, Grant finished the book just a few days before his death. The Memoirs sold over 300,000 copies, earning the Grant family over $450,000. Twain promoted the book as "the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar," and Grant's memoirs are also regarded by such writers as Matthew Arnold and Gertrude Stein as among the finest ever written. Ulysses S. Grant died at 8:06 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, 1885, at the age of 63 in Mount McGregor, Saratoga County, New York. His last word was a request, "Water." His body lies in New York City's Riverside Park, beside that of his wife, in Grant's Tomb, the largest mausoleum in North America. Statue of Grant astride his favorite mount, "Cincinnati", at Vicksburg, Mississippi In World War II, the United States produced a tank known as the Grant tank (an upgrade of the American M3 "Lee"). Grant's portrait appears on the U.S. fifty-dollar bill. The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., honors Grant. Grant Park in Chicago honors Grant. Grant Avenue, a nine block long, north-south street in the Bronx, New York, is named after Grant. It is parallel and adjacent to Sherman Avenue. Dupont Street, the main thoroughfare in San Francisco's Chinatown, was renamed Grant Avenue in his honor. The famous dragon gate at the entrance to the district is at the corner of Grant and Bush Street. Grant, depicted riding a horse, is honored by a statue at the intersection of Bedford Avenue, Rogers Avenue and Dean Street in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y. There is a U.S. Grant Bridge over the Ohio River at Portsmouth, Ohio. There is a U.S. Grant Memorial Highway (US 52) in Cincinnati, Ohio. Counties in twelve U.S. states are named after Grant: Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Grant Parish, Louisiana. Note: Grant Counties in Indiana, Kentucky and Wisconsin were named after other Grants, not Ulysses Grant. * Grant was a descendant of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren * Grant is also a descendant from John Lothropp, who is also an ancestor to Benjamin Franklin Grant Memorial Statue in Grant Park, Galena, Illinois. Julia Grant remarked that it was the best likeness of her husband, as his hands were thrust into his pockets. * As a young man, Grant's father, Jesse, taught him the trade of tanning. Jesse Grant had been taught how to tan by Owen Brown, the father of known abolitionist John Brown. Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". * When Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1864, he agreed to sit down for photographer Mathew Brady. As the sun had begun to set by the time Grant arrived, Brady instructed one of his assistants to open the shades of the skylight in Brady's studio. The assistant slipped and shattered the skylight, causing two-inch-thick shards of glass to rain down around Grant, who had taken his seat as requested. He was unharmed, and showed "the most remarkable display of nerve" that Brady had ever seen. O'Brien, Cormac (2007). "Secret Lives of the Civil War: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the War Between the States". * Grant was known to visit the Willard Hotel to escape the stress of the White House. A long-standing story is that he referred to the people who approached him in the lobby as "those darn lobbyists," implying that he was the source for the term lobbyist. This story is unlikely to be true since there are examples of the term being used in U.S. and British magazines and newspapers before Grant's presidency. World Wide Words. * While in California, Grant tried selling ice to San Francisco, but failed when it melted in the warm weather aboard the ship. Smith, Grant, p. 81. . This anecdote is disputed by Edward G. Longacre in "General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man" (2006) in which he says -- in a referenced statement -- that the ice venture had failed because of "an unexpected glut of [ice] imports from Alaska." * In 1883, Grant was elected the eighth president of the National Rifle Association. * Grant suffered from tone-deafness. He disliked music intensely and would go out of his way to avoid having to hear any other than patriotic songs. In Jeffrey Shaara's The Last Full Measure - which is set after the Battle of Gettysburg, the subject of his father Michael's 1974 bestseller The Killer Angels - Grant is portrayed as saying, "I know only two songs. One is 'Yankee Doodle'. The other isn't." Whether he actually said this is unclear. Shaara, Jeffrey M. (1998). "The Last Full Measure". * Grant's wife, First Lady Julia Grant, was cross-eyed. When it was suggested to her that she have an operation to have it corrected, President Grant replied that he liked her that way. Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". * Grant's favorite brand of bourbon whiskey was Old Crow. * Grant enjoyed eating cucumbers soaked in vinegar for breakfast. * An apocryphal story about Grant's drinking has the general's critics going to President Lincoln, charging the military man with being a drunk. Lincoln is supposed to have replied, "I wish some of you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals." :* A similar story was told of General James Wolfe during the French and Indian Wars. When King George II was told that Wolfe was a "mad dog", he is said to have replied, "Then I'd wish he'd bite the other generals." * The question "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" was used by Groucho Marx in his radio and TV quiz show, the correct answer to which resulted in a consolation prize to contestants who had won no money. Some contestants thought it was a trick question. Grant's grandson, Ulysses S. Grant IV (a professor of geology at the University of California, Los Angeles) appeared on the program on March 12, 1953. ** This was also featured on an episode of the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, in which in a dream sequence Dorothy competes on Jeopardy against a scholar and her roommate Rose. When asked the question, Dorothy replies Ulysses and is wrong, while Rose replies Cary Grant and is correct. * In the film Wild Wild West, President Grant is a minor character that must deal with the Loveless Alliance. Once while in office he was arrested for speeding his horse and buggy and fined $20 and had to walk back to the white house. (www.pocanticohills.org/presidents/know.htm ) * A dispute between Grant and his commanding officer Henry Wager Halleck is the subject of a pivotal question in the film Quiz Show. * United States presidential election, 1868 * United States presidential election, 1872 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * Western Theater of the American Civil War * Ulysses S. Grant Memorial * U.S. Grant Home, Galena, Illinois Catton, Bruce, Grant Takes Command, Little, Brown and Company, 1968, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 69-12632. Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship, Indiana University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-253-13400-5. Garland, Hamlin, Ulysses S. Grant: His Life and Character, Macmillan Company, 1898. Grant, Ulysses S., Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885 86, ISBN 0-914427-67-9. Hesseltine, William B., Ulysses S. Grant: Politician 1935. * Lewis, Lloyd, Captain Sam Grant, Little, Brown, and Co., 1950, ISBN 0-316-52348-8. * McFeely, William S., Grant: A Biography, W. W. Norton & Co, 1981, ISBN 0-393-01372-3. * McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States), Oxford University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-19-503863-0. * Simpson, Brooks D., Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865, Houghton Mifflin, 2000, ISBN 0-395-65994-9. Smith, Jean Edward, Grant, Simon and Shuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84927-5. Woodworth, Steven E., Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861 1865, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, ISBN 0-375-41218-2. * Official Ulysses Simpson Grant biography from the US Army Center for Military History * Bunting III, Josiah. Ulysses S. Grant (2004) ISBN 0-8050-6949-6 * William Dunning, Reconstruction Political and Economic 1865-1877 (1905), vol 22 * Hesseltine, William B. Ulysses S. Grant, Politician (2001) ISBN 1-931313-85-7 online edition * Mantell, Martin E., Johnson, Grant, and the Politics of Reconstruction (1973) online edition * Nevins, Allan, Hamilton Fish: The Inner History of the Grant Administration (1936) online edition * Rhodes, James Ford., History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 6 and 7 (1920) vol 6 * Scaturro, Frank J., President Grant Reconsidered (1998). * Schouler, James., History of the United States of America: Under the Constitution vol. 7. 1865-1877. The Reconstruction Period (1917) online edition * Simpson, Brooks D., Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868 (1991). * Simpson, Brooks D., The Reconstruction Presidents (1998) * Skidmore, Max J. "The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: a Reconsideration." White House Studies (2005) online * Badeau, Adam. Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, from April, 1861, to April, 1865. 3 vols. 1882. Ballard, Michael B., Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, University of North Carolina Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8078-2893-9. Bearss, Edwin C., The Vicksburg Campaign, 3 volumes, Morningside Press, 1991, ISBN 0-89029-308-2. * Carter, Samuel III, The Final Fortress: The Campaign for Vicksburg, 1862-1863 (1980) * Catton, Bruce, Grant Moves South, 1960, ISBN 0-316-13207-1; Grant Takes Command, 1968, ISBN 0-316-13210-1; U. S. Grant and the American Military Tradition (1954) * Cavanaugh, Michael A., and William Marvel, The Petersburg Campaign: The Battle of the Crater: "The Horrid Pit," June 25-August 6, 1864 (1989) * Conger, A. L. The Rise of U.S. Grant (1931) * Davis, William C. Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg (1986). * Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship, Indiana University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-253-13400-5. * Gott, Kendall D., Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, Stackpole Books, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-0049-6. * Korda, Michael. Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero (2004) 161 pp * McWhiney, Grady, Battle in the Wilderness: Grant Meets Lee (1995) * McDonough, James Lee, Shiloh: In Hell before Night (1977). * McDonough, James Lee, Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy (1984). * Maney, R. Wayne, Marching to Cold Harbor. Victory and Failure, 1864 (1994). * Matter, William D., If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania (1988) * Miers, Earl Schenck., The Web of Victory: Grant at Vicksburg. 1955. * Mosier, John., "Grant", Palgrave MacMillan, 2006 ISBN 1-4039-7136-6. * Rhea, Gordon C., The Battle of the Wilderness May 5 6, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8071-1873-7. * Rhea, Gordon C., The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7 12, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8071-2136-3. * Rhea, Gordon C., To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13 25, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8071-2535-0. * Rhea, Gordon C., Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26 June 3, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8071-2803-1. * Miller, J. Michael, The North Anna Campaign: "Even to Hell Itself," May 21-26, 1864 (1989). * Simpson, Brooks D, "Continuous Hammering and Mere Attrition: Lost Cause Critics and the Military Reputation of Ulysses S. Grant," in Cad Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan, eds., The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History, (2000) * Steere, Edward, The Wilderness Campaign (1960) * Sword, Wiley, Shiloh: Bloody April. 1974. * Williams, T. Harry, McClellan, Sherman and Grant. 1962. * Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs (1885) online edition * Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs and Selected Letters (Mary Drake McFeely & William S. McFeely, eds.) ( The Library of America, 1990) ISBN 978-0-94045058-5 * Wilson, Edmund. Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War (1962) pp 131-73, on the Memoirs * Johnson, R. U., and Buel, C. C., eds., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 vols. New York, 1887-88; essays by leading generals of both sides; online edition * Porter, Horace, Campaigning with Grant (1897, reprinted 2000) * Sherman, William Tecumseh, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. 2 vols. 1875. * Simon, John Y., ed., The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Southern Illinois University Press (1967- ) multivolume complete edition of letters to and from Grant. As of 2006, vol 1-28 covers through September 1878. * Extensive essay on Ulysses S. Grant and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * White House Biography * Presidential Biography by Appleton's and Stanley L. Klos Emerson, Col. John W., Grant's Life in the West and His Mississippi Valley Campaigns, U.S. Grant Association website. Ulysses S. Grant at Find A Grave * Many rare General Grant photographs * Complete Bibliography * Military biography of Ulysses S. Grant from the Cullum biographies * * The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams. (1918). "President Grant (1869)", 260-65. * Collection of US Grant Letters * Ulysses S. Grant: America's Second Three-Star General article by Ethan Rafuse * Historic White Haven (Grant-Dent home) * \|- \|- Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1869 March 4 1877 Andrew Johnson Rutherford B. Hayes Point Pleasant, Ohio Wilton, New York Julia Grant Jesse Grant Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. Nellie Grant Frederick Grant General-in-Chief List of United States Presidential religious affiliations Republican Party (United States) Schuyler Colfax Henry Wilson #Military career April 27 1822 July 23 1885 United States President of the United States Union (American Civil War) American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg Confederate Robert E. Lee Appomattox Court House J.F.C. 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Hayes United States soldier politician President of the United States April 27 1822 Point Pleasant, Ohio Clermont County, Ohio July 23 1885 Wilton, New York Saratoga County, New York
Ulysses_S._Grant	Is the famous dragon gate at the entrance to the district at the corner of Grant and Bush Street ?	yes	data/set3/a5	Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant, See military career for a discussion of Grant's middle initial. born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27, 1822 July 23, 1885), was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869 1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War. Grant first reached national prominence by taking Forts Henry and Donelson in 1862 in the first Union victories of the war. The following year, his brilliant campaign ending in the surrender of Vicksburg secured Union control of the Mississippi andâwith the simultaneous Union victory at Gettysburgâturned the tide of the war in the North's favor. Named commanding general of the Federal armies in 1864, he implemented a coordinated strategy of simultaneous attacks aimed at destroying the South's ability to carry on the war. In 1865, after conducting a costly war of attrition in the East, he accepted the surrender of his Confederate opponent Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House. Grant has been described by J.F.C. Fuller as "the greatest general of his age and one of the greatest strategists of any age." His Vicksburg Campaign in particular has been scrutinized by military specialists around the world. In 1868, Grant was elected president as a Republican. Grant was the first president to serve for two full terms since Andrew Jackson forty years before. He led Radical Reconstruction and built a powerful patronage-based Republican party in the South, with the adroit use of the army. He took a hard line that reduced violence by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Although Grant was personally honest, he not only tolerated financial and political corruption among top aides but also protected them once exposed. Presidential experts typically rank Grant in the lowest quartile of U.S. presidents, primarily for his tolerance of corruption. In recent years, however, his reputation as president has improved somewhat among scholars impressed by his support for civil rights for African Americans. See Skidmore (2005); Bunting (2004), Scaturro (1998), Smith (2001) and Simpson (1998) Unsuccessful in winning a third term in 1880, bankrupted by bad investments, and terminally ill with throat cancer, Grant wrote his Memoirs, which was enormously successful among veterans, the public, and the critics. Ulysses Grant Birthplace, Point Pleasant, Ohio Ulysses S. Grant Boyhood Home, Georgetown, Ohio Grant was born in a log cabin in Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, 25 miles (40 km) east of Cincinnati on the Ohio River. He was the eldest of the six children of Jesse Root Grant (1794 1873) and Hannah Simpson Grant (1798 1883). His father, a tanner, was from Pennsylvania, and his mother was born in Horsham Township, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1823, they moved to the village of Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio. On August 22, 1848, Grant married Julia Boggs Dent (1826 1902), the daughter of a slave owner. They had four children: Frederick Dent Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. (Buck), Ellen Wrenshall Grant (Nellie), and Jesse Root Grant. At the age of 17, Grant entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, after securing a nomination through his U.S. Congressman, Thomas L. Hamer. Hamer erroneously nominated him as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio," Smith, Grant, p. 24. knowing Grant's mother's maiden name was Simpson and forgetting that Grant was referred to in his youth as "H. Ulysses Grant" or "Lyss." Grant wrote his name in the entrance register as "Ulysses Hiram Grant" (concerned that he would otherwise become known by his initials, H.U.G.), but the school administration refused to accept any name other than the nominated form. Upon graduation, Grant adopted the form of his new name with middle initial only. Smith, Grant, p. 83. In a letter to his wife Julia dated March 31, 1853, Grant wrote, "Why did you not tell me more about our dear little boys ? ... What does Fred. call Ulys. ? What does the S stand for in Ulys.'s name? In mine you know it does not stand for anything!" McFeely, p. 524, n. 2: "Grant himself never used more than 'S.'; others converted the single letter to 'Simpson.' He graduated from West Point in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. At the academy, he established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman. Although this made him seem a natural for cavalry, he was assigned to duty as a regimental quartermaster, managing supplies and equipment. Lieutenant Grant served in the Mexican-American War (1846â1848) under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, where, despite his assignment as a quartermaster, he got close enough to the front lines to see action, taking part in the battles of Resaca de la Palma, Palo Alto, Monterrey (where he volunteered to carry a dispatch on horseback through a sniper-lined street), and Veracruz. Once Grant saw his friend, Fred Dent, later becoming his brother-in-law, lying in the middle of the battlefield; he had been shot in the leg. Grant ran furiously into the open to rescue Dent; as they were making their way to safety, a Mexican was sneaking up behind Grant, but the Mexican was shot by a fellow U.S soldier. Grant was twice brevetted for bravery: at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. He was a remarkably close observer of the war, learning to judge the actions of colonels and generals. In the 1880s he wrote that the war was unjust, accepting the theory that it was designed to gain land open to slavery. After the Mexican-American war ended in 1848, Grant remained in the army and was moved to several different posts. He was sent to Fort Vancouver in the Washington Territory in 1853, where he served as quartermaster of the 4th U.S. Infantry regiment. His wife, eight months pregnant with their second child, could not accompany him because his salary could not support a family on the frontier. In 1854, Grant was promoted to captain (one of only 50 still on active duty) and assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at Fort Humboldt, California. However, he still could not afford to bring his family out West. He tried some business ventures, but they failed. Grant resigned from the Army with little advance notice on July 31, 1854, offering no explanation for his abrupt decision. Rumors persisted in the Army for years that his commanding officer, Bvt. Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanan, found him drunk on duty as a pay officer and offered him the choice between resignation or court-martial. According to Smith, pp. 87-88, and Lewis, pp. 328-32, two of Grant's lieutenants corroborated this story and Buchanan himself confirmed it to another officer in a conversation during the Civil War. Years later, Grant told educator John Eaton, "the vice of intemperance had not a little to do with my decision to resign." Some biographers discount the rumors and suggest Grant's resignation, and his drinking, were both prompted by profound depression. According to this view, Buchanan hated Grant and concocted the drunkenness story years later to protect Buchanan's action in removing the man who became one of the most famous generals in history. The War Department stated, "Nothing stands against his good name." McFeely, p. 55-56; Simpson, Triumph, pp. 60-61. Buchanan tolerated drunkenness in other officers, and in Grant's successor, and surprised fellow officers by forcing Grant's resignation. Garland, p. 126, notes that at the time the War Department made clear that Grant did not leave under a cloud. He wrote in his memoirs about the war against Mexico: "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation". Ulysses S Grant Quotes on the Military Academy and the Mexican War A civilian at age 32, Grant struggled through seven lean years. From 1854 to 1858 he labored on a family farm near St. Louis, Missouri, using slaves owned by his father-in-law, but it did not prosper. Grant owned one slave (whom he set free in 1859); his wife owned four slaves (two women servants and their two small boys). His wife's slaves were leased in St. Louis in 1860 after Grant gave up farming. The land and cabin where Grant lived is now an animal conservation reserve, Grant's Farm, owned and operated by the Anheuser-Busch Company. In 1858-59 he was a bill collector in St. Louis. Failing at everything, in humiliation he asked his father for a job, and in 1860 was made an assistant in the leather shop owned by his father and run by his younger brother in Galena, Illinois. Grant & Perkins sold harnesses, saddles, and other leather goods and purchased hides from farmers in the prosperous Galena area. McFeely, ch. 5. Although Grant was essentially apolitical, his father-in-law was a prominent Democrat in St. Louis (a fact that lost Grant the good job of county engineer in 1859). In 1856 he voted for Democrat James Buchanan for president to avert secession and because "I knew FrÃ©mont" (the Republican candidate). In 1860, he favored Democrat Stephen A. Douglas but did not vote. In 1864, he allowed his political sponsor, Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, to use his private letters as campaign literature for Abraham Lincoln The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Retrieved April 28, 2007. and the Union Party, which combined both Republicans and War Democrats. He refused to announce his political affiliation until 1868, when he finally declared himself a Republican. Hesseltine, chapter 6. . The home of President Grant while he lived in Galena, Illinois. Shortly after Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers. Grant helped recruit a company of volunteers and accompanied it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. Grant accepted a position offered by Illinois Governor Richard Yates to recruit and train volunteers, which he accomplished with efficiency. Grant pressed for a field command; Yates appointed him colonel of the undisciplined and rebellious 21st Illinois Infantry in June 1861. Grant was deployed to Missouri to protect the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Under pro-Confederate Governor Claiborne Jackson, Missouri had declared it was an armed neutral in the conflict and would attack troops from either side entering the state. By the first of August the Union army had forcibly removed Jackson and Missouri was controlled by Union forces, who had to deal with numerous southern sympathizers. In August, Grant was appointed brigadier general of volunteers by Lincoln, who had been lobbied by Congressman Elihu Washburne. At the end of August, Grant was selected by Western Theater commander Major General John C. FrÃ©mont to command the critical District of Southeast Missouri. Grant's first important strategic act of the war was to take the initiative to seize the Ohio River town of Paducah, Kentucky, immediately after the Confederates violated the state's neutrality by occupying Columbus, Kentucky. He fought his first battle, an indecisive action against Confederate Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, at Belmont, Missouri, in November 1861. Three months later, aided by Andrew H. Foote's Navy gunboats, he captured two major Confederate fortresses, Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. At Donelson, his army was hit by a surprise Confederate attack (once again by Pillow) while he was temporarily absent. Displaying the cool determination that would characterize his leadership in future battles, he organized counterattacks that carried the day. Both General Floyd and Pillow, the two senior Confederate commanders fled. The Confederate commander, Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, an old friend of Grant's and a West Point classmate, and senior commander with Floyd and Pillow fleeing, yielded to Grant's hard conditions of "no terms except unconditional and immediate surrender." Buckner's surrender of over 12,000 men made Grant a national figure almost overnight, and he was nicknamed "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. The captures of the two forts with over 12,000 prisoners were the first major Union victories of the war, gaining him national recognition. Desperate for generals who could fight and win, Lincoln promoted him to major general of volunteers. Although Grant's new-found fame did not seem to affect his temperament, it did have an impact on his personal life. At one point during the Civil War, a picture of Grant with a cigar in his mouth was published. He was then inundated with cigars from well wishers. Before that he had smoked only sporadically, but he could not give them all away, so he took up smoking them, a habit which may have contributed to the development of throat cancer later in his life; one story after the war claimed that he smoked over 10,000 in five years. Despite his significant victories (or perhaps because of them), Grant fell out of favor with his superior, Major General Henry W. Halleck. Halleck had a particular distaste for drunks and, believing Grant was an alcoholic, was biased against him from the beginning. After Grant visited Nashville, Tennessee, where he met with Halleck's rival, Don Carlos Buell, Halleck used the visit as an excuse to relieve Grant of field command on March 2. Personal intervention from President Lincoln caused Halleck to restore Grant, who rejoined his army on March 17. General Grant at Cold Harbor, photographed by Mathew Brady in 1864 In early April 1862, Grant was surprised by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard at the Battle of Shiloh. The sheer violence of the Confederate attack sent the Union forces reeling. Nevertheless, Grant refused to retreat. With grim determination, he stabilized his line. Then, on the second day, with the help of timely reinforcements, Grant counterattacked and turned a serious reverse into a victory. The victory at Shiloh came at a high price; with over 23,000 casualties, it was the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States up to that time. Halleck responded to the surprise and the disorganized nature of the fighting by taking command of the army in the field himself on April 30, relegating Grant to the powerless position of second-in-command for the campaign in Corinth, Mississippi. Despondent over this reversal, Grant decided to resign. The intervention of his subordinate and good friend, William T. Sherman, caused him to remain. When Halleck was promoted to general-in-chief of the Union Army, Grant resumed his position as commander of the Army of West Tennessee (later more famously named the Army of the Tennessee) on June 10. He commanded the army for the battles of Corinth and Iuka that fall. In an attempt to capture the Mississippi River fortress of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Grant spent the winter of 1862 1863 conducting a series of operations to gain access to the city through the region's bayous. These attempts failed. However, his strategy to take Vicksburg in 1863 is considered one of the most masterful in military history. Grant marched his troops down the west bank of the Mississippi and crossed the river by using U.S. Navy ships that had run the guns at Vicksburg. There, he moved inland and in a daring move that defied conventional military principles cut loose from most of his supply lines. One of the enduring myths about Grant is that he dispensed with all of his supply lines and lived entirely off the land. This story was first propagated by former journalist Charles A. Dana and years later, Grant wrote the same in his memoirs. However, supply requisitions show that, while the men and animals of the Army of the Tennessee foraged for much of their food, staples such as coffee, salt, hardtack, ammunition, and medical supplies kept a large fleet of wagons moving inland from Grand Gulf throughout the campaign. This supply train was a target of Pemberton until Champion Hill. Operating in enemy territory, Grant moved swiftly, never giving the Confederates, under the command of John C. Pemberton, an opportunity to concentrate their forces against him. Grant's army went eastward, captured the city of Jackson, Mississippi, and severed the rail line to Vicksburg. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant Knowing that the Confederates could no longer send reinforcements to the Vicksburg garrison, Grant turned west and won the Battle of Champion Hill. The Confederates retreated inside their fortifications at Vicksburg, and Grant promptly surrounded the city. Finding that assaults against the impregnable breastworks were futile, he settled in for a six-week siege. Cut off and with no possibility of relief, Pemberton surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863. It was a devastating defeat for the Southern cause, effectively splitting the Confederacy in two, and, in conjunction with the Union victory at Gettysburg the previous day, is widely considered the turning point of the war. For this victory, President Lincoln promoted Grant to the rank of major general in the regular army, effective July 4. A distinguished British historian has written that "we must go back to the campaigns of Napoleon to find equally brilliant results accomplished in the same space of time with such a small loss." Lincoln said after the capture of Vicksburg and after the lost opportunity after Gettysburg, "Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the War." After the Battle of Chickamauga Union general William S. Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Confederate Braxton Bragg followed to Lookout Mountain, surrounding the Federals on three sides. On October 17, Grant was placed in command of the Military Division of Mississippi, which included Chattanooga. He immediately relieved Rosecrans and replaced him with George H. Thomas. Devising a plan known as the "Cracker Line", Thomas' chief engineer, William F. "Baldy" Smith opened a new supply route to Chattanooga, helping to better supply the Army of the Cumberland. Upon reprovisioning and reinforcing, the morale of Union troops lifted. In late November, they went on the offensive. The Battle of Chattanooga started out with Sherman's failed attack on the Confederate right. He not only attacked the wrong mountain but committed his troops piecemeal, allowing them to be defeated by one Confederate division. In response, Grant ordered Thomas to launch a demonstration on the center, which could draw defenders away from Sherman. Thomas waited until he was certain that Hooker, with reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac, was engaged on the Confederate left before he launched the Army of the Cumberland at the center of the Confederate line. Hooker's men broke the Confederate left, while Thomas' men made an unexpected but spectacular charge straight up Missionary Ridge and broke the fortified center of the Confederate line. Grant was initially angry at Thomas that his orders for a demonstration were exceeded, but the assaulting wave sent the Confederates into a head-long retreat, opening the way for the Union to invade Atlanta, Georgia, and the heart of the Confederacy. Grant reportedly said afterward, "Damn, I had nothing to do with this battle," according to Hooker. Grant's willingness to fight and ability to win impressed President Lincoln, who appointed him lieutenant general in the regular army a rank not awarded since George Washington (or Winfield Scott's brevet appointment), recently re-authorized by the U.S. Congress with Grant in mind on March 2, 1864. On March 12, Grant became general-in-chief of all the armies of the United States. In March 1864, Grant put Major General William T. Sherman in immediate command of all forces in the West and moved his headquarters to Virginia where he turned his attention to the long-frustrated Union effort to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia; his secondary objective was to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, but Grant knew that the latter would happen automatically once the former was accomplished. He devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the heart of the Confederacy from multiple directions: Grant, George G. Meade, and Benjamin Franklin Butler against Lee near Richmond; Franz Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley; Sherman to invade Georgia, defeat Joseph E. Johnston, and capture Atlanta; George Crook and William W. Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia; and Nathaniel Banks to capture Mobile, Alabama. Grant was the first general to attempt such a coordinated strategy in the war and the first to understand the concepts of total war, in which the destruction of an enemy's economic infrastructure that supplied its armies was as important as tactical victories on the battlefield. The Overland Campaign was the military thrust needed by the Union to defeat the Confederacy. It pitted Grant against the great commander Robert E. Lee in an epic contest. It began on May 4, 1864, when the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River, marching into an area of scrubby undergrowth and second growth trees known as the Wilderness. It was such difficult terrain that the Army of Northern Virginia was able to use it to prevent Grant from fully exploiting his numerical advantage. The Battle of the Wilderness was a stubborn, bloody two-day fight, resulting in advantage to neither side, but with heavy casualties on both. After similar battles in Virginia against Lee, all of Grant's predecessors had retreated from the field. Grant ignored the setback and ordered an advance around Lee's flank to the southeast, which lifted the morale of his army. Grant's strategy was not just to win individual battles, it was to fight constant battles in order to wear down and destroy Lee's army. Poster of "Grant from West Point to Appomattox." Sigel's Shenandoah campaign and Butler's James River campaign both failed. Lee was able to reinforce with troops used to defend against these assaults. The campaign continued, but Lee, anticipating Grant's move, beat him to Spotsylvania, Virginia, where, on May 8, the fighting resumed. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House lasted 14 days. On May 11, Grant wrote a famous dispatch containing the line "I propose to fight it out along this line if it takes all summer". These words summed up his attitude about the fighting, and the next day, May 12, he ordered a massive assault by Hancock's 2nd Corps that broke a portion of Lee's line, captured 30 artillery pieces, took 4,000 prisoners, and broke forever the famous Stonewall Division. In spite of mounting Union casualties, the contest's dynamics changed in Grant's favor. Most of Lee's great victories in earlier years had been won on the offensive, employing surprise movements and fierce assaults. Now, he was forced to continually fight on the defensive without a chance to regroup or replenish against an opponent that was well supplied and had superior numbers. The next major battle, however, demonstrated the power of a well-prepared defense. Cold Harbor was one of Grant's most controversial battles, in which he launched on June 3 a massive three-corps assault without adequate reconnaissance on a well-fortified defensive line, resulting in horrific casualties (3,000 7,000 killed, wounded, and missing in the first 40 minutes, although modern estimates have determined that the total was likely less than half of the famous figure of 7,000 that has been used in books for decades; as many as 12,000 for the day, far outnumbering the Confederate losses). Grant said of the battle in his memoirs "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22nd of May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained." But Grant moved on and kept up the pressure. He stole a march on Lee, slipping his troops across the James River. Arriving at Petersburg, Virginia, first, Grant should have captured the rail junction city, but he failed because of the overly cautious actions of his subordinate William Smith. Over the next three days, a number of Union assaults to take the city were launched. But all failed, and finally on June 18, Lee's veterans arrived. Faced with fully manned trenches in his front, Grant was left with no alternative but to settle down to a siege. As the summer drew on and with Grant's and Sherman's armies stalled, respectively in Virginia and Georgia, politics took center stage. There was a presidential election in the fall, and the citizens of the North had difficulty seeing any progress in the war effort. To make matters worse for Abraham Lincoln, Lee detached a small army under the command of Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, hoping it would force Grant to disengage forces to pursue him. Early invaded north through the Shenandoah Valley and reached the outskirts of Washington, D.C.. Although unable to take the city, Early embarrassed the Administration simply by threatening its inhabitants, making Abraham Lincoln's re-election prospects even bleaker. In early September, the efforts of Grant's coordinated strategy finally bore fruit. First, Sherman took Atlanta. Then, Grant dispatched Philip Sheridan to the Shenandoah Valley to deal with Early. It became clear to the people of the North that the war was being won, and Lincoln was re-elected by a wide margin. Later in November, Sherman began his March to the Sea. Sheridan and Sherman both followed Grant's strategy of total war by destroying the economic infrastructures of the Valley and a large swath of Georgia and the Carolinas. At the beginning of April 1865, Grant's relentless pressure finally forced Lee to evacuate Richmond, and after a nine-day retreat, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. There, Grant offered generous terms that did much to ease the tensions between the armies and preserve some semblance of Southern pride, which would be needed to reconcile the warring sides. Within a few weeks, the American Civil War was effectively over; minor actions would continue until Kirby Smith surrendered his forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2, 1865. Immediately after Lee's surrender, Grant had the sad honor of serving as a pallbearer at the funeral of his greatest champion, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had been quoted after the massive losses at Shiloh as saying, "I can't spare this man. He fights." It was a two-sentence description that completely caught the essence of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant's fighting style was what one fellow general called "that of a bulldog". The term accurately captures his tenacity, but it oversimplifies his considerable strategic and tactical capabilities. Although a master of combat by out-maneuvering his opponent (such as at Vicksburg and in the Overland Campaign against Lee), Grant was not afraid to order direct assaults, often when the Confederates were themselves launching offensives against him. Such tactics often resulted in heavy casualties for Grant's men, but they wore down the Confederate forces proportionately more and inflicted irreplaceable losses. Many in the North denounced Grant as a "butcher" in 1864, an accusation made both by Northern civilians appalled at the staggering number of casualties suffered by Union armies for what appeared to be negligible gains, and by Copperheads, Northern Democrats who either favored the Confederacy or simply wanted an end to the war, even at the cost of recognizing Southern independence. Grant persevered, refusing to withdraw as had his predecessors, and Lincoln, despite public outrage and pressure within the government, stuck by Grant, refusing to replace him. Although Grant lost battles in 1864, he won all his campaigns. Historian Michael Korda explained his strategic genius: Korda, (2004) After the war, on July 25, 1866, Congress authorized the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States, the equivalent of a full (four-star) general in the modern U.S. Army. Eicher, Civil War High Commands, p. 264. Grant was appointed as such by President Andrew Johnson on the same day.'' As commanding general of the army, Grant had a difficult relationship with President Johnson. Although he accompanied Johnson on a national stumping tour during the 1866 elections, he did not appear to be a supporter of Johnson's moderate policies toward the South. Johnson tried to use Grant to defeat the Radical Republicans by making Grant the Secretary of War in place of Edwin M. Stanton, whom he could not remove without the approval of Congress under the Tenure of Office Act. Grant refused but kept his military command. That made him a hero to the Radicals, who gave him the Republican nomination for president in 1868. He was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in Chicago in May 1868, with no real opposition. In his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which became the Republican campaign slogan. In the general election that year, he won against former New York governor Horatio Seymour with a lead of 300,000 out of a total of 5,716,082 votes cast but by a commanding 214 Electoral College votes to 80. He ran about 100,000 votes ahead of the Republican ticket, suggesting an unusually powerful appeal to veterans. When he entered the White House, he was politically inexperienced and, at age 46, the youngest man yet elected president. The second president from Ohio, Grant was the 18th President of the United States and served two terms from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. In the 1872 election he won by a landslide against the breakaway Liberal Republican party that nominated Horace Greeley. Grant presided over the last half of Reconstruction, watching as the Democrats (called Redeemers) took the control of every state away from his Republican coalition. When urgent telegrams from state leaders begged for help, Grant and his attorney general replied that "the whole public is tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South," saying that state militias should handle the problems, not the Army. He supported amnesty for Confederate leaders and protection for the civil rights of African-Americans. He favored a limited number of troops to be stationed in the South sufficient numbers to protect rights of Southern blacks, suppress the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan, and prop up Republican governors, but not so many as to create resentment in the general population. In 1869 and 1871, Grant signed bills promoting voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing voting rights, was ratified in 1870. Recent historians have emphasized Grant's commitment to protecting Unionists and freedmen in the South until 1876. Grant's commitment to black civil rights was demonstrated by his address to Congress in 1875 and by his attempt to use the annexation of Santo Domingo as leverage to force white supremacists to accept blacks as part of the Southern political polity. Grant confronted an apathetic Northern public, violent KKK organizations in the South, and a factional Republican party. He was charged with bringing order and equality to the South without being armed with the emergency powers that Lincoln and Johnson employed . Grant signed a bill into law that created Yellowstone National Park (America's first National Park) on March 1, 1872. General Grant National Memorial by the National Park Service. Retrieved March 29, 2006. Grant also signed into law making Christmas a federal holiday in 1870. Federal Holidays: Evolution and Application, CRS Report for Congress, 98-301 GOV, updated February 8, 1999, by Stephen W. Stathis The Panic of 1873 hit the country hard during his presidency, and he never attempted decisive action, one way or the other, to alleviate distress. The first law that he signed, in March 1869, established the value of the greenback currency issued during the Civil War, pledging to redeem the bills in gold. In 1874, he vetoed a bill to increase the amount of a legal tender currency, which defused the currency crisis on Wall Street but did little to help the economy as a whole. The depression led to Democratic victories in the 1874 off-year elections, as that party took control of the House for the first time since 1856. By 1875 the Grant administration was in disarray and on the defensive on all fronts other than foreign policy. With the Democrats in control of the House, Grant was unable to pass legislation. The House discovered gross corruption in the Interior, War, and Navy Departments; they did much to discredit the Department of Justice, forced the resignation of Robert Schenck, the Minister to Britain, and cast suspicion upon Blaine's conduct while Speaker. Nevins, Hamilton Fish 2:811ff. Historian Allan Nevins concludes: Nevins, Fish 2:811 In 1876, Grant helped to calm the nation over the Hayes-Tilden election controversy; he made clear he would not tolerate any march on Washington, such as that proposed by Tilden supporter Henry Watterson . The Grant administration's first economic accomplishment was the signing of the Act to Strengthen the Public Credit which the GOP Congress had passed after Grant ` s inaugural in March 1869 . The act had the effect that the gold price on New York exchange fell to 310 dollar an ounce - the lowest point since the suspension of specie payment in 1862 . As Jean Edward Smith notes in his 2002 biography on Grant, the presidential treasury secretary Boutwell reorganized the Treasury by discharging unnecessary employees, started sweeping changes in Bureau of Printing and Engraving to protect the currency from counterfeiters and revitalized tax collections to hasten the collection of revenue. This changes soon led the Tresury having a monthly surplus . The Grant administration reduced the debt by appromixately 435 million dollar. That was achieved by selling the growing gold surplus at weekly auctions for greenbacks and buying back wartime bonds with the currency . With this Grant ` s treasury secretary Boutwell had established a policy if continued had payed of the national debt in a quarter of a century . Newspapers like the New York Tribune wanted that the Government buy more bonds and Greenbacks, the New York Times praised the the Grant administration `s debt policy . On other economic fronts did the Grant administration have acomplishments . Under Grant the nation `s credit was substantially raised. Taxes was reduced by 300 million dollar. Annual interest rates were reduced by approximately 30 million dollar . The U . S balance of trade was changed from 130 million dollar against the United States to 120 million dollar in favor of the United States . He also reduced inflation and to 1873 bolstered economic recovery . He also promoted economy in federal expenditures . His veto of the Inflation Bill in 1874 saved the aftermath of the Panic of 1873 to get worse and the veto was praised by the financial community and many newspapers . The Resumption of Species Act of 1875 which was signed by Grant and helped to end the crisis in 1879 when the law came in to effect He also pressed for internal improvements and increased shipbuilding and foreign trade. He also wanted to enhance and improve the commercial marine . Grant/Wilson campaign poster In foreign affairs, a notable achievement of the Grant administration was the 1871 Treaty of Washington, negotiated by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. It settled American claims against Britain concerning the wartime activities of the British-built Confederate raider CSS Alabama. He also proposed to annex the independent, largely black nation of Santo Domingo. Not only did he believe that the island would be of use to the navy tactically, but he sought to use it as a bargaining chip. By providing a safe haven for the freedmen, Grant believed that the exodus of black labor would force Southern whites to realize the necessity of such a significant workforce and accept their civil rights. At the same time he hoped that U.S. ownership of the island would urge nearby Cuba to abandon slavery. The Senate refused to ratify it because of (Foreign Relations Committee Chairman) Senator Charles Sumner's strong opposition. Grant helped depose Sumner from the chairmanship, and Sumner supported Horace Greeley and the Liberal Republicans in 1872. Another notable foreign policy action under Grant was the settlement of the Liberian-Grebo War of 1876 through the dispatchment of the USS Alaska to Liberia where US envoy James Milton Turner negotiated the incorporation of Grebo people into Liberian society and the ousting of foreign traders from Liberia. Liberian-Grebo War of 1876 The first scandal to taint the Grant administration was Black Friday, a gold-speculation financial crisis in September 1869, set up by Wall Street manipulators Jay Gould and James Fisk. They tried to corner the gold market and tricked Grant into preventing his treasury secretary from stopping the fraud. However, Grant eventually released large amounts of gold back onto the market, causing a large-scale financial crisis for many gold investors. Jay Gould had already prepared and quietly sold out while Fisk denied many agreements and hired thugs to intimidate his creditors. The most famous scandal was the Whiskey Ring of 1875, exposed by Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow, in which over 3 million dollars in taxes were stolen from the federal government with the aid of high government officials. Orville E. Babcock, the private secretary to the President, was indicted as a member of the ring but escaped conviction because of a presidential pardon. Grant's earlier statement, "Let no guilty man escape" rang hollow. Secretary of War William W. Belknap was discovered to have taken bribes in exchange for the sale of Native American trading posts. Grant's acceptance of the resignation of Belknap allowed Belknap, after he was impeached by Congress for his actions, to escape conviction, since he was no longer a government official. Other scandals included the Sanborn Incident involving Treasury Secretary William Adams Richardson and his assistant John D. Sanborn. Another was a problem with U.S. Attorney Cyrus I. Scofield. The CrÃ©dit Mobilier of America scandal also ruined the political career of his first vice president, Schuyler Colfax, who was replaced on the Republican ticket in the 1872 election with Henry Wilson, who was also involved in the scandal. President Grant with his wife, Julia, and son, Jesse, in 1872. Although Grant himself did not profit from corruption among his subordinates, he did not take a firm stance against malefactors and failed to react strongly even after their guilt was established. When critics complained, he vigorously attacked them. He was weak in his selection of subordinates, favoring colleagues from the war over those with more practical political experience. He alienated party leaders by giving many posts to his friends and political contributors rather than supporting the party's needs. His failure to establish working political alliances in Congress allowed the scandals to spin out of control. At the conclusion of his second term, Grant wrote to Congress that "Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent." Grant's legacy has been marred by charges of anti-Semitism. The most frequently cited example is the infamous General Order No. 11, issued by Grant's headquarters in Oxford, Mississippi, on December 17, 1862, during the early Vicksburg Campaign. The order stated in part: The order was almost immediately rescinded by President Lincoln. Grant maintained that he was unaware that a staff officer issued it in his name. Grant's father Jesse Grant was involved; General James H. Wilson later explained, "There was a mean nasty streak in old Jesse Grant. He was close and greedy. He came down into Tennessee with a Jew trader that he wanted his son to help, and with whom he was going to share the profits. Grant refused to issue a permit and sent the Jew flying, prohibiting Jews from entering the line." Grant, Wilson felt, could not strike back directly at the "lot of relatives who were always trying to use him" and perhaps struck instead at what he maliciously saw as their counterpart â opportunistic traders who were Jewish. McFeely, p 124. Although it was portrayed as being outside the normal inclinations and character of Grant, it has been suggested by Bertram Korn that the order was part of a consistent pattern. "This was not the first discriminatory order [Grant] had signed [...] he was firmly convinced of the Jews' guilt and was eager to use any means of ridding himself of them." Bertram Korn, American Jewry and the Civil War, p. 143). Korn cites Grant's order of November 9 and 10, 1862, "Refuse all permits to come south of Jackson for the present. The Israelites especially should be kept out," and "no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the railroad southward from any point. They may go north and be encouraged in it; but they are such an intolerable nuisance that the department must be purged of them." The issue of anti-Semitism was raised during the 1868 presidential campaign, and Grant consulted with several Jewish community leaders, all of whom said they were convinced that Order 11 was an anomaly, and he was not an anti-Semite. He maintained good relations with the community throughout his administration, on both political and social levels. Grant's second inauguration as President by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase on March 4, 1873. Grant appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: * Edwin M. Stanton 1869 (sworn in but died before taking seat) * William Strong 1870 * Joseph P. Bradley 1870 * Ward Hunt 1873 * Morrison Remick Waite (Chief Justice) 1874 * Colorado August 1, 1876 * Department of Justice (1870) * Office of the Solicitor General (1870) * "Advisory Board on Civil Service" (1871); after it expired in 1873, it became the role model for the "Civil Service Commission" instituted in 1883 by President Chester A. Arthur, a Grant faithful. (Today it is known as the Office of Personnel Management.) * Office of the Surgeon General (1871) * Army Weather Bureau (currently known as the National Weather Service) (1870) Ulysses S. Grant in his postbellum. After the end of his second term in the White House, Grant spent over two years traveling the world with his wife. He visited Ireland, Scotland, and England; the crowds were huge. The Grants dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and with Prince Bismarck in Germany. They also visited Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Siam, and Burma. In Japan, they were cordially received by Emperor Meiji and Empress ShÅken at the Imperial Palace. Today in the Shibakoen section of Tokyo, a tree still stands that Grant planted during his stay. In 1879, the Meiji government of Japan announced the annexation of the Ryukyu Islands. China objected, and Grant was asked to arbitrate the matter. He decided that Japan's claim to the islands was stronger and ruled in Japan's favor. That same year, Grant was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Medical School. In 1879, the "Stalwart" faction of the Republican Party led by Senator Roscoe Conkling sought to nominate Grant for a third term as president. He counted on strong support from the business men, the old soldiers, and the Methodist church. Publicly Grant said nothing, but privately he wanted the job and encouraged his men. Hesseltine (2001) pp 432-39 His popularity was fading however, and while he received more than 300 votes in each of the 36 ballots of the 1880 convention, the nomination went to James A. Garfield. Grant campaigned for Garfield, who won by a very narrow margin. Grant supported his Stalwart ally Conkling against Garfield in the terrific battle over patronage in spring 1881 that culminated in Garfield's assassination. Grant writing his memoirs. In 1881, Grant purchased a house in New York City and placed almost all of his financial assets into an investment banking partnership with Ferdinand Ward, as suggested by Grant's son Buck (Ulysses, Jr.), who was having success on Wall Street. Ward swindled Grant (and other investors who had been encouraged by Grant) in 1884, bankrupted the company, Grant & Ward, and fled. Grant appears on the U.S. $50 bill. Grant learned at the same time that he was suffering from throat cancer. Grant and his family were left destitute; at the time retired U.S. Presidents were not given pensions, and Grant had forfeited his military pension when he assumed the office of President. It was not until 1958 that Congress, feeling it inappropriate that a former president or his wife might be poverty-stricken, passed a bill granting a pension to such individuals, a practice that continues to this day. Grant first wrote several articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century Magazine, which were warmly received. Mark Twain offered Grant a generous contract for the publication of his memoirs, including 75% of the book's sales as royalties. Terminally ill, Grant finished the book just a few days before his death. The Memoirs sold over 300,000 copies, earning the Grant family over $450,000. Twain promoted the book as "the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar," and Grant's memoirs are also regarded by such writers as Matthew Arnold and Gertrude Stein as among the finest ever written. Ulysses S. Grant died at 8:06 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, 1885, at the age of 63 in Mount McGregor, Saratoga County, New York. His last word was a request, "Water." His body lies in New York City's Riverside Park, beside that of his wife, in Grant's Tomb, the largest mausoleum in North America. Statue of Grant astride his favorite mount, "Cincinnati", at Vicksburg, Mississippi In World War II, the United States produced a tank known as the Grant tank (an upgrade of the American M3 "Lee"). Grant's portrait appears on the U.S. fifty-dollar bill. The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., honors Grant. Grant Park in Chicago honors Grant. Grant Avenue, a nine block long, north-south street in the Bronx, New York, is named after Grant. It is parallel and adjacent to Sherman Avenue. Dupont Street, the main thoroughfare in San Francisco's Chinatown, was renamed Grant Avenue in his honor. The famous dragon gate at the entrance to the district is at the corner of Grant and Bush Street. Grant, depicted riding a horse, is honored by a statue at the intersection of Bedford Avenue, Rogers Avenue and Dean Street in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y. There is a U.S. Grant Bridge over the Ohio River at Portsmouth, Ohio. There is a U.S. Grant Memorial Highway (US 52) in Cincinnati, Ohio. Counties in twelve U.S. states are named after Grant: Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Grant Parish, Louisiana. Note: Grant Counties in Indiana, Kentucky and Wisconsin were named after other Grants, not Ulysses Grant. * Grant was a descendant of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren * Grant is also a descendant from John Lothropp, who is also an ancestor to Benjamin Franklin Grant Memorial Statue in Grant Park, Galena, Illinois. Julia Grant remarked that it was the best likeness of her husband, as his hands were thrust into his pockets. * As a young man, Grant's father, Jesse, taught him the trade of tanning. Jesse Grant had been taught how to tan by Owen Brown, the father of known abolitionist John Brown. Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". * When Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1864, he agreed to sit down for photographer Mathew Brady. As the sun had begun to set by the time Grant arrived, Brady instructed one of his assistants to open the shades of the skylight in Brady's studio. The assistant slipped and shattered the skylight, causing two-inch-thick shards of glass to rain down around Grant, who had taken his seat as requested. He was unharmed, and showed "the most remarkable display of nerve" that Brady had ever seen. O'Brien, Cormac (2007). "Secret Lives of the Civil War: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the War Between the States". * Grant was known to visit the Willard Hotel to escape the stress of the White House. A long-standing story is that he referred to the people who approached him in the lobby as "those darn lobbyists," implying that he was the source for the term lobbyist. This story is unlikely to be true since there are examples of the term being used in U.S. and British magazines and newspapers before Grant's presidency. World Wide Words. * While in California, Grant tried selling ice to San Francisco, but failed when it melted in the warm weather aboard the ship. Smith, Grant, p. 81. . This anecdote is disputed by Edward G. Longacre in "General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man" (2006) in which he says -- in a referenced statement -- that the ice venture had failed because of "an unexpected glut of [ice] imports from Alaska." * In 1883, Grant was elected the eighth president of the National Rifle Association. * Grant suffered from tone-deafness. He disliked music intensely and would go out of his way to avoid having to hear any other than patriotic songs. In Jeffrey Shaara's The Last Full Measure - which is set after the Battle of Gettysburg, the subject of his father Michael's 1974 bestseller The Killer Angels - Grant is portrayed as saying, "I know only two songs. One is 'Yankee Doodle'. The other isn't." Whether he actually said this is unclear. Shaara, Jeffrey M. (1998). "The Last Full Measure". * Grant's wife, First Lady Julia Grant, was cross-eyed. When it was suggested to her that she have an operation to have it corrected, President Grant replied that he liked her that way. Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". * Grant's favorite brand of bourbon whiskey was Old Crow. * Grant enjoyed eating cucumbers soaked in vinegar for breakfast. * An apocryphal story about Grant's drinking has the general's critics going to President Lincoln, charging the military man with being a drunk. Lincoln is supposed to have replied, "I wish some of you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals." :* A similar story was told of General James Wolfe during the French and Indian Wars. When King George II was told that Wolfe was a "mad dog", he is said to have replied, "Then I'd wish he'd bite the other generals." * The question "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" was used by Groucho Marx in his radio and TV quiz show, the correct answer to which resulted in a consolation prize to contestants who had won no money. Some contestants thought it was a trick question. Grant's grandson, Ulysses S. Grant IV (a professor of geology at the University of California, Los Angeles) appeared on the program on March 12, 1953. ** This was also featured on an episode of the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, in which in a dream sequence Dorothy competes on Jeopardy against a scholar and her roommate Rose. When asked the question, Dorothy replies Ulysses and is wrong, while Rose replies Cary Grant and is correct. * In the film Wild Wild West, President Grant is a minor character that must deal with the Loveless Alliance. Once while in office he was arrested for speeding his horse and buggy and fined $20 and had to walk back to the white house. (www.pocanticohills.org/presidents/know.htm ) * A dispute between Grant and his commanding officer Henry Wager Halleck is the subject of a pivotal question in the film Quiz Show. * United States presidential election, 1868 * United States presidential election, 1872 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * Western Theater of the American Civil War * Ulysses S. Grant Memorial * U.S. Grant Home, Galena, Illinois Catton, Bruce, Grant Takes Command, Little, Brown and Company, 1968, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 69-12632. Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship, Indiana University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-253-13400-5. Garland, Hamlin, Ulysses S. Grant: His Life and Character, Macmillan Company, 1898. Grant, Ulysses S., Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885 86, ISBN 0-914427-67-9. Hesseltine, William B., Ulysses S. Grant: Politician 1935. * Lewis, Lloyd, Captain Sam Grant, Little, Brown, and Co., 1950, ISBN 0-316-52348-8. * McFeely, William S., Grant: A Biography, W. W. Norton & Co, 1981, ISBN 0-393-01372-3. * McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States), Oxford University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-19-503863-0. * Simpson, Brooks D., Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865, Houghton Mifflin, 2000, ISBN 0-395-65994-9. Smith, Jean Edward, Grant, Simon and Shuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84927-5. Woodworth, Steven E., Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861 1865, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, ISBN 0-375-41218-2. * Official Ulysses Simpson Grant biography from the US Army Center for Military History * Bunting III, Josiah. Ulysses S. Grant (2004) ISBN 0-8050-6949-6 * William Dunning, Reconstruction Political and Economic 1865-1877 (1905), vol 22 * Hesseltine, William B. Ulysses S. Grant, Politician (2001) ISBN 1-931313-85-7 online edition * Mantell, Martin E., Johnson, Grant, and the Politics of Reconstruction (1973) online edition * Nevins, Allan, Hamilton Fish: The Inner History of the Grant Administration (1936) online edition * Rhodes, James Ford., History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 6 and 7 (1920) vol 6 * Scaturro, Frank J., President Grant Reconsidered (1998). * Schouler, James., History of the United States of America: Under the Constitution vol. 7. 1865-1877. The Reconstruction Period (1917) online edition * Simpson, Brooks D., Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868 (1991). * Simpson, Brooks D., The Reconstruction Presidents (1998) * Skidmore, Max J. "The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: a Reconsideration." White House Studies (2005) online * Badeau, Adam. Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, from April, 1861, to April, 1865. 3 vols. 1882. Ballard, Michael B., Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, University of North Carolina Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8078-2893-9. Bearss, Edwin C., The Vicksburg Campaign, 3 volumes, Morningside Press, 1991, ISBN 0-89029-308-2. * Carter, Samuel III, The Final Fortress: The Campaign for Vicksburg, 1862-1863 (1980) * Catton, Bruce, Grant Moves South, 1960, ISBN 0-316-13207-1; Grant Takes Command, 1968, ISBN 0-316-13210-1; U. S. Grant and the American Military Tradition (1954) * Cavanaugh, Michael A., and William Marvel, The Petersburg Campaign: The Battle of the Crater: "The Horrid Pit," June 25-August 6, 1864 (1989) * Conger, A. L. The Rise of U.S. Grant (1931) * Davis, William C. Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg (1986). * Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship, Indiana University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-253-13400-5. * Gott, Kendall D., Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, Stackpole Books, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-0049-6. * Korda, Michael. Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero (2004) 161 pp * McWhiney, Grady, Battle in the Wilderness: Grant Meets Lee (1995) * McDonough, James Lee, Shiloh: In Hell before Night (1977). * McDonough, James Lee, Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy (1984). * Maney, R. Wayne, Marching to Cold Harbor. Victory and Failure, 1864 (1994). * Matter, William D., If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania (1988) * Miers, Earl Schenck., The Web of Victory: Grant at Vicksburg. 1955. * Mosier, John., "Grant", Palgrave MacMillan, 2006 ISBN 1-4039-7136-6. * Rhea, Gordon C., The Battle of the Wilderness May 5 6, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8071-1873-7. * Rhea, Gordon C., The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7 12, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8071-2136-3. * Rhea, Gordon C., To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13 25, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8071-2535-0. * Rhea, Gordon C., Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26 June 3, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8071-2803-1. * Miller, J. Michael, The North Anna Campaign: "Even to Hell Itself," May 21-26, 1864 (1989). * Simpson, Brooks D, "Continuous Hammering and Mere Attrition: Lost Cause Critics and the Military Reputation of Ulysses S. Grant," in Cad Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan, eds., The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History, (2000) * Steere, Edward, The Wilderness Campaign (1960) * Sword, Wiley, Shiloh: Bloody April. 1974. * Williams, T. Harry, McClellan, Sherman and Grant. 1962. * Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs (1885) online edition * Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs and Selected Letters (Mary Drake McFeely & William S. McFeely, eds.) ( The Library of America, 1990) ISBN 978-0-94045058-5 * Wilson, Edmund. Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War (1962) pp 131-73, on the Memoirs * Johnson, R. U., and Buel, C. C., eds., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 vols. New York, 1887-88; essays by leading generals of both sides; online edition * Porter, Horace, Campaigning with Grant (1897, reprinted 2000) * Sherman, William Tecumseh, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. 2 vols. 1875. * Simon, John Y., ed., The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Southern Illinois University Press (1967- ) multivolume complete edition of letters to and from Grant. As of 2006, vol 1-28 covers through September 1878. * Extensive essay on Ulysses S. Grant and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * White House Biography * Presidential Biography by Appleton's and Stanley L. Klos Emerson, Col. John W., Grant's Life in the West and His Mississippi Valley Campaigns, U.S. Grant Association website. Ulysses S. Grant at Find A Grave * Many rare General Grant photographs * Complete Bibliography * Military biography of Ulysses S. Grant from the Cullum biographies * * The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams. (1918). "President Grant (1869)", 260-65. * Collection of US Grant Letters * Ulysses S. Grant: America's Second Three-Star General article by Ethan Rafuse * Historic White Haven (Grant-Dent home) * \|- \|- Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1869 March 4 1877 Andrew Johnson Rutherford B. Hayes Point Pleasant, Ohio Wilton, New York Julia Grant Jesse Grant Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. Nellie Grant Frederick Grant General-in-Chief List of United States Presidential religious affiliations Republican Party (United States) Schuyler Colfax Henry Wilson #Military career April 27 1822 July 23 1885 United States President of the United States Union (American Civil War) American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg Confederate Robert E. Lee Appomattox Court House J.F.C. 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Hayes United States soldier politician President of the United States April 27 1822 Point Pleasant, Ohio Clermont County, Ohio July 23 1885 Wilton, New York Saratoga County, New York
Ulysses_S._Grant	What happened in 1865?	he accepted the surrender of Robert E. Lee	data/set3/a5	Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant, See military career for a discussion of Grant's middle initial. born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27, 1822 July 23, 1885), was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869 1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War. Grant first reached national prominence by taking Forts Henry and Donelson in 1862 in the first Union victories of the war. The following year, his brilliant campaign ending in the surrender of Vicksburg secured Union control of the Mississippi andâwith the simultaneous Union victory at Gettysburgâturned the tide of the war in the North's favor. Named commanding general of the Federal armies in 1864, he implemented a coordinated strategy of simultaneous attacks aimed at destroying the South's ability to carry on the war. In 1865, after conducting a costly war of attrition in the East, he accepted the surrender of his Confederate opponent Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House. Grant has been described by J.F.C. Fuller as "the greatest general of his age and one of the greatest strategists of any age." His Vicksburg Campaign in particular has been scrutinized by military specialists around the world. In 1868, Grant was elected president as a Republican. Grant was the first president to serve for two full terms since Andrew Jackson forty years before. He led Radical Reconstruction and built a powerful patronage-based Republican party in the South, with the adroit use of the army. He took a hard line that reduced violence by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Although Grant was personally honest, he not only tolerated financial and political corruption among top aides but also protected them once exposed. Presidential experts typically rank Grant in the lowest quartile of U.S. presidents, primarily for his tolerance of corruption. In recent years, however, his reputation as president has improved somewhat among scholars impressed by his support for civil rights for African Americans. See Skidmore (2005); Bunting (2004), Scaturro (1998), Smith (2001) and Simpson (1998) Unsuccessful in winning a third term in 1880, bankrupted by bad investments, and terminally ill with throat cancer, Grant wrote his Memoirs, which was enormously successful among veterans, the public, and the critics. Ulysses Grant Birthplace, Point Pleasant, Ohio Ulysses S. Grant Boyhood Home, Georgetown, Ohio Grant was born in a log cabin in Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, 25 miles (40 km) east of Cincinnati on the Ohio River. He was the eldest of the six children of Jesse Root Grant (1794 1873) and Hannah Simpson Grant (1798 1883). His father, a tanner, was from Pennsylvania, and his mother was born in Horsham Township, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1823, they moved to the village of Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio. On August 22, 1848, Grant married Julia Boggs Dent (1826 1902), the daughter of a slave owner. They had four children: Frederick Dent Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. (Buck), Ellen Wrenshall Grant (Nellie), and Jesse Root Grant. At the age of 17, Grant entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, after securing a nomination through his U.S. Congressman, Thomas L. Hamer. Hamer erroneously nominated him as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio," Smith, Grant, p. 24. knowing Grant's mother's maiden name was Simpson and forgetting that Grant was referred to in his youth as "H. Ulysses Grant" or "Lyss." Grant wrote his name in the entrance register as "Ulysses Hiram Grant" (concerned that he would otherwise become known by his initials, H.U.G.), but the school administration refused to accept any name other than the nominated form. Upon graduation, Grant adopted the form of his new name with middle initial only. Smith, Grant, p. 83. In a letter to his wife Julia dated March 31, 1853, Grant wrote, "Why did you not tell me more about our dear little boys ? ... What does Fred. call Ulys. ? What does the S stand for in Ulys.'s name? In mine you know it does not stand for anything!" McFeely, p. 524, n. 2: "Grant himself never used more than 'S.'; others converted the single letter to 'Simpson.' He graduated from West Point in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. At the academy, he established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman. Although this made him seem a natural for cavalry, he was assigned to duty as a regimental quartermaster, managing supplies and equipment. Lieutenant Grant served in the Mexican-American War (1846â1848) under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, where, despite his assignment as a quartermaster, he got close enough to the front lines to see action, taking part in the battles of Resaca de la Palma, Palo Alto, Monterrey (where he volunteered to carry a dispatch on horseback through a sniper-lined street), and Veracruz. Once Grant saw his friend, Fred Dent, later becoming his brother-in-law, lying in the middle of the battlefield; he had been shot in the leg. Grant ran furiously into the open to rescue Dent; as they were making their way to safety, a Mexican was sneaking up behind Grant, but the Mexican was shot by a fellow U.S soldier. Grant was twice brevetted for bravery: at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. He was a remarkably close observer of the war, learning to judge the actions of colonels and generals. In the 1880s he wrote that the war was unjust, accepting the theory that it was designed to gain land open to slavery. After the Mexican-American war ended in 1848, Grant remained in the army and was moved to several different posts. He was sent to Fort Vancouver in the Washington Territory in 1853, where he served as quartermaster of the 4th U.S. Infantry regiment. His wife, eight months pregnant with their second child, could not accompany him because his salary could not support a family on the frontier. In 1854, Grant was promoted to captain (one of only 50 still on active duty) and assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at Fort Humboldt, California. However, he still could not afford to bring his family out West. He tried some business ventures, but they failed. Grant resigned from the Army with little advance notice on July 31, 1854, offering no explanation for his abrupt decision. Rumors persisted in the Army for years that his commanding officer, Bvt. Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanan, found him drunk on duty as a pay officer and offered him the choice between resignation or court-martial. According to Smith, pp. 87-88, and Lewis, pp. 328-32, two of Grant's lieutenants corroborated this story and Buchanan himself confirmed it to another officer in a conversation during the Civil War. Years later, Grant told educator John Eaton, "the vice of intemperance had not a little to do with my decision to resign." Some biographers discount the rumors and suggest Grant's resignation, and his drinking, were both prompted by profound depression. According to this view, Buchanan hated Grant and concocted the drunkenness story years later to protect Buchanan's action in removing the man who became one of the most famous generals in history. The War Department stated, "Nothing stands against his good name." McFeely, p. 55-56; Simpson, Triumph, pp. 60-61. Buchanan tolerated drunkenness in other officers, and in Grant's successor, and surprised fellow officers by forcing Grant's resignation. Garland, p. 126, notes that at the time the War Department made clear that Grant did not leave under a cloud. He wrote in his memoirs about the war against Mexico: "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation". Ulysses S Grant Quotes on the Military Academy and the Mexican War A civilian at age 32, Grant struggled through seven lean years. From 1854 to 1858 he labored on a family farm near St. Louis, Missouri, using slaves owned by his father-in-law, but it did not prosper. Grant owned one slave (whom he set free in 1859); his wife owned four slaves (two women servants and their two small boys). His wife's slaves were leased in St. Louis in 1860 after Grant gave up farming. The land and cabin where Grant lived is now an animal conservation reserve, Grant's Farm, owned and operated by the Anheuser-Busch Company. In 1858-59 he was a bill collector in St. Louis. Failing at everything, in humiliation he asked his father for a job, and in 1860 was made an assistant in the leather shop owned by his father and run by his younger brother in Galena, Illinois. Grant & Perkins sold harnesses, saddles, and other leather goods and purchased hides from farmers in the prosperous Galena area. McFeely, ch. 5. Although Grant was essentially apolitical, his father-in-law was a prominent Democrat in St. Louis (a fact that lost Grant the good job of county engineer in 1859). In 1856 he voted for Democrat James Buchanan for president to avert secession and because "I knew FrÃ©mont" (the Republican candidate). In 1860, he favored Democrat Stephen A. Douglas but did not vote. In 1864, he allowed his political sponsor, Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, to use his private letters as campaign literature for Abraham Lincoln The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Retrieved April 28, 2007. and the Union Party, which combined both Republicans and War Democrats. He refused to announce his political affiliation until 1868, when he finally declared himself a Republican. Hesseltine, chapter 6. . The home of President Grant while he lived in Galena, Illinois. Shortly after Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers. Grant helped recruit a company of volunteers and accompanied it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. Grant accepted a position offered by Illinois Governor Richard Yates to recruit and train volunteers, which he accomplished with efficiency. Grant pressed for a field command; Yates appointed him colonel of the undisciplined and rebellious 21st Illinois Infantry in June 1861. Grant was deployed to Missouri to protect the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Under pro-Confederate Governor Claiborne Jackson, Missouri had declared it was an armed neutral in the conflict and would attack troops from either side entering the state. By the first of August the Union army had forcibly removed Jackson and Missouri was controlled by Union forces, who had to deal with numerous southern sympathizers. In August, Grant was appointed brigadier general of volunteers by Lincoln, who had been lobbied by Congressman Elihu Washburne. At the end of August, Grant was selected by Western Theater commander Major General John C. FrÃ©mont to command the critical District of Southeast Missouri. Grant's first important strategic act of the war was to take the initiative to seize the Ohio River town of Paducah, Kentucky, immediately after the Confederates violated the state's neutrality by occupying Columbus, Kentucky. He fought his first battle, an indecisive action against Confederate Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, at Belmont, Missouri, in November 1861. Three months later, aided by Andrew H. Foote's Navy gunboats, he captured two major Confederate fortresses, Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. At Donelson, his army was hit by a surprise Confederate attack (once again by Pillow) while he was temporarily absent. Displaying the cool determination that would characterize his leadership in future battles, he organized counterattacks that carried the day. Both General Floyd and Pillow, the two senior Confederate commanders fled. The Confederate commander, Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, an old friend of Grant's and a West Point classmate, and senior commander with Floyd and Pillow fleeing, yielded to Grant's hard conditions of "no terms except unconditional and immediate surrender." Buckner's surrender of over 12,000 men made Grant a national figure almost overnight, and he was nicknamed "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. The captures of the two forts with over 12,000 prisoners were the first major Union victories of the war, gaining him national recognition. Desperate for generals who could fight and win, Lincoln promoted him to major general of volunteers. Although Grant's new-found fame did not seem to affect his temperament, it did have an impact on his personal life. At one point during the Civil War, a picture of Grant with a cigar in his mouth was published. He was then inundated with cigars from well wishers. Before that he had smoked only sporadically, but he could not give them all away, so he took up smoking them, a habit which may have contributed to the development of throat cancer later in his life; one story after the war claimed that he smoked over 10,000 in five years. Despite his significant victories (or perhaps because of them), Grant fell out of favor with his superior, Major General Henry W. Halleck. Halleck had a particular distaste for drunks and, believing Grant was an alcoholic, was biased against him from the beginning. After Grant visited Nashville, Tennessee, where he met with Halleck's rival, Don Carlos Buell, Halleck used the visit as an excuse to relieve Grant of field command on March 2. Personal intervention from President Lincoln caused Halleck to restore Grant, who rejoined his army on March 17. General Grant at Cold Harbor, photographed by Mathew Brady in 1864 In early April 1862, Grant was surprised by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard at the Battle of Shiloh. The sheer violence of the Confederate attack sent the Union forces reeling. Nevertheless, Grant refused to retreat. With grim determination, he stabilized his line. Then, on the second day, with the help of timely reinforcements, Grant counterattacked and turned a serious reverse into a victory. The victory at Shiloh came at a high price; with over 23,000 casualties, it was the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States up to that time. Halleck responded to the surprise and the disorganized nature of the fighting by taking command of the army in the field himself on April 30, relegating Grant to the powerless position of second-in-command for the campaign in Corinth, Mississippi. Despondent over this reversal, Grant decided to resign. The intervention of his subordinate and good friend, William T. Sherman, caused him to remain. When Halleck was promoted to general-in-chief of the Union Army, Grant resumed his position as commander of the Army of West Tennessee (later more famously named the Army of the Tennessee) on June 10. He commanded the army for the battles of Corinth and Iuka that fall. In an attempt to capture the Mississippi River fortress of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Grant spent the winter of 1862 1863 conducting a series of operations to gain access to the city through the region's bayous. These attempts failed. However, his strategy to take Vicksburg in 1863 is considered one of the most masterful in military history. Grant marched his troops down the west bank of the Mississippi and crossed the river by using U.S. Navy ships that had run the guns at Vicksburg. There, he moved inland and in a daring move that defied conventional military principles cut loose from most of his supply lines. One of the enduring myths about Grant is that he dispensed with all of his supply lines and lived entirely off the land. This story was first propagated by former journalist Charles A. Dana and years later, Grant wrote the same in his memoirs. However, supply requisitions show that, while the men and animals of the Army of the Tennessee foraged for much of their food, staples such as coffee, salt, hardtack, ammunition, and medical supplies kept a large fleet of wagons moving inland from Grand Gulf throughout the campaign. This supply train was a target of Pemberton until Champion Hill. Operating in enemy territory, Grant moved swiftly, never giving the Confederates, under the command of John C. Pemberton, an opportunity to concentrate their forces against him. Grant's army went eastward, captured the city of Jackson, Mississippi, and severed the rail line to Vicksburg. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant Knowing that the Confederates could no longer send reinforcements to the Vicksburg garrison, Grant turned west and won the Battle of Champion Hill. The Confederates retreated inside their fortifications at Vicksburg, and Grant promptly surrounded the city. Finding that assaults against the impregnable breastworks were futile, he settled in for a six-week siege. Cut off and with no possibility of relief, Pemberton surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863. It was a devastating defeat for the Southern cause, effectively splitting the Confederacy in two, and, in conjunction with the Union victory at Gettysburg the previous day, is widely considered the turning point of the war. For this victory, President Lincoln promoted Grant to the rank of major general in the regular army, effective July 4. A distinguished British historian has written that "we must go back to the campaigns of Napoleon to find equally brilliant results accomplished in the same space of time with such a small loss." Lincoln said after the capture of Vicksburg and after the lost opportunity after Gettysburg, "Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the War." After the Battle of Chickamauga Union general William S. Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Confederate Braxton Bragg followed to Lookout Mountain, surrounding the Federals on three sides. On October 17, Grant was placed in command of the Military Division of Mississippi, which included Chattanooga. He immediately relieved Rosecrans and replaced him with George H. Thomas. Devising a plan known as the "Cracker Line", Thomas' chief engineer, William F. "Baldy" Smith opened a new supply route to Chattanooga, helping to better supply the Army of the Cumberland. Upon reprovisioning and reinforcing, the morale of Union troops lifted. In late November, they went on the offensive. The Battle of Chattanooga started out with Sherman's failed attack on the Confederate right. He not only attacked the wrong mountain but committed his troops piecemeal, allowing them to be defeated by one Confederate division. In response, Grant ordered Thomas to launch a demonstration on the center, which could draw defenders away from Sherman. Thomas waited until he was certain that Hooker, with reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac, was engaged on the Confederate left before he launched the Army of the Cumberland at the center of the Confederate line. Hooker's men broke the Confederate left, while Thomas' men made an unexpected but spectacular charge straight up Missionary Ridge and broke the fortified center of the Confederate line. Grant was initially angry at Thomas that his orders for a demonstration were exceeded, but the assaulting wave sent the Confederates into a head-long retreat, opening the way for the Union to invade Atlanta, Georgia, and the heart of the Confederacy. Grant reportedly said afterward, "Damn, I had nothing to do with this battle," according to Hooker. Grant's willingness to fight and ability to win impressed President Lincoln, who appointed him lieutenant general in the regular army a rank not awarded since George Washington (or Winfield Scott's brevet appointment), recently re-authorized by the U.S. Congress with Grant in mind on March 2, 1864. On March 12, Grant became general-in-chief of all the armies of the United States. In March 1864, Grant put Major General William T. Sherman in immediate command of all forces in the West and moved his headquarters to Virginia where he turned his attention to the long-frustrated Union effort to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia; his secondary objective was to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, but Grant knew that the latter would happen automatically once the former was accomplished. He devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the heart of the Confederacy from multiple directions: Grant, George G. Meade, and Benjamin Franklin Butler against Lee near Richmond; Franz Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley; Sherman to invade Georgia, defeat Joseph E. Johnston, and capture Atlanta; George Crook and William W. Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia; and Nathaniel Banks to capture Mobile, Alabama. Grant was the first general to attempt such a coordinated strategy in the war and the first to understand the concepts of total war, in which the destruction of an enemy's economic infrastructure that supplied its armies was as important as tactical victories on the battlefield. The Overland Campaign was the military thrust needed by the Union to defeat the Confederacy. It pitted Grant against the great commander Robert E. Lee in an epic contest. It began on May 4, 1864, when the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River, marching into an area of scrubby undergrowth and second growth trees known as the Wilderness. It was such difficult terrain that the Army of Northern Virginia was able to use it to prevent Grant from fully exploiting his numerical advantage. The Battle of the Wilderness was a stubborn, bloody two-day fight, resulting in advantage to neither side, but with heavy casualties on both. After similar battles in Virginia against Lee, all of Grant's predecessors had retreated from the field. Grant ignored the setback and ordered an advance around Lee's flank to the southeast, which lifted the morale of his army. Grant's strategy was not just to win individual battles, it was to fight constant battles in order to wear down and destroy Lee's army. Poster of "Grant from West Point to Appomattox." Sigel's Shenandoah campaign and Butler's James River campaign both failed. Lee was able to reinforce with troops used to defend against these assaults. The campaign continued, but Lee, anticipating Grant's move, beat him to Spotsylvania, Virginia, where, on May 8, the fighting resumed. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House lasted 14 days. On May 11, Grant wrote a famous dispatch containing the line "I propose to fight it out along this line if it takes all summer". These words summed up his attitude about the fighting, and the next day, May 12, he ordered a massive assault by Hancock's 2nd Corps that broke a portion of Lee's line, captured 30 artillery pieces, took 4,000 prisoners, and broke forever the famous Stonewall Division. In spite of mounting Union casualties, the contest's dynamics changed in Grant's favor. Most of Lee's great victories in earlier years had been won on the offensive, employing surprise movements and fierce assaults. Now, he was forced to continually fight on the defensive without a chance to regroup or replenish against an opponent that was well supplied and had superior numbers. The next major battle, however, demonstrated the power of a well-prepared defense. Cold Harbor was one of Grant's most controversial battles, in which he launched on June 3 a massive three-corps assault without adequate reconnaissance on a well-fortified defensive line, resulting in horrific casualties (3,000 7,000 killed, wounded, and missing in the first 40 minutes, although modern estimates have determined that the total was likely less than half of the famous figure of 7,000 that has been used in books for decades; as many as 12,000 for the day, far outnumbering the Confederate losses). Grant said of the battle in his memoirs "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22nd of May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained." But Grant moved on and kept up the pressure. He stole a march on Lee, slipping his troops across the James River. Arriving at Petersburg, Virginia, first, Grant should have captured the rail junction city, but he failed because of the overly cautious actions of his subordinate William Smith. Over the next three days, a number of Union assaults to take the city were launched. But all failed, and finally on June 18, Lee's veterans arrived. Faced with fully manned trenches in his front, Grant was left with no alternative but to settle down to a siege. As the summer drew on and with Grant's and Sherman's armies stalled, respectively in Virginia and Georgia, politics took center stage. There was a presidential election in the fall, and the citizens of the North had difficulty seeing any progress in the war effort. To make matters worse for Abraham Lincoln, Lee detached a small army under the command of Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, hoping it would force Grant to disengage forces to pursue him. Early invaded north through the Shenandoah Valley and reached the outskirts of Washington, D.C.. Although unable to take the city, Early embarrassed the Administration simply by threatening its inhabitants, making Abraham Lincoln's re-election prospects even bleaker. In early September, the efforts of Grant's coordinated strategy finally bore fruit. First, Sherman took Atlanta. Then, Grant dispatched Philip Sheridan to the Shenandoah Valley to deal with Early. It became clear to the people of the North that the war was being won, and Lincoln was re-elected by a wide margin. Later in November, Sherman began his March to the Sea. Sheridan and Sherman both followed Grant's strategy of total war by destroying the economic infrastructures of the Valley and a large swath of Georgia and the Carolinas. At the beginning of April 1865, Grant's relentless pressure finally forced Lee to evacuate Richmond, and after a nine-day retreat, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. There, Grant offered generous terms that did much to ease the tensions between the armies and preserve some semblance of Southern pride, which would be needed to reconcile the warring sides. Within a few weeks, the American Civil War was effectively over; minor actions would continue until Kirby Smith surrendered his forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2, 1865. Immediately after Lee's surrender, Grant had the sad honor of serving as a pallbearer at the funeral of his greatest champion, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had been quoted after the massive losses at Shiloh as saying, "I can't spare this man. He fights." It was a two-sentence description that completely caught the essence of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant's fighting style was what one fellow general called "that of a bulldog". The term accurately captures his tenacity, but it oversimplifies his considerable strategic and tactical capabilities. Although a master of combat by out-maneuvering his opponent (such as at Vicksburg and in the Overland Campaign against Lee), Grant was not afraid to order direct assaults, often when the Confederates were themselves launching offensives against him. Such tactics often resulted in heavy casualties for Grant's men, but they wore down the Confederate forces proportionately more and inflicted irreplaceable losses. Many in the North denounced Grant as a "butcher" in 1864, an accusation made both by Northern civilians appalled at the staggering number of casualties suffered by Union armies for what appeared to be negligible gains, and by Copperheads, Northern Democrats who either favored the Confederacy or simply wanted an end to the war, even at the cost of recognizing Southern independence. Grant persevered, refusing to withdraw as had his predecessors, and Lincoln, despite public outrage and pressure within the government, stuck by Grant, refusing to replace him. Although Grant lost battles in 1864, he won all his campaigns. Historian Michael Korda explained his strategic genius: Korda, (2004) After the war, on July 25, 1866, Congress authorized the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States, the equivalent of a full (four-star) general in the modern U.S. Army. Eicher, Civil War High Commands, p. 264. Grant was appointed as such by President Andrew Johnson on the same day.'' As commanding general of the army, Grant had a difficult relationship with President Johnson. Although he accompanied Johnson on a national stumping tour during the 1866 elections, he did not appear to be a supporter of Johnson's moderate policies toward the South. Johnson tried to use Grant to defeat the Radical Republicans by making Grant the Secretary of War in place of Edwin M. Stanton, whom he could not remove without the approval of Congress under the Tenure of Office Act. Grant refused but kept his military command. That made him a hero to the Radicals, who gave him the Republican nomination for president in 1868. He was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in Chicago in May 1868, with no real opposition. In his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which became the Republican campaign slogan. In the general election that year, he won against former New York governor Horatio Seymour with a lead of 300,000 out of a total of 5,716,082 votes cast but by a commanding 214 Electoral College votes to 80. He ran about 100,000 votes ahead of the Republican ticket, suggesting an unusually powerful appeal to veterans. When he entered the White House, he was politically inexperienced and, at age 46, the youngest man yet elected president. The second president from Ohio, Grant was the 18th President of the United States and served two terms from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. In the 1872 election he won by a landslide against the breakaway Liberal Republican party that nominated Horace Greeley. Grant presided over the last half of Reconstruction, watching as the Democrats (called Redeemers) took the control of every state away from his Republican coalition. When urgent telegrams from state leaders begged for help, Grant and his attorney general replied that "the whole public is tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South," saying that state militias should handle the problems, not the Army. He supported amnesty for Confederate leaders and protection for the civil rights of African-Americans. He favored a limited number of troops to be stationed in the South sufficient numbers to protect rights of Southern blacks, suppress the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan, and prop up Republican governors, but not so many as to create resentment in the general population. In 1869 and 1871, Grant signed bills promoting voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing voting rights, was ratified in 1870. Recent historians have emphasized Grant's commitment to protecting Unionists and freedmen in the South until 1876. Grant's commitment to black civil rights was demonstrated by his address to Congress in 1875 and by his attempt to use the annexation of Santo Domingo as leverage to force white supremacists to accept blacks as part of the Southern political polity. Grant confronted an apathetic Northern public, violent KKK organizations in the South, and a factional Republican party. He was charged with bringing order and equality to the South without being armed with the emergency powers that Lincoln and Johnson employed . Grant signed a bill into law that created Yellowstone National Park (America's first National Park) on March 1, 1872. General Grant National Memorial by the National Park Service. Retrieved March 29, 2006. Grant also signed into law making Christmas a federal holiday in 1870. Federal Holidays: Evolution and Application, CRS Report for Congress, 98-301 GOV, updated February 8, 1999, by Stephen W. Stathis The Panic of 1873 hit the country hard during his presidency, and he never attempted decisive action, one way or the other, to alleviate distress. The first law that he signed, in March 1869, established the value of the greenback currency issued during the Civil War, pledging to redeem the bills in gold. In 1874, he vetoed a bill to increase the amount of a legal tender currency, which defused the currency crisis on Wall Street but did little to help the economy as a whole. The depression led to Democratic victories in the 1874 off-year elections, as that party took control of the House for the first time since 1856. By 1875 the Grant administration was in disarray and on the defensive on all fronts other than foreign policy. With the Democrats in control of the House, Grant was unable to pass legislation. The House discovered gross corruption in the Interior, War, and Navy Departments; they did much to discredit the Department of Justice, forced the resignation of Robert Schenck, the Minister to Britain, and cast suspicion upon Blaine's conduct while Speaker. Nevins, Hamilton Fish 2:811ff. Historian Allan Nevins concludes: Nevins, Fish 2:811 In 1876, Grant helped to calm the nation over the Hayes-Tilden election controversy; he made clear he would not tolerate any march on Washington, such as that proposed by Tilden supporter Henry Watterson . The Grant administration's first economic accomplishment was the signing of the Act to Strengthen the Public Credit which the GOP Congress had passed after Grant ` s inaugural in March 1869 . The act had the effect that the gold price on New York exchange fell to 310 dollar an ounce - the lowest point since the suspension of specie payment in 1862 . As Jean Edward Smith notes in his 2002 biography on Grant, the presidential treasury secretary Boutwell reorganized the Treasury by discharging unnecessary employees, started sweeping changes in Bureau of Printing and Engraving to protect the currency from counterfeiters and revitalized tax collections to hasten the collection of revenue. This changes soon led the Tresury having a monthly surplus . The Grant administration reduced the debt by appromixately 435 million dollar. That was achieved by selling the growing gold surplus at weekly auctions for greenbacks and buying back wartime bonds with the currency . With this Grant ` s treasury secretary Boutwell had established a policy if continued had payed of the national debt in a quarter of a century . Newspapers like the New York Tribune wanted that the Government buy more bonds and Greenbacks, the New York Times praised the the Grant administration `s debt policy . On other economic fronts did the Grant administration have acomplishments . Under Grant the nation `s credit was substantially raised. Taxes was reduced by 300 million dollar. Annual interest rates were reduced by approximately 30 million dollar . The U . S balance of trade was changed from 130 million dollar against the United States to 120 million dollar in favor of the United States . He also reduced inflation and to 1873 bolstered economic recovery . He also promoted economy in federal expenditures . His veto of the Inflation Bill in 1874 saved the aftermath of the Panic of 1873 to get worse and the veto was praised by the financial community and many newspapers . The Resumption of Species Act of 1875 which was signed by Grant and helped to end the crisis in 1879 when the law came in to effect He also pressed for internal improvements and increased shipbuilding and foreign trade. He also wanted to enhance and improve the commercial marine . Grant/Wilson campaign poster In foreign affairs, a notable achievement of the Grant administration was the 1871 Treaty of Washington, negotiated by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. It settled American claims against Britain concerning the wartime activities of the British-built Confederate raider CSS Alabama. He also proposed to annex the independent, largely black nation of Santo Domingo. Not only did he believe that the island would be of use to the navy tactically, but he sought to use it as a bargaining chip. By providing a safe haven for the freedmen, Grant believed that the exodus of black labor would force Southern whites to realize the necessity of such a significant workforce and accept their civil rights. At the same time he hoped that U.S. ownership of the island would urge nearby Cuba to abandon slavery. The Senate refused to ratify it because of (Foreign Relations Committee Chairman) Senator Charles Sumner's strong opposition. Grant helped depose Sumner from the chairmanship, and Sumner supported Horace Greeley and the Liberal Republicans in 1872. Another notable foreign policy action under Grant was the settlement of the Liberian-Grebo War of 1876 through the dispatchment of the USS Alaska to Liberia where US envoy James Milton Turner negotiated the incorporation of Grebo people into Liberian society and the ousting of foreign traders from Liberia. Liberian-Grebo War of 1876 The first scandal to taint the Grant administration was Black Friday, a gold-speculation financial crisis in September 1869, set up by Wall Street manipulators Jay Gould and James Fisk. They tried to corner the gold market and tricked Grant into preventing his treasury secretary from stopping the fraud. However, Grant eventually released large amounts of gold back onto the market, causing a large-scale financial crisis for many gold investors. Jay Gould had already prepared and quietly sold out while Fisk denied many agreements and hired thugs to intimidate his creditors. The most famous scandal was the Whiskey Ring of 1875, exposed by Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow, in which over 3 million dollars in taxes were stolen from the federal government with the aid of high government officials. Orville E. Babcock, the private secretary to the President, was indicted as a member of the ring but escaped conviction because of a presidential pardon. Grant's earlier statement, "Let no guilty man escape" rang hollow. Secretary of War William W. Belknap was discovered to have taken bribes in exchange for the sale of Native American trading posts. Grant's acceptance of the resignation of Belknap allowed Belknap, after he was impeached by Congress for his actions, to escape conviction, since he was no longer a government official. Other scandals included the Sanborn Incident involving Treasury Secretary William Adams Richardson and his assistant John D. Sanborn. Another was a problem with U.S. Attorney Cyrus I. Scofield. The CrÃ©dit Mobilier of America scandal also ruined the political career of his first vice president, Schuyler Colfax, who was replaced on the Republican ticket in the 1872 election with Henry Wilson, who was also involved in the scandal. President Grant with his wife, Julia, and son, Jesse, in 1872. Although Grant himself did not profit from corruption among his subordinates, he did not take a firm stance against malefactors and failed to react strongly even after their guilt was established. When critics complained, he vigorously attacked them. He was weak in his selection of subordinates, favoring colleagues from the war over those with more practical political experience. He alienated party leaders by giving many posts to his friends and political contributors rather than supporting the party's needs. His failure to establish working political alliances in Congress allowed the scandals to spin out of control. At the conclusion of his second term, Grant wrote to Congress that "Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent." Grant's legacy has been marred by charges of anti-Semitism. The most frequently cited example is the infamous General Order No. 11, issued by Grant's headquarters in Oxford, Mississippi, on December 17, 1862, during the early Vicksburg Campaign. The order stated in part: The order was almost immediately rescinded by President Lincoln. Grant maintained that he was unaware that a staff officer issued it in his name. Grant's father Jesse Grant was involved; General James H. Wilson later explained, "There was a mean nasty streak in old Jesse Grant. He was close and greedy. He came down into Tennessee with a Jew trader that he wanted his son to help, and with whom he was going to share the profits. Grant refused to issue a permit and sent the Jew flying, prohibiting Jews from entering the line." Grant, Wilson felt, could not strike back directly at the "lot of relatives who were always trying to use him" and perhaps struck instead at what he maliciously saw as their counterpart â opportunistic traders who were Jewish. McFeely, p 124. Although it was portrayed as being outside the normal inclinations and character of Grant, it has been suggested by Bertram Korn that the order was part of a consistent pattern. "This was not the first discriminatory order [Grant] had signed [...] he was firmly convinced of the Jews' guilt and was eager to use any means of ridding himself of them." Bertram Korn, American Jewry and the Civil War, p. 143). Korn cites Grant's order of November 9 and 10, 1862, "Refuse all permits to come south of Jackson for the present. The Israelites especially should be kept out," and "no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the railroad southward from any point. They may go north and be encouraged in it; but they are such an intolerable nuisance that the department must be purged of them." The issue of anti-Semitism was raised during the 1868 presidential campaign, and Grant consulted with several Jewish community leaders, all of whom said they were convinced that Order 11 was an anomaly, and he was not an anti-Semite. He maintained good relations with the community throughout his administration, on both political and social levels. Grant's second inauguration as President by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase on March 4, 1873. Grant appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: * Edwin M. Stanton 1869 (sworn in but died before taking seat) * William Strong 1870 * Joseph P. Bradley 1870 * Ward Hunt 1873 * Morrison Remick Waite (Chief Justice) 1874 * Colorado August 1, 1876 * Department of Justice (1870) * Office of the Solicitor General (1870) * "Advisory Board on Civil Service" (1871); after it expired in 1873, it became the role model for the "Civil Service Commission" instituted in 1883 by President Chester A. Arthur, a Grant faithful. (Today it is known as the Office of Personnel Management.) * Office of the Surgeon General (1871) * Army Weather Bureau (currently known as the National Weather Service) (1870) Ulysses S. Grant in his postbellum. After the end of his second term in the White House, Grant spent over two years traveling the world with his wife. He visited Ireland, Scotland, and England; the crowds were huge. The Grants dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and with Prince Bismarck in Germany. They also visited Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Siam, and Burma. In Japan, they were cordially received by Emperor Meiji and Empress ShÅken at the Imperial Palace. Today in the Shibakoen section of Tokyo, a tree still stands that Grant planted during his stay. In 1879, the Meiji government of Japan announced the annexation of the Ryukyu Islands. China objected, and Grant was asked to arbitrate the matter. He decided that Japan's claim to the islands was stronger and ruled in Japan's favor. That same year, Grant was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Medical School. In 1879, the "Stalwart" faction of the Republican Party led by Senator Roscoe Conkling sought to nominate Grant for a third term as president. He counted on strong support from the business men, the old soldiers, and the Methodist church. Publicly Grant said nothing, but privately he wanted the job and encouraged his men. Hesseltine (2001) pp 432-39 His popularity was fading however, and while he received more than 300 votes in each of the 36 ballots of the 1880 convention, the nomination went to James A. Garfield. Grant campaigned for Garfield, who won by a very narrow margin. Grant supported his Stalwart ally Conkling against Garfield in the terrific battle over patronage in spring 1881 that culminated in Garfield's assassination. Grant writing his memoirs. In 1881, Grant purchased a house in New York City and placed almost all of his financial assets into an investment banking partnership with Ferdinand Ward, as suggested by Grant's son Buck (Ulysses, Jr.), who was having success on Wall Street. Ward swindled Grant (and other investors who had been encouraged by Grant) in 1884, bankrupted the company, Grant & Ward, and fled. Grant appears on the U.S. $50 bill. Grant learned at the same time that he was suffering from throat cancer. Grant and his family were left destitute; at the time retired U.S. Presidents were not given pensions, and Grant had forfeited his military pension when he assumed the office of President. It was not until 1958 that Congress, feeling it inappropriate that a former president or his wife might be poverty-stricken, passed a bill granting a pension to such individuals, a practice that continues to this day. Grant first wrote several articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century Magazine, which were warmly received. Mark Twain offered Grant a generous contract for the publication of his memoirs, including 75% of the book's sales as royalties. Terminally ill, Grant finished the book just a few days before his death. The Memoirs sold over 300,000 copies, earning the Grant family over $450,000. Twain promoted the book as "the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar," and Grant's memoirs are also regarded by such writers as Matthew Arnold and Gertrude Stein as among the finest ever written. Ulysses S. Grant died at 8:06 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, 1885, at the age of 63 in Mount McGregor, Saratoga County, New York. His last word was a request, "Water." His body lies in New York City's Riverside Park, beside that of his wife, in Grant's Tomb, the largest mausoleum in North America. Statue of Grant astride his favorite mount, "Cincinnati", at Vicksburg, Mississippi In World War II, the United States produced a tank known as the Grant tank (an upgrade of the American M3 "Lee"). Grant's portrait appears on the U.S. fifty-dollar bill. The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., honors Grant. Grant Park in Chicago honors Grant. Grant Avenue, a nine block long, north-south street in the Bronx, New York, is named after Grant. It is parallel and adjacent to Sherman Avenue. Dupont Street, the main thoroughfare in San Francisco's Chinatown, was renamed Grant Avenue in his honor. The famous dragon gate at the entrance to the district is at the corner of Grant and Bush Street. Grant, depicted riding a horse, is honored by a statue at the intersection of Bedford Avenue, Rogers Avenue and Dean Street in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y. There is a U.S. Grant Bridge over the Ohio River at Portsmouth, Ohio. There is a U.S. Grant Memorial Highway (US 52) in Cincinnati, Ohio. Counties in twelve U.S. states are named after Grant: Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Grant Parish, Louisiana. Note: Grant Counties in Indiana, Kentucky and Wisconsin were named after other Grants, not Ulysses Grant. * Grant was a descendant of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren * Grant is also a descendant from John Lothropp, who is also an ancestor to Benjamin Franklin Grant Memorial Statue in Grant Park, Galena, Illinois. Julia Grant remarked that it was the best likeness of her husband, as his hands were thrust into his pockets. * As a young man, Grant's father, Jesse, taught him the trade of tanning. Jesse Grant had been taught how to tan by Owen Brown, the father of known abolitionist John Brown. Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". * When Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1864, he agreed to sit down for photographer Mathew Brady. As the sun had begun to set by the time Grant arrived, Brady instructed one of his assistants to open the shades of the skylight in Brady's studio. The assistant slipped and shattered the skylight, causing two-inch-thick shards of glass to rain down around Grant, who had taken his seat as requested. He was unharmed, and showed "the most remarkable display of nerve" that Brady had ever seen. O'Brien, Cormac (2007). "Secret Lives of the Civil War: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the War Between the States". * Grant was known to visit the Willard Hotel to escape the stress of the White House. A long-standing story is that he referred to the people who approached him in the lobby as "those darn lobbyists," implying that he was the source for the term lobbyist. This story is unlikely to be true since there are examples of the term being used in U.S. and British magazines and newspapers before Grant's presidency. World Wide Words. * While in California, Grant tried selling ice to San Francisco, but failed when it melted in the warm weather aboard the ship. Smith, Grant, p. 81. . This anecdote is disputed by Edward G. Longacre in "General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man" (2006) in which he says -- in a referenced statement -- that the ice venture had failed because of "an unexpected glut of [ice] imports from Alaska." * In 1883, Grant was elected the eighth president of the National Rifle Association. * Grant suffered from tone-deafness. He disliked music intensely and would go out of his way to avoid having to hear any other than patriotic songs. In Jeffrey Shaara's The Last Full Measure - which is set after the Battle of Gettysburg, the subject of his father Michael's 1974 bestseller The Killer Angels - Grant is portrayed as saying, "I know only two songs. One is 'Yankee Doodle'. The other isn't." Whether he actually said this is unclear. Shaara, Jeffrey M. (1998). "The Last Full Measure". * Grant's wife, First Lady Julia Grant, was cross-eyed. When it was suggested to her that she have an operation to have it corrected, President Grant replied that he liked her that way. Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". * Grant's favorite brand of bourbon whiskey was Old Crow. * Grant enjoyed eating cucumbers soaked in vinegar for breakfast. * An apocryphal story about Grant's drinking has the general's critics going to President Lincoln, charging the military man with being a drunk. Lincoln is supposed to have replied, "I wish some of you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals." :* A similar story was told of General James Wolfe during the French and Indian Wars. When King George II was told that Wolfe was a "mad dog", he is said to have replied, "Then I'd wish he'd bite the other generals." * The question "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" was used by Groucho Marx in his radio and TV quiz show, the correct answer to which resulted in a consolation prize to contestants who had won no money. Some contestants thought it was a trick question. Grant's grandson, Ulysses S. Grant IV (a professor of geology at the University of California, Los Angeles) appeared on the program on March 12, 1953. ** This was also featured on an episode of the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, in which in a dream sequence Dorothy competes on Jeopardy against a scholar and her roommate Rose. When asked the question, Dorothy replies Ulysses and is wrong, while Rose replies Cary Grant and is correct. * In the film Wild Wild West, President Grant is a minor character that must deal with the Loveless Alliance. Once while in office he was arrested for speeding his horse and buggy and fined $20 and had to walk back to the white house. (www.pocanticohills.org/presidents/know.htm ) * A dispute between Grant and his commanding officer Henry Wager Halleck is the subject of a pivotal question in the film Quiz Show. * United States presidential election, 1868 * United States presidential election, 1872 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * Western Theater of the American Civil War * Ulysses S. Grant Memorial * U.S. Grant Home, Galena, Illinois Catton, Bruce, Grant Takes Command, Little, Brown and Company, 1968, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 69-12632. Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship, Indiana University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-253-13400-5. Garland, Hamlin, Ulysses S. Grant: His Life and Character, Macmillan Company, 1898. Grant, Ulysses S., Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885 86, ISBN 0-914427-67-9. Hesseltine, William B., Ulysses S. Grant: Politician 1935. * Lewis, Lloyd, Captain Sam Grant, Little, Brown, and Co., 1950, ISBN 0-316-52348-8. * McFeely, William S., Grant: A Biography, W. W. Norton & Co, 1981, ISBN 0-393-01372-3. * McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States), Oxford University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-19-503863-0. * Simpson, Brooks D., Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865, Houghton Mifflin, 2000, ISBN 0-395-65994-9. Smith, Jean Edward, Grant, Simon and Shuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84927-5. Woodworth, Steven E., Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861 1865, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, ISBN 0-375-41218-2. * Official Ulysses Simpson Grant biography from the US Army Center for Military History * Bunting III, Josiah. Ulysses S. Grant (2004) ISBN 0-8050-6949-6 * William Dunning, Reconstruction Political and Economic 1865-1877 (1905), vol 22 * Hesseltine, William B. Ulysses S. Grant, Politician (2001) ISBN 1-931313-85-7 online edition * Mantell, Martin E., Johnson, Grant, and the Politics of Reconstruction (1973) online edition * Nevins, Allan, Hamilton Fish: The Inner History of the Grant Administration (1936) online edition * Rhodes, James Ford., History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 6 and 7 (1920) vol 6 * Scaturro, Frank J., President Grant Reconsidered (1998). * Schouler, James., History of the United States of America: Under the Constitution vol. 7. 1865-1877. The Reconstruction Period (1917) online edition * Simpson, Brooks D., Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868 (1991). * Simpson, Brooks D., The Reconstruction Presidents (1998) * Skidmore, Max J. "The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: a Reconsideration." White House Studies (2005) online * Badeau, Adam. Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, from April, 1861, to April, 1865. 3 vols. 1882. Ballard, Michael B., Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, University of North Carolina Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8078-2893-9. Bearss, Edwin C., The Vicksburg Campaign, 3 volumes, Morningside Press, 1991, ISBN 0-89029-308-2. * Carter, Samuel III, The Final Fortress: The Campaign for Vicksburg, 1862-1863 (1980) * Catton, Bruce, Grant Moves South, 1960, ISBN 0-316-13207-1; Grant Takes Command, 1968, ISBN 0-316-13210-1; U. S. Grant and the American Military Tradition (1954) * Cavanaugh, Michael A., and William Marvel, The Petersburg Campaign: The Battle of the Crater: "The Horrid Pit," June 25-August 6, 1864 (1989) * Conger, A. L. The Rise of U.S. Grant (1931) * Davis, William C. Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg (1986). * Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship, Indiana University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-253-13400-5. * Gott, Kendall D., Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, Stackpole Books, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-0049-6. * Korda, Michael. Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero (2004) 161 pp * McWhiney, Grady, Battle in the Wilderness: Grant Meets Lee (1995) * McDonough, James Lee, Shiloh: In Hell before Night (1977). * McDonough, James Lee, Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy (1984). * Maney, R. Wayne, Marching to Cold Harbor. Victory and Failure, 1864 (1994). * Matter, William D., If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania (1988) * Miers, Earl Schenck., The Web of Victory: Grant at Vicksburg. 1955. * Mosier, John., "Grant", Palgrave MacMillan, 2006 ISBN 1-4039-7136-6. * Rhea, Gordon C., The Battle of the Wilderness May 5 6, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8071-1873-7. * Rhea, Gordon C., The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7 12, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8071-2136-3. * Rhea, Gordon C., To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13 25, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8071-2535-0. * Rhea, Gordon C., Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26 June 3, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8071-2803-1. * Miller, J. Michael, The North Anna Campaign: "Even to Hell Itself," May 21-26, 1864 (1989). * Simpson, Brooks D, "Continuous Hammering and Mere Attrition: Lost Cause Critics and the Military Reputation of Ulysses S. Grant," in Cad Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan, eds., The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History, (2000) * Steere, Edward, The Wilderness Campaign (1960) * Sword, Wiley, Shiloh: Bloody April. 1974. * Williams, T. Harry, McClellan, Sherman and Grant. 1962. * Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs (1885) online edition * Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs and Selected Letters (Mary Drake McFeely & William S. McFeely, eds.) ( The Library of America, 1990) ISBN 978-0-94045058-5 * Wilson, Edmund. Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War (1962) pp 131-73, on the Memoirs * Johnson, R. U., and Buel, C. C., eds., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 vols. New York, 1887-88; essays by leading generals of both sides; online edition * Porter, Horace, Campaigning with Grant (1897, reprinted 2000) * Sherman, William Tecumseh, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. 2 vols. 1875. * Simon, John Y., ed., The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Southern Illinois University Press (1967- ) multivolume complete edition of letters to and from Grant. As of 2006, vol 1-28 covers through September 1878. * Extensive essay on Ulysses S. Grant and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * White House Biography * Presidential Biography by Appleton's and Stanley L. Klos Emerson, Col. John W., Grant's Life in the West and His Mississippi Valley Campaigns, U.S. Grant Association website. Ulysses S. Grant at Find A Grave * Many rare General Grant photographs * Complete Bibliography * Military biography of Ulysses S. Grant from the Cullum biographies * * The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams. (1918). "President Grant (1869)", 260-65. * Collection of US Grant Letters * Ulysses S. Grant: America's Second Three-Star General article by Ethan Rafuse * Historic White Haven (Grant-Dent home) * \|- \|- Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1869 March 4 1877 Andrew Johnson Rutherford B. Hayes Point Pleasant, Ohio Wilton, New York Julia Grant Jesse Grant Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. Nellie Grant Frederick Grant General-in-Chief List of United States Presidential religious affiliations Republican Party (United States) Schuyler Colfax Henry Wilson #Military career April 27 1822 July 23 1885 United States President of the United States Union (American Civil War) American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg Confederate Robert E. Lee Appomattox Court House J.F.C. 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Hayes United States soldier politician President of the United States April 27 1822 Point Pleasant, Ohio Clermont County, Ohio July 23 1885 Wilton, New York Saratoga County, New York
Ulysses_S._Grant	What happened in recent years?	his reputation as president has improved	data/set3/a5	Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant, See military career for a discussion of Grant's middle initial. born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27, 1822 July 23, 1885), was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869 1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War. Grant first reached national prominence by taking Forts Henry and Donelson in 1862 in the first Union victories of the war. The following year, his brilliant campaign ending in the surrender of Vicksburg secured Union control of the Mississippi andâwith the simultaneous Union victory at Gettysburgâturned the tide of the war in the North's favor. Named commanding general of the Federal armies in 1864, he implemented a coordinated strategy of simultaneous attacks aimed at destroying the South's ability to carry on the war. In 1865, after conducting a costly war of attrition in the East, he accepted the surrender of his Confederate opponent Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House. Grant has been described by J.F.C. Fuller as "the greatest general of his age and one of the greatest strategists of any age." His Vicksburg Campaign in particular has been scrutinized by military specialists around the world. In 1868, Grant was elected president as a Republican. Grant was the first president to serve for two full terms since Andrew Jackson forty years before. He led Radical Reconstruction and built a powerful patronage-based Republican party in the South, with the adroit use of the army. He took a hard line that reduced violence by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Although Grant was personally honest, he not only tolerated financial and political corruption among top aides but also protected them once exposed. Presidential experts typically rank Grant in the lowest quartile of U.S. presidents, primarily for his tolerance of corruption. In recent years, however, his reputation as president has improved somewhat among scholars impressed by his support for civil rights for African Americans. See Skidmore (2005); Bunting (2004), Scaturro (1998), Smith (2001) and Simpson (1998) Unsuccessful in winning a third term in 1880, bankrupted by bad investments, and terminally ill with throat cancer, Grant wrote his Memoirs, which was enormously successful among veterans, the public, and the critics. Ulysses Grant Birthplace, Point Pleasant, Ohio Ulysses S. Grant Boyhood Home, Georgetown, Ohio Grant was born in a log cabin in Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio, 25 miles (40 km) east of Cincinnati on the Ohio River. He was the eldest of the six children of Jesse Root Grant (1794 1873) and Hannah Simpson Grant (1798 1883). His father, a tanner, was from Pennsylvania, and his mother was born in Horsham Township, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1823, they moved to the village of Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio. On August 22, 1848, Grant married Julia Boggs Dent (1826 1902), the daughter of a slave owner. They had four children: Frederick Dent Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. (Buck), Ellen Wrenshall Grant (Nellie), and Jesse Root Grant. At the age of 17, Grant entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, after securing a nomination through his U.S. Congressman, Thomas L. Hamer. Hamer erroneously nominated him as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio," Smith, Grant, p. 24. knowing Grant's mother's maiden name was Simpson and forgetting that Grant was referred to in his youth as "H. Ulysses Grant" or "Lyss." Grant wrote his name in the entrance register as "Ulysses Hiram Grant" (concerned that he would otherwise become known by his initials, H.U.G.), but the school administration refused to accept any name other than the nominated form. Upon graduation, Grant adopted the form of his new name with middle initial only. Smith, Grant, p. 83. In a letter to his wife Julia dated March 31, 1853, Grant wrote, "Why did you not tell me more about our dear little boys ? ... What does Fred. call Ulys. ? What does the S stand for in Ulys.'s name? In mine you know it does not stand for anything!" McFeely, p. 524, n. 2: "Grant himself never used more than 'S.'; others converted the single letter to 'Simpson.' He graduated from West Point in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. At the academy, he established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman. Although this made him seem a natural for cavalry, he was assigned to duty as a regimental quartermaster, managing supplies and equipment. Lieutenant Grant served in the Mexican-American War (1846â1848) under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, where, despite his assignment as a quartermaster, he got close enough to the front lines to see action, taking part in the battles of Resaca de la Palma, Palo Alto, Monterrey (where he volunteered to carry a dispatch on horseback through a sniper-lined street), and Veracruz. Once Grant saw his friend, Fred Dent, later becoming his brother-in-law, lying in the middle of the battlefield; he had been shot in the leg. Grant ran furiously into the open to rescue Dent; as they were making their way to safety, a Mexican was sneaking up behind Grant, but the Mexican was shot by a fellow U.S soldier. Grant was twice brevetted for bravery: at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. He was a remarkably close observer of the war, learning to judge the actions of colonels and generals. In the 1880s he wrote that the war was unjust, accepting the theory that it was designed to gain land open to slavery. After the Mexican-American war ended in 1848, Grant remained in the army and was moved to several different posts. He was sent to Fort Vancouver in the Washington Territory in 1853, where he served as quartermaster of the 4th U.S. Infantry regiment. His wife, eight months pregnant with their second child, could not accompany him because his salary could not support a family on the frontier. In 1854, Grant was promoted to captain (one of only 50 still on active duty) and assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at Fort Humboldt, California. However, he still could not afford to bring his family out West. He tried some business ventures, but they failed. Grant resigned from the Army with little advance notice on July 31, 1854, offering no explanation for his abrupt decision. Rumors persisted in the Army for years that his commanding officer, Bvt. Lt. Col. Robert C. Buchanan, found him drunk on duty as a pay officer and offered him the choice between resignation or court-martial. According to Smith, pp. 87-88, and Lewis, pp. 328-32, two of Grant's lieutenants corroborated this story and Buchanan himself confirmed it to another officer in a conversation during the Civil War. Years later, Grant told educator John Eaton, "the vice of intemperance had not a little to do with my decision to resign." Some biographers discount the rumors and suggest Grant's resignation, and his drinking, were both prompted by profound depression. According to this view, Buchanan hated Grant and concocted the drunkenness story years later to protect Buchanan's action in removing the man who became one of the most famous generals in history. The War Department stated, "Nothing stands against his good name." McFeely, p. 55-56; Simpson, Triumph, pp. 60-61. Buchanan tolerated drunkenness in other officers, and in Grant's successor, and surprised fellow officers by forcing Grant's resignation. Garland, p. 126, notes that at the time the War Department made clear that Grant did not leave under a cloud. He wrote in his memoirs about the war against Mexico: "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation". Ulysses S Grant Quotes on the Military Academy and the Mexican War A civilian at age 32, Grant struggled through seven lean years. From 1854 to 1858 he labored on a family farm near St. Louis, Missouri, using slaves owned by his father-in-law, but it did not prosper. Grant owned one slave (whom he set free in 1859); his wife owned four slaves (two women servants and their two small boys). His wife's slaves were leased in St. Louis in 1860 after Grant gave up farming. The land and cabin where Grant lived is now an animal conservation reserve, Grant's Farm, owned and operated by the Anheuser-Busch Company. In 1858-59 he was a bill collector in St. Louis. Failing at everything, in humiliation he asked his father for a job, and in 1860 was made an assistant in the leather shop owned by his father and run by his younger brother in Galena, Illinois. Grant & Perkins sold harnesses, saddles, and other leather goods and purchased hides from farmers in the prosperous Galena area. McFeely, ch. 5. Although Grant was essentially apolitical, his father-in-law was a prominent Democrat in St. Louis (a fact that lost Grant the good job of county engineer in 1859). In 1856 he voted for Democrat James Buchanan for president to avert secession and because "I knew FrÃ©mont" (the Republican candidate). In 1860, he favored Democrat Stephen A. Douglas but did not vote. In 1864, he allowed his political sponsor, Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, to use his private letters as campaign literature for Abraham Lincoln The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Retrieved April 28, 2007. and the Union Party, which combined both Republicans and War Democrats. He refused to announce his political affiliation until 1868, when he finally declared himself a Republican. Hesseltine, chapter 6. . The home of President Grant while he lived in Galena, Illinois. Shortly after Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln put out a call for 75,000 volunteers. Grant helped recruit a company of volunteers and accompanied it to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. Grant accepted a position offered by Illinois Governor Richard Yates to recruit and train volunteers, which he accomplished with efficiency. Grant pressed for a field command; Yates appointed him colonel of the undisciplined and rebellious 21st Illinois Infantry in June 1861. Grant was deployed to Missouri to protect the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Under pro-Confederate Governor Claiborne Jackson, Missouri had declared it was an armed neutral in the conflict and would attack troops from either side entering the state. By the first of August the Union army had forcibly removed Jackson and Missouri was controlled by Union forces, who had to deal with numerous southern sympathizers. In August, Grant was appointed brigadier general of volunteers by Lincoln, who had been lobbied by Congressman Elihu Washburne. At the end of August, Grant was selected by Western Theater commander Major General John C. FrÃ©mont to command the critical District of Southeast Missouri. Grant's first important strategic act of the war was to take the initiative to seize the Ohio River town of Paducah, Kentucky, immediately after the Confederates violated the state's neutrality by occupying Columbus, Kentucky. He fought his first battle, an indecisive action against Confederate Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, at Belmont, Missouri, in November 1861. Three months later, aided by Andrew H. Foote's Navy gunboats, he captured two major Confederate fortresses, Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River. At Donelson, his army was hit by a surprise Confederate attack (once again by Pillow) while he was temporarily absent. Displaying the cool determination that would characterize his leadership in future battles, he organized counterattacks that carried the day. Both General Floyd and Pillow, the two senior Confederate commanders fled. The Confederate commander, Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner, an old friend of Grant's and a West Point classmate, and senior commander with Floyd and Pillow fleeing, yielded to Grant's hard conditions of "no terms except unconditional and immediate surrender." Buckner's surrender of over 12,000 men made Grant a national figure almost overnight, and he was nicknamed "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. The captures of the two forts with over 12,000 prisoners were the first major Union victories of the war, gaining him national recognition. Desperate for generals who could fight and win, Lincoln promoted him to major general of volunteers. Although Grant's new-found fame did not seem to affect his temperament, it did have an impact on his personal life. At one point during the Civil War, a picture of Grant with a cigar in his mouth was published. He was then inundated with cigars from well wishers. Before that he had smoked only sporadically, but he could not give them all away, so he took up smoking them, a habit which may have contributed to the development of throat cancer later in his life; one story after the war claimed that he smoked over 10,000 in five years. Despite his significant victories (or perhaps because of them), Grant fell out of favor with his superior, Major General Henry W. Halleck. Halleck had a particular distaste for drunks and, believing Grant was an alcoholic, was biased against him from the beginning. After Grant visited Nashville, Tennessee, where he met with Halleck's rival, Don Carlos Buell, Halleck used the visit as an excuse to relieve Grant of field command on March 2. Personal intervention from President Lincoln caused Halleck to restore Grant, who rejoined his army on March 17. General Grant at Cold Harbor, photographed by Mathew Brady in 1864 In early April 1862, Grant was surprised by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard at the Battle of Shiloh. The sheer violence of the Confederate attack sent the Union forces reeling. Nevertheless, Grant refused to retreat. With grim determination, he stabilized his line. Then, on the second day, with the help of timely reinforcements, Grant counterattacked and turned a serious reverse into a victory. The victory at Shiloh came at a high price; with over 23,000 casualties, it was the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States up to that time. Halleck responded to the surprise and the disorganized nature of the fighting by taking command of the army in the field himself on April 30, relegating Grant to the powerless position of second-in-command for the campaign in Corinth, Mississippi. Despondent over this reversal, Grant decided to resign. The intervention of his subordinate and good friend, William T. Sherman, caused him to remain. When Halleck was promoted to general-in-chief of the Union Army, Grant resumed his position as commander of the Army of West Tennessee (later more famously named the Army of the Tennessee) on June 10. He commanded the army for the battles of Corinth and Iuka that fall. In an attempt to capture the Mississippi River fortress of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Grant spent the winter of 1862 1863 conducting a series of operations to gain access to the city through the region's bayous. These attempts failed. However, his strategy to take Vicksburg in 1863 is considered one of the most masterful in military history. Grant marched his troops down the west bank of the Mississippi and crossed the river by using U.S. Navy ships that had run the guns at Vicksburg. There, he moved inland and in a daring move that defied conventional military principles cut loose from most of his supply lines. One of the enduring myths about Grant is that he dispensed with all of his supply lines and lived entirely off the land. This story was first propagated by former journalist Charles A. Dana and years later, Grant wrote the same in his memoirs. However, supply requisitions show that, while the men and animals of the Army of the Tennessee foraged for much of their food, staples such as coffee, salt, hardtack, ammunition, and medical supplies kept a large fleet of wagons moving inland from Grand Gulf throughout the campaign. This supply train was a target of Pemberton until Champion Hill. Operating in enemy territory, Grant moved swiftly, never giving the Confederates, under the command of John C. Pemberton, an opportunity to concentrate their forces against him. Grant's army went eastward, captured the city of Jackson, Mississippi, and severed the rail line to Vicksburg. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant Knowing that the Confederates could no longer send reinforcements to the Vicksburg garrison, Grant turned west and won the Battle of Champion Hill. The Confederates retreated inside their fortifications at Vicksburg, and Grant promptly surrounded the city. Finding that assaults against the impregnable breastworks were futile, he settled in for a six-week siege. Cut off and with no possibility of relief, Pemberton surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863. It was a devastating defeat for the Southern cause, effectively splitting the Confederacy in two, and, in conjunction with the Union victory at Gettysburg the previous day, is widely considered the turning point of the war. For this victory, President Lincoln promoted Grant to the rank of major general in the regular army, effective July 4. A distinguished British historian has written that "we must go back to the campaigns of Napoleon to find equally brilliant results accomplished in the same space of time with such a small loss." Lincoln said after the capture of Vicksburg and after the lost opportunity after Gettysburg, "Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the War." After the Battle of Chickamauga Union general William S. Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Confederate Braxton Bragg followed to Lookout Mountain, surrounding the Federals on three sides. On October 17, Grant was placed in command of the Military Division of Mississippi, which included Chattanooga. He immediately relieved Rosecrans and replaced him with George H. Thomas. Devising a plan known as the "Cracker Line", Thomas' chief engineer, William F. "Baldy" Smith opened a new supply route to Chattanooga, helping to better supply the Army of the Cumberland. Upon reprovisioning and reinforcing, the morale of Union troops lifted. In late November, they went on the offensive. The Battle of Chattanooga started out with Sherman's failed attack on the Confederate right. He not only attacked the wrong mountain but committed his troops piecemeal, allowing them to be defeated by one Confederate division. In response, Grant ordered Thomas to launch a demonstration on the center, which could draw defenders away from Sherman. Thomas waited until he was certain that Hooker, with reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac, was engaged on the Confederate left before he launched the Army of the Cumberland at the center of the Confederate line. Hooker's men broke the Confederate left, while Thomas' men made an unexpected but spectacular charge straight up Missionary Ridge and broke the fortified center of the Confederate line. Grant was initially angry at Thomas that his orders for a demonstration were exceeded, but the assaulting wave sent the Confederates into a head-long retreat, opening the way for the Union to invade Atlanta, Georgia, and the heart of the Confederacy. Grant reportedly said afterward, "Damn, I had nothing to do with this battle," according to Hooker. Grant's willingness to fight and ability to win impressed President Lincoln, who appointed him lieutenant general in the regular army a rank not awarded since George Washington (or Winfield Scott's brevet appointment), recently re-authorized by the U.S. Congress with Grant in mind on March 2, 1864. On March 12, Grant became general-in-chief of all the armies of the United States. In March 1864, Grant put Major General William T. Sherman in immediate command of all forces in the West and moved his headquarters to Virginia where he turned his attention to the long-frustrated Union effort to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia; his secondary objective was to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, but Grant knew that the latter would happen automatically once the former was accomplished. He devised a coordinated strategy that would strike at the heart of the Confederacy from multiple directions: Grant, George G. Meade, and Benjamin Franklin Butler against Lee near Richmond; Franz Sigel in the Shenandoah Valley; Sherman to invade Georgia, defeat Joseph E. Johnston, and capture Atlanta; George Crook and William W. Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia; and Nathaniel Banks to capture Mobile, Alabama. Grant was the first general to attempt such a coordinated strategy in the war and the first to understand the concepts of total war, in which the destruction of an enemy's economic infrastructure that supplied its armies was as important as tactical victories on the battlefield. The Overland Campaign was the military thrust needed by the Union to defeat the Confederacy. It pitted Grant against the great commander Robert E. Lee in an epic contest. It began on May 4, 1864, when the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan River, marching into an area of scrubby undergrowth and second growth trees known as the Wilderness. It was such difficult terrain that the Army of Northern Virginia was able to use it to prevent Grant from fully exploiting his numerical advantage. The Battle of the Wilderness was a stubborn, bloody two-day fight, resulting in advantage to neither side, but with heavy casualties on both. After similar battles in Virginia against Lee, all of Grant's predecessors had retreated from the field. Grant ignored the setback and ordered an advance around Lee's flank to the southeast, which lifted the morale of his army. Grant's strategy was not just to win individual battles, it was to fight constant battles in order to wear down and destroy Lee's army. Poster of "Grant from West Point to Appomattox." Sigel's Shenandoah campaign and Butler's James River campaign both failed. Lee was able to reinforce with troops used to defend against these assaults. The campaign continued, but Lee, anticipating Grant's move, beat him to Spotsylvania, Virginia, where, on May 8, the fighting resumed. The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House lasted 14 days. On May 11, Grant wrote a famous dispatch containing the line "I propose to fight it out along this line if it takes all summer". These words summed up his attitude about the fighting, and the next day, May 12, he ordered a massive assault by Hancock's 2nd Corps that broke a portion of Lee's line, captured 30 artillery pieces, took 4,000 prisoners, and broke forever the famous Stonewall Division. In spite of mounting Union casualties, the contest's dynamics changed in Grant's favor. Most of Lee's great victories in earlier years had been won on the offensive, employing surprise movements and fierce assaults. Now, he was forced to continually fight on the defensive without a chance to regroup or replenish against an opponent that was well supplied and had superior numbers. The next major battle, however, demonstrated the power of a well-prepared defense. Cold Harbor was one of Grant's most controversial battles, in which he launched on June 3 a massive three-corps assault without adequate reconnaissance on a well-fortified defensive line, resulting in horrific casualties (3,000 7,000 killed, wounded, and missing in the first 40 minutes, although modern estimates have determined that the total was likely less than half of the famous figure of 7,000 that has been used in books for decades; as many as 12,000 for the day, far outnumbering the Confederate losses). Grant said of the battle in his memoirs "I have always regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made. I might say the same thing of the assault of the 22nd of May, 1863, at Vicksburg. At Cold Harbor no advantage whatever was gained to compensate for the heavy loss we sustained." But Grant moved on and kept up the pressure. He stole a march on Lee, slipping his troops across the James River. Arriving at Petersburg, Virginia, first, Grant should have captured the rail junction city, but he failed because of the overly cautious actions of his subordinate William Smith. Over the next three days, a number of Union assaults to take the city were launched. But all failed, and finally on June 18, Lee's veterans arrived. Faced with fully manned trenches in his front, Grant was left with no alternative but to settle down to a siege. As the summer drew on and with Grant's and Sherman's armies stalled, respectively in Virginia and Georgia, politics took center stage. There was a presidential election in the fall, and the citizens of the North had difficulty seeing any progress in the war effort. To make matters worse for Abraham Lincoln, Lee detached a small army under the command of Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early, hoping it would force Grant to disengage forces to pursue him. Early invaded north through the Shenandoah Valley and reached the outskirts of Washington, D.C.. Although unable to take the city, Early embarrassed the Administration simply by threatening its inhabitants, making Abraham Lincoln's re-election prospects even bleaker. In early September, the efforts of Grant's coordinated strategy finally bore fruit. First, Sherman took Atlanta. Then, Grant dispatched Philip Sheridan to the Shenandoah Valley to deal with Early. It became clear to the people of the North that the war was being won, and Lincoln was re-elected by a wide margin. Later in November, Sherman began his March to the Sea. Sheridan and Sherman both followed Grant's strategy of total war by destroying the economic infrastructures of the Valley and a large swath of Georgia and the Carolinas. At the beginning of April 1865, Grant's relentless pressure finally forced Lee to evacuate Richmond, and after a nine-day retreat, Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. There, Grant offered generous terms that did much to ease the tensions between the armies and preserve some semblance of Southern pride, which would be needed to reconcile the warring sides. Within a few weeks, the American Civil War was effectively over; minor actions would continue until Kirby Smith surrendered his forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2, 1865. Immediately after Lee's surrender, Grant had the sad honor of serving as a pallbearer at the funeral of his greatest champion, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had been quoted after the massive losses at Shiloh as saying, "I can't spare this man. He fights." It was a two-sentence description that completely caught the essence of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant's fighting style was what one fellow general called "that of a bulldog". The term accurately captures his tenacity, but it oversimplifies his considerable strategic and tactical capabilities. Although a master of combat by out-maneuvering his opponent (such as at Vicksburg and in the Overland Campaign against Lee), Grant was not afraid to order direct assaults, often when the Confederates were themselves launching offensives against him. Such tactics often resulted in heavy casualties for Grant's men, but they wore down the Confederate forces proportionately more and inflicted irreplaceable losses. Many in the North denounced Grant as a "butcher" in 1864, an accusation made both by Northern civilians appalled at the staggering number of casualties suffered by Union armies for what appeared to be negligible gains, and by Copperheads, Northern Democrats who either favored the Confederacy or simply wanted an end to the war, even at the cost of recognizing Southern independence. Grant persevered, refusing to withdraw as had his predecessors, and Lincoln, despite public outrage and pressure within the government, stuck by Grant, refusing to replace him. Although Grant lost battles in 1864, he won all his campaigns. Historian Michael Korda explained his strategic genius: Korda, (2004) After the war, on July 25, 1866, Congress authorized the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States, the equivalent of a full (four-star) general in the modern U.S. Army. Eicher, Civil War High Commands, p. 264. Grant was appointed as such by President Andrew Johnson on the same day.'' As commanding general of the army, Grant had a difficult relationship with President Johnson. Although he accompanied Johnson on a national stumping tour during the 1866 elections, he did not appear to be a supporter of Johnson's moderate policies toward the South. Johnson tried to use Grant to defeat the Radical Republicans by making Grant the Secretary of War in place of Edwin M. Stanton, whom he could not remove without the approval of Congress under the Tenure of Office Act. Grant refused but kept his military command. That made him a hero to the Radicals, who gave him the Republican nomination for president in 1868. He was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in Chicago in May 1868, with no real opposition. In his letter of acceptance to the party, Grant concluded with "Let us have peace," which became the Republican campaign slogan. In the general election that year, he won against former New York governor Horatio Seymour with a lead of 300,000 out of a total of 5,716,082 votes cast but by a commanding 214 Electoral College votes to 80. He ran about 100,000 votes ahead of the Republican ticket, suggesting an unusually powerful appeal to veterans. When he entered the White House, he was politically inexperienced and, at age 46, the youngest man yet elected president. The second president from Ohio, Grant was the 18th President of the United States and served two terms from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. In the 1872 election he won by a landslide against the breakaway Liberal Republican party that nominated Horace Greeley. Grant presided over the last half of Reconstruction, watching as the Democrats (called Redeemers) took the control of every state away from his Republican coalition. When urgent telegrams from state leaders begged for help, Grant and his attorney general replied that "the whole public is tired of these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South," saying that state militias should handle the problems, not the Army. He supported amnesty for Confederate leaders and protection for the civil rights of African-Americans. He favored a limited number of troops to be stationed in the South sufficient numbers to protect rights of Southern blacks, suppress the violent tactics of the Ku Klux Klan, and prop up Republican governors, but not so many as to create resentment in the general population. In 1869 and 1871, Grant signed bills promoting voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders. The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing voting rights, was ratified in 1870. Recent historians have emphasized Grant's commitment to protecting Unionists and freedmen in the South until 1876. Grant's commitment to black civil rights was demonstrated by his address to Congress in 1875 and by his attempt to use the annexation of Santo Domingo as leverage to force white supremacists to accept blacks as part of the Southern political polity. Grant confronted an apathetic Northern public, violent KKK organizations in the South, and a factional Republican party. He was charged with bringing order and equality to the South without being armed with the emergency powers that Lincoln and Johnson employed . Grant signed a bill into law that created Yellowstone National Park (America's first National Park) on March 1, 1872. General Grant National Memorial by the National Park Service. Retrieved March 29, 2006. Grant also signed into law making Christmas a federal holiday in 1870. Federal Holidays: Evolution and Application, CRS Report for Congress, 98-301 GOV, updated February 8, 1999, by Stephen W. Stathis The Panic of 1873 hit the country hard during his presidency, and he never attempted decisive action, one way or the other, to alleviate distress. The first law that he signed, in March 1869, established the value of the greenback currency issued during the Civil War, pledging to redeem the bills in gold. In 1874, he vetoed a bill to increase the amount of a legal tender currency, which defused the currency crisis on Wall Street but did little to help the economy as a whole. The depression led to Democratic victories in the 1874 off-year elections, as that party took control of the House for the first time since 1856. By 1875 the Grant administration was in disarray and on the defensive on all fronts other than foreign policy. With the Democrats in control of the House, Grant was unable to pass legislation. The House discovered gross corruption in the Interior, War, and Navy Departments; they did much to discredit the Department of Justice, forced the resignation of Robert Schenck, the Minister to Britain, and cast suspicion upon Blaine's conduct while Speaker. Nevins, Hamilton Fish 2:811ff. Historian Allan Nevins concludes: Nevins, Fish 2:811 In 1876, Grant helped to calm the nation over the Hayes-Tilden election controversy; he made clear he would not tolerate any march on Washington, such as that proposed by Tilden supporter Henry Watterson . The Grant administration's first economic accomplishment was the signing of the Act to Strengthen the Public Credit which the GOP Congress had passed after Grant ` s inaugural in March 1869 . The act had the effect that the gold price on New York exchange fell to 310 dollar an ounce - the lowest point since the suspension of specie payment in 1862 . As Jean Edward Smith notes in his 2002 biography on Grant, the presidential treasury secretary Boutwell reorganized the Treasury by discharging unnecessary employees, started sweeping changes in Bureau of Printing and Engraving to protect the currency from counterfeiters and revitalized tax collections to hasten the collection of revenue. This changes soon led the Tresury having a monthly surplus . The Grant administration reduced the debt by appromixately 435 million dollar. That was achieved by selling the growing gold surplus at weekly auctions for greenbacks and buying back wartime bonds with the currency . With this Grant ` s treasury secretary Boutwell had established a policy if continued had payed of the national debt in a quarter of a century . Newspapers like the New York Tribune wanted that the Government buy more bonds and Greenbacks, the New York Times praised the the Grant administration `s debt policy . On other economic fronts did the Grant administration have acomplishments . Under Grant the nation `s credit was substantially raised. Taxes was reduced by 300 million dollar. Annual interest rates were reduced by approximately 30 million dollar . The U . S balance of trade was changed from 130 million dollar against the United States to 120 million dollar in favor of the United States . He also reduced inflation and to 1873 bolstered economic recovery . He also promoted economy in federal expenditures . His veto of the Inflation Bill in 1874 saved the aftermath of the Panic of 1873 to get worse and the veto was praised by the financial community and many newspapers . The Resumption of Species Act of 1875 which was signed by Grant and helped to end the crisis in 1879 when the law came in to effect He also pressed for internal improvements and increased shipbuilding and foreign trade. He also wanted to enhance and improve the commercial marine . Grant/Wilson campaign poster In foreign affairs, a notable achievement of the Grant administration was the 1871 Treaty of Washington, negotiated by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. It settled American claims against Britain concerning the wartime activities of the British-built Confederate raider CSS Alabama. He also proposed to annex the independent, largely black nation of Santo Domingo. Not only did he believe that the island would be of use to the navy tactically, but he sought to use it as a bargaining chip. By providing a safe haven for the freedmen, Grant believed that the exodus of black labor would force Southern whites to realize the necessity of such a significant workforce and accept their civil rights. At the same time he hoped that U.S. ownership of the island would urge nearby Cuba to abandon slavery. The Senate refused to ratify it because of (Foreign Relations Committee Chairman) Senator Charles Sumner's strong opposition. Grant helped depose Sumner from the chairmanship, and Sumner supported Horace Greeley and the Liberal Republicans in 1872. Another notable foreign policy action under Grant was the settlement of the Liberian-Grebo War of 1876 through the dispatchment of the USS Alaska to Liberia where US envoy James Milton Turner negotiated the incorporation of Grebo people into Liberian society and the ousting of foreign traders from Liberia. Liberian-Grebo War of 1876 The first scandal to taint the Grant administration was Black Friday, a gold-speculation financial crisis in September 1869, set up by Wall Street manipulators Jay Gould and James Fisk. They tried to corner the gold market and tricked Grant into preventing his treasury secretary from stopping the fraud. However, Grant eventually released large amounts of gold back onto the market, causing a large-scale financial crisis for many gold investors. Jay Gould had already prepared and quietly sold out while Fisk denied many agreements and hired thugs to intimidate his creditors. The most famous scandal was the Whiskey Ring of 1875, exposed by Secretary of the Treasury Benjamin H. Bristow, in which over 3 million dollars in taxes were stolen from the federal government with the aid of high government officials. Orville E. Babcock, the private secretary to the President, was indicted as a member of the ring but escaped conviction because of a presidential pardon. Grant's earlier statement, "Let no guilty man escape" rang hollow. Secretary of War William W. Belknap was discovered to have taken bribes in exchange for the sale of Native American trading posts. Grant's acceptance of the resignation of Belknap allowed Belknap, after he was impeached by Congress for his actions, to escape conviction, since he was no longer a government official. Other scandals included the Sanborn Incident involving Treasury Secretary William Adams Richardson and his assistant John D. Sanborn. Another was a problem with U.S. Attorney Cyrus I. Scofield. The CrÃ©dit Mobilier of America scandal also ruined the political career of his first vice president, Schuyler Colfax, who was replaced on the Republican ticket in the 1872 election with Henry Wilson, who was also involved in the scandal. President Grant with his wife, Julia, and son, Jesse, in 1872. Although Grant himself did not profit from corruption among his subordinates, he did not take a firm stance against malefactors and failed to react strongly even after their guilt was established. When critics complained, he vigorously attacked them. He was weak in his selection of subordinates, favoring colleagues from the war over those with more practical political experience. He alienated party leaders by giving many posts to his friends and political contributors rather than supporting the party's needs. His failure to establish working political alliances in Congress allowed the scandals to spin out of control. At the conclusion of his second term, Grant wrote to Congress that "Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent." Grant's legacy has been marred by charges of anti-Semitism. The most frequently cited example is the infamous General Order No. 11, issued by Grant's headquarters in Oxford, Mississippi, on December 17, 1862, during the early Vicksburg Campaign. The order stated in part: The order was almost immediately rescinded by President Lincoln. Grant maintained that he was unaware that a staff officer issued it in his name. Grant's father Jesse Grant was involved; General James H. Wilson later explained, "There was a mean nasty streak in old Jesse Grant. He was close and greedy. He came down into Tennessee with a Jew trader that he wanted his son to help, and with whom he was going to share the profits. Grant refused to issue a permit and sent the Jew flying, prohibiting Jews from entering the line." Grant, Wilson felt, could not strike back directly at the "lot of relatives who were always trying to use him" and perhaps struck instead at what he maliciously saw as their counterpart â opportunistic traders who were Jewish. McFeely, p 124. Although it was portrayed as being outside the normal inclinations and character of Grant, it has been suggested by Bertram Korn that the order was part of a consistent pattern. "This was not the first discriminatory order [Grant] had signed [...] he was firmly convinced of the Jews' guilt and was eager to use any means of ridding himself of them." Bertram Korn, American Jewry and the Civil War, p. 143). Korn cites Grant's order of November 9 and 10, 1862, "Refuse all permits to come south of Jackson for the present. The Israelites especially should be kept out," and "no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the railroad southward from any point. They may go north and be encouraged in it; but they are such an intolerable nuisance that the department must be purged of them." The issue of anti-Semitism was raised during the 1868 presidential campaign, and Grant consulted with several Jewish community leaders, all of whom said they were convinced that Order 11 was an anomaly, and he was not an anti-Semite. He maintained good relations with the community throughout his administration, on both political and social levels. Grant's second inauguration as President by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase on March 4, 1873. Grant appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: * Edwin M. Stanton 1869 (sworn in but died before taking seat) * William Strong 1870 * Joseph P. Bradley 1870 * Ward Hunt 1873 * Morrison Remick Waite (Chief Justice) 1874 * Colorado August 1, 1876 * Department of Justice (1870) * Office of the Solicitor General (1870) * "Advisory Board on Civil Service" (1871); after it expired in 1873, it became the role model for the "Civil Service Commission" instituted in 1883 by President Chester A. Arthur, a Grant faithful. (Today it is known as the Office of Personnel Management.) * Office of the Surgeon General (1871) * Army Weather Bureau (currently known as the National Weather Service) (1870) Ulysses S. Grant in his postbellum. After the end of his second term in the White House, Grant spent over two years traveling the world with his wife. He visited Ireland, Scotland, and England; the crowds were huge. The Grants dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and with Prince Bismarck in Germany. They also visited Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Siam, and Burma. In Japan, they were cordially received by Emperor Meiji and Empress ShÅken at the Imperial Palace. Today in the Shibakoen section of Tokyo, a tree still stands that Grant planted during his stay. In 1879, the Meiji government of Japan announced the annexation of the Ryukyu Islands. China objected, and Grant was asked to arbitrate the matter. He decided that Japan's claim to the islands was stronger and ruled in Japan's favor. That same year, Grant was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin Medical School. In 1879, the "Stalwart" faction of the Republican Party led by Senator Roscoe Conkling sought to nominate Grant for a third term as president. He counted on strong support from the business men, the old soldiers, and the Methodist church. Publicly Grant said nothing, but privately he wanted the job and encouraged his men. Hesseltine (2001) pp 432-39 His popularity was fading however, and while he received more than 300 votes in each of the 36 ballots of the 1880 convention, the nomination went to James A. Garfield. Grant campaigned for Garfield, who won by a very narrow margin. Grant supported his Stalwart ally Conkling against Garfield in the terrific battle over patronage in spring 1881 that culminated in Garfield's assassination. Grant writing his memoirs. In 1881, Grant purchased a house in New York City and placed almost all of his financial assets into an investment banking partnership with Ferdinand Ward, as suggested by Grant's son Buck (Ulysses, Jr.), who was having success on Wall Street. Ward swindled Grant (and other investors who had been encouraged by Grant) in 1884, bankrupted the company, Grant & Ward, and fled. Grant appears on the U.S. $50 bill. Grant learned at the same time that he was suffering from throat cancer. Grant and his family were left destitute; at the time retired U.S. Presidents were not given pensions, and Grant had forfeited his military pension when he assumed the office of President. It was not until 1958 that Congress, feeling it inappropriate that a former president or his wife might be poverty-stricken, passed a bill granting a pension to such individuals, a practice that continues to this day. Grant first wrote several articles on his Civil War campaigns for The Century Magazine, which were warmly received. Mark Twain offered Grant a generous contract for the publication of his memoirs, including 75% of the book's sales as royalties. Terminally ill, Grant finished the book just a few days before his death. The Memoirs sold over 300,000 copies, earning the Grant family over $450,000. Twain promoted the book as "the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar," and Grant's memoirs are also regarded by such writers as Matthew Arnold and Gertrude Stein as among the finest ever written. Ulysses S. Grant died at 8:06 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, 1885, at the age of 63 in Mount McGregor, Saratoga County, New York. His last word was a request, "Water." His body lies in New York City's Riverside Park, beside that of his wife, in Grant's Tomb, the largest mausoleum in North America. Statue of Grant astride his favorite mount, "Cincinnati", at Vicksburg, Mississippi In World War II, the United States produced a tank known as the Grant tank (an upgrade of the American M3 "Lee"). Grant's portrait appears on the U.S. fifty-dollar bill. The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., honors Grant. Grant Park in Chicago honors Grant. Grant Avenue, a nine block long, north-south street in the Bronx, New York, is named after Grant. It is parallel and adjacent to Sherman Avenue. Dupont Street, the main thoroughfare in San Francisco's Chinatown, was renamed Grant Avenue in his honor. The famous dragon gate at the entrance to the district is at the corner of Grant and Bush Street. Grant, depicted riding a horse, is honored by a statue at the intersection of Bedford Avenue, Rogers Avenue and Dean Street in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y. There is a U.S. Grant Bridge over the Ohio River at Portsmouth, Ohio. There is a U.S. Grant Memorial Highway (US 52) in Cincinnati, Ohio. Counties in twelve U.S. states are named after Grant: Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Grant Parish, Louisiana. Note: Grant Counties in Indiana, Kentucky and Wisconsin were named after other Grants, not Ulysses Grant. * Grant was a descendant of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren * Grant is also a descendant from John Lothropp, who is also an ancestor to Benjamin Franklin Grant Memorial Statue in Grant Park, Galena, Illinois. Julia Grant remarked that it was the best likeness of her husband, as his hands were thrust into his pockets. * As a young man, Grant's father, Jesse, taught him the trade of tanning. Jesse Grant had been taught how to tan by Owen Brown, the father of known abolitionist John Brown. Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". * When Grant was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1864, he agreed to sit down for photographer Mathew Brady. As the sun had begun to set by the time Grant arrived, Brady instructed one of his assistants to open the shades of the skylight in Brady's studio. The assistant slipped and shattered the skylight, causing two-inch-thick shards of glass to rain down around Grant, who had taken his seat as requested. He was unharmed, and showed "the most remarkable display of nerve" that Brady had ever seen. O'Brien, Cormac (2007). "Secret Lives of the Civil War: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the War Between the States". * Grant was known to visit the Willard Hotel to escape the stress of the White House. A long-standing story is that he referred to the people who approached him in the lobby as "those darn lobbyists," implying that he was the source for the term lobbyist. This story is unlikely to be true since there are examples of the term being used in U.S. and British magazines and newspapers before Grant's presidency. World Wide Words. * While in California, Grant tried selling ice to San Francisco, but failed when it melted in the warm weather aboard the ship. Smith, Grant, p. 81. . This anecdote is disputed by Edward G. Longacre in "General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man" (2006) in which he says -- in a referenced statement -- that the ice venture had failed because of "an unexpected glut of [ice] imports from Alaska." * In 1883, Grant was elected the eighth president of the National Rifle Association. * Grant suffered from tone-deafness. He disliked music intensely and would go out of his way to avoid having to hear any other than patriotic songs. In Jeffrey Shaara's The Last Full Measure - which is set after the Battle of Gettysburg, the subject of his father Michael's 1974 bestseller The Killer Angels - Grant is portrayed as saying, "I know only two songs. One is 'Yankee Doodle'. The other isn't." Whether he actually said this is unclear. Shaara, Jeffrey M. (1998). "The Last Full Measure". * Grant's wife, First Lady Julia Grant, was cross-eyed. When it was suggested to her that she have an operation to have it corrected, President Grant replied that he liked her that way. Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". * Grant's favorite brand of bourbon whiskey was Old Crow. * Grant enjoyed eating cucumbers soaked in vinegar for breakfast. * An apocryphal story about Grant's drinking has the general's critics going to President Lincoln, charging the military man with being a drunk. Lincoln is supposed to have replied, "I wish some of you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals." :* A similar story was told of General James Wolfe during the French and Indian Wars. When King George II was told that Wolfe was a "mad dog", he is said to have replied, "Then I'd wish he'd bite the other generals." * The question "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" was used by Groucho Marx in his radio and TV quiz show, the correct answer to which resulted in a consolation prize to contestants who had won no money. Some contestants thought it was a trick question. Grant's grandson, Ulysses S. Grant IV (a professor of geology at the University of California, Los Angeles) appeared on the program on March 12, 1953. ** This was also featured on an episode of the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, in which in a dream sequence Dorothy competes on Jeopardy against a scholar and her roommate Rose. When asked the question, Dorothy replies Ulysses and is wrong, while Rose replies Cary Grant and is correct. * In the film Wild Wild West, President Grant is a minor character that must deal with the Loveless Alliance. Once while in office he was arrested for speeding his horse and buggy and fined $20 and had to walk back to the white house. (www.pocanticohills.org/presidents/know.htm ) * A dispute between Grant and his commanding officer Henry Wager Halleck is the subject of a pivotal question in the film Quiz Show. * United States presidential election, 1868 * United States presidential election, 1872 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * Western Theater of the American Civil War * Ulysses S. Grant Memorial * U.S. Grant Home, Galena, Illinois Catton, Bruce, Grant Takes Command, Little, Brown and Company, 1968, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 69-12632. Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship, Indiana University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-253-13400-5. Garland, Hamlin, Ulysses S. Grant: His Life and Character, Macmillan Company, 1898. Grant, Ulysses S., Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885 86, ISBN 0-914427-67-9. Hesseltine, William B., Ulysses S. Grant: Politician 1935. * Lewis, Lloyd, Captain Sam Grant, Little, Brown, and Co., 1950, ISBN 0-316-52348-8. * McFeely, William S., Grant: A Biography, W. W. Norton & Co, 1981, ISBN 0-393-01372-3. * McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States), Oxford University Press, 1988, ISBN 0-19-503863-0. * Simpson, Brooks D., Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822-1865, Houghton Mifflin, 2000, ISBN 0-395-65994-9. Smith, Jean Edward, Grant, Simon and Shuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84927-5. Woodworth, Steven E., Nothing but Victory: The Army of the Tennessee, 1861 1865, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, ISBN 0-375-41218-2. * Official Ulysses Simpson Grant biography from the US Army Center for Military History * Bunting III, Josiah. Ulysses S. Grant (2004) ISBN 0-8050-6949-6 * William Dunning, Reconstruction Political and Economic 1865-1877 (1905), vol 22 * Hesseltine, William B. Ulysses S. Grant, Politician (2001) ISBN 1-931313-85-7 online edition * Mantell, Martin E., Johnson, Grant, and the Politics of Reconstruction (1973) online edition * Nevins, Allan, Hamilton Fish: The Inner History of the Grant Administration (1936) online edition * Rhodes, James Ford., History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the McKinley-Bryan Campaign of 1896. Volume: 6 and 7 (1920) vol 6 * Scaturro, Frank J., President Grant Reconsidered (1998). * Schouler, James., History of the United States of America: Under the Constitution vol. 7. 1865-1877. The Reconstruction Period (1917) online edition * Simpson, Brooks D., Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868 (1991). * Simpson, Brooks D., The Reconstruction Presidents (1998) * Skidmore, Max J. "The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: a Reconsideration." White House Studies (2005) online * Badeau, Adam. Military History of Ulysses S. Grant, from April, 1861, to April, 1865. 3 vols. 1882. Ballard, Michael B., Vicksburg, The Campaign that Opened the Mississippi, University of North Carolina Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8078-2893-9. Bearss, Edwin C., The Vicksburg Campaign, 3 volumes, Morningside Press, 1991, ISBN 0-89029-308-2. * Carter, Samuel III, The Final Fortress: The Campaign for Vicksburg, 1862-1863 (1980) * Catton, Bruce, Grant Moves South, 1960, ISBN 0-316-13207-1; Grant Takes Command, 1968, ISBN 0-316-13210-1; U. S. Grant and the American Military Tradition (1954) * Cavanaugh, Michael A., and William Marvel, The Petersburg Campaign: The Battle of the Crater: "The Horrid Pit," June 25-August 6, 1864 (1989) * Conger, A. L. The Rise of U.S. Grant (1931) * Davis, William C. Death in the Trenches: Grant at Petersburg (1986). * Fuller, Maj. Gen. J. F. C., Grant and Lee, A Study in Personality and Generalship, Indiana University Press, 1957, ISBN 0-253-13400-5. * Gott, Kendall D., Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862, Stackpole Books, 2003, ISBN 0-8117-0049-6. * Korda, Michael. Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero (2004) 161 pp * McWhiney, Grady, Battle in the Wilderness: Grant Meets Lee (1995) * McDonough, James Lee, Shiloh: In Hell before Night (1977). * McDonough, James Lee, Chattanooga: A Death Grip on the Confederacy (1984). * Maney, R. Wayne, Marching to Cold Harbor. Victory and Failure, 1864 (1994). * Matter, William D., If It Takes All Summer: The Battle of Spotsylvania (1988) * Miers, Earl Schenck., The Web of Victory: Grant at Vicksburg. 1955. * Mosier, John., "Grant", Palgrave MacMillan, 2006 ISBN 1-4039-7136-6. * Rhea, Gordon C., The Battle of the Wilderness May 5 6, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8071-1873-7. * Rhea, Gordon C., The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7 12, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8071-2136-3. * Rhea, Gordon C., To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13 25, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8071-2535-0. * Rhea, Gordon C., Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26 June 3, 1864, Louisiana State University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8071-2803-1. * Miller, J. Michael, The North Anna Campaign: "Even to Hell Itself," May 21-26, 1864 (1989). * Simpson, Brooks D, "Continuous Hammering and Mere Attrition: Lost Cause Critics and the Military Reputation of Ulysses S. Grant," in Cad Gallagher and Alan T. Nolan, eds., The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History, (2000) * Steere, Edward, The Wilderness Campaign (1960) * Sword, Wiley, Shiloh: Bloody April. 1974. * Williams, T. Harry, McClellan, Sherman and Grant. 1962. * Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs (1885) online edition * Grant, Ulysses S. Memoirs and Selected Letters (Mary Drake McFeely & William S. McFeely, eds.) ( The Library of America, 1990) ISBN 978-0-94045058-5 * Wilson, Edmund. Patriotic Gore: Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War (1962) pp 131-73, on the Memoirs * Johnson, R. U., and Buel, C. C., eds., Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 vols. New York, 1887-88; essays by leading generals of both sides; online edition * Porter, Horace, Campaigning with Grant (1897, reprinted 2000) * Sherman, William Tecumseh, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. 2 vols. 1875. * Simon, John Y., ed., The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Southern Illinois University Press (1967- ) multivolume complete edition of letters to and from Grant. As of 2006, vol 1-28 covers through September 1878. * Extensive essay on Ulysses S. Grant and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * White House Biography * Presidential Biography by Appleton's and Stanley L. Klos Emerson, Col. John W., Grant's Life in the West and His Mississippi Valley Campaigns, U.S. Grant Association website. Ulysses S. Grant at Find A Grave * Many rare General Grant photographs * Complete Bibliography * Military biography of Ulysses S. Grant from the Cullum biographies * * The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams. (1918). "President Grant (1869)", 260-65. * Collection of US Grant Letters * Ulysses S. Grant: America's Second Three-Star General article by Ethan Rafuse * Historic White Haven (Grant-Dent home) * \|- \|- Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1869 March 4 1877 Andrew Johnson Rutherford B. Hayes Point Pleasant, Ohio Wilton, New York Julia Grant Jesse Grant Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. Nellie Grant Frederick Grant General-in-Chief List of United States Presidential religious affiliations Republican Party (United States) Schuyler Colfax Henry Wilson #Military career April 27 1822 July 23 1885 United States President of the United States Union (American Civil War) American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg Confederate Robert E. Lee Appomattox Court House J.F.C. 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Hayes United States soldier politician President of the United States April 27 1822 Point Pleasant, Ohio Clermont County, Ohio July 23 1885 Wilton, New York Saratoga County, New York
Uruguay	Is Uruguay located in the northwesten part of Africa?	No.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay located in the northwesten part of Africa?	no	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay's capital Montevideo?	Yes.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay's capital Montevideo?	yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Does Uruguay have cold summers?	No.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Does Uruguay have cold summers?	no	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Who founded Montevideo?	The Spanish.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Who founded Montevideo?	the Spanish	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Where is Uruguay's oldest church?	San Carlos, Maldonado.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Where is Uruguay's oldest church?	San Carlos, Maldonado	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Who heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo?	European immigrants.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Who heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo?	European immigrants	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What are poor neighborhoods called informally?	Cantegriles.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What are poor neighborhoods called informally?	Cantegriles	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is uruguay's landscape mountainous?	No.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is uruguay's landscape mountainous?	not really?	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What religion do most Uruguayans profess?	None.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What religion do most Uruguayans profess?	Roman Catholic	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay located in South America?	Yes. It's located in the southeastern part	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay located in South America?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Can citizens propose changes to the Constitution?	Yes. People are allowed to challenge laws.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Can citizens propose changes to the Constitution?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Did Uruguay host the first ever World Cup?	Yes, in 1930.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Did Uruguay host the first ever World Cup?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Who founded Montevideo?	By the Spanish, in the early 18th century	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Who founded Montevideo?	Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	How many square kilometres of continental land is Uruguay?	176.215 km©÷	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	How many square kilometres of continental land is Uruguay?	176,214 square kilometres	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	How much of the population is of white European descent?	88%	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	How much of the population is of white European descent?	Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Why was the capital of Uruguay founded?	For a military stronghold.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Why was the capital of Uruguay founded?	Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	How many times has Uruguay won the World Cup?	Twice.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	How many times has Uruguay won the World Cup?	On two or more occasions.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	How much is the average income of an African woman compared to a European man?	African women earns 0.65 * 0.718 = 46.67% of a European man earns in average	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Does Uruguay recognize same-sex civil unions?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Does Uruguay recognize same-sex civil unions?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Does Uruguay border French Guiana?	No	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Does Uruguay border French Guiana?	No	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay's warmest month June?	No	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay's warmest month June?	No	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What does a citizen use to propose changes to the Constitution?	Referendum	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What does a citizen use to propose changes to the Constitution?	Plebiscite	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Where is Uruguay's oldest church?	San Carlos, Maldonado	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Where is Uruguay's oldest church?	San Carlos, Maldonado	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What religions are found in Uruguay?	Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and nonprofessing.	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What religions are found in Uruguay?	Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What has Uruguay done to be competitive in agriculture?	Labeling as "Natural" or "Ecological"	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What has Uruguay done to be competitive in agriculture?	Use low inputs of labour, technology, and capital, which results in lower yields but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological"	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What are the names of Uruguay's political parties?	Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What are the names of Uruguay's political parties?	Partido Blanco and Partido Colorado	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay the smallest soverign nation in South America?	No	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay the smallest soverign nation in South America?	No	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold?	Montevideo	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What has many possible meanings?	(What?)	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	How do india and latin america relate?	Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	What did Uruguay win in 1828?	Its independence	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay very common?	No?	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is The climate in Uruguay temperate?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is the main sport in Uruguay football ?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay 's oldest church in San Carlos , Maldonado ?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is Uruguay a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products ?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is it widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America ?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is it the second smallest independent country in south america , larger only than suriname and the french overseas department of french guiana?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Uruguay	Is it a constitutional democracy , where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government?	Yes	data/set2/a9	Uruguay Uruguay (official full name in ; pron. , Eastern Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of which 1.7 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. It is bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina across the bank of both the Uruguay River to the west and the estuary of RÃo de la Plata to the southwest, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. It is the second smallest independent country in South America, larger only than Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1828 following a three-way struggle between Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, where the president fulfills the roles of both head of state and head of government The economy is largely based in agriculture (making up 10% of the GDP and the most substantial export) and the state-sector, and relies heavily on world trade. Consequently, it is badly affected by any downturn in global prices. However, the economy is on the whole more stable than surrounding states, and it maintains a solid reputation with investors. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is the second least corrupt country in Latin America (after Chile), Transparency.org. with its political and labor conditions being among the freest on the continent. In November 2007 it became the first Latin American country and the second in the American Continent to recognize same-sex civil unions at the national level. Uruguay Passes Civil-Union Law at San Francisco Bay Times (December 6, 2007) 88% of the population are of European descent. Just under two-thirds of the population are declared Roman Catholics. However, the majority of Uruguayans are only nominally religious. CIA World Factbook -- Uruguay The name "Uruguay" comes from GuaranÃ. It has many possible meanings. Some of the proposed meanings are: * "River of the uru" or "River of the country of the uru": a version attributed to Felix de Azara, which suggests that the name of the country comes from a small bird, called the urÃº, native to the banks of the Uruguay river (from uru, idem, gua, "place of", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of colorful or 'painted' chinchillas (birds)": poetic interpretation attributed to Juan Zorrilla de San MartÃn. * "Rivers that have dead people of snails": an interpretation attributed to a collaborator of FÃ©lix de Azara (from arugua, "snail", and y, "water") EtimologÃa del Uruguay * "River of those who bring food": an anonymous version which has been popularized since the discovery of an old document written by Jesuit Lucas Marton. The inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were various tribes of hunter gatherer native Americans, the most well known being the CharrÃºa Indians, a small tribe driven south by the GuaranÃ Indians of Paraguay. The population is estimated at no more than 5000 to 10000. /ref> The Plaza Independencia ("Independence Square"), in Montevideo, hosts the tomb of JosÃ© Artigas, late leader of the Provincia Oriental and the Liga Federal. In front of the square, the Palacio Salvo can be seen. Europeans arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in the year 1536, but the absence of gold and silver limited settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. /ref> The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Villa Soriano on the south-western coast of the RÃo Negro. In 1680 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. /ref> Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers. Another segment of colonial Uruguay's population consisted of people of African descent. Colonial Uruguay's African community grew in number as its members escaped harsh treatment in Buenos Aires. Many relocated to Montevideo, which had a larger black community, seemed lest hostile politically than Buenos Aires, and had a more favorable climate with lower humidity. As a province of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, colonial Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental, or Eastern Strip, referring to its location east of the Rio Uruguay. The inhabitants called themselves "Easterners" or "Orientales", a term they still commonly use to refer to themselves. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold; its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial center competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing conflicts between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and colonial forces for dominance in the Argentina-Brazil-Uruguay region. /ref> In 1806 and 1807, the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of their war with Spain. As a result, at the beginning of 1807, Montevideo was occupied by a 10,000-strong British force who held it until the middle of the year when they left to attack Buenos Aires. The Uruguayans' road to independence was much longer than those of other countries in the Americas. Early efforts at attaining independence focused on overthrow of Spanish rule, a process begun by Jose Gervasio Artigas in 1811 when he led his forces to victory against the Spanish in the battle of Las Piedras on May 18, 1811. In 1816, Portuguese troops invaded present-day Uruguay, which led to its eventual annexation by Brazil in 1821 under the provincial name, Provincia Cisplatina. On April 19, 1825, thirty-three Uruguayan exiles led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja returned from Buenos Aires to lead an insurrection in Uruguay with the help of Argentine troops. They were known as the "Treinta y Tres Orientales". Their actions inspired representatives from Uruguay to meet in La Florida, a town in the recently liberated area, where they declared independence from Portugal (and therefore Brazil) on August 25, 1825. Uruguayan independence was not recognized by its neighbors until 1828, when Britain, in search of new commercial markets, brokered peace between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. /ref> RÃo de la Plata in 1603. Uruguay's politics takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Uruguay is both head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the General Assembly of Uruguay. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. For most of Uruguay's history, the Partido Colorado and Partido Blanco have alternated in power. The Partido Blanco has its roots in the countryside and the original settlers of Spanish origin and the cattle ranchers. The Partido Colorado has its roots in the port city of Montevideo, the new immigrants of Italian origin and the backing of foreign interests. The Partido Colorado built a welfare state financed by taxing the cattle revenue and giving state pickles and free services to the new urban immigrants which became dependent of the state. The elections of 2004, however, brought the Frente Amplio, a coalition of socialists, former Tupamaros, former communists and mainly social democrats among others to power with majorities in both houses of parliament and the election of President TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez by an absolute majority. The Frente Amplio has displaced the Partido Colorado from its traditional urban welfare state constituency and is enjoying a boom in export commodity prices. The Reporters Without Borders worldwide press freedom index has ranked Uruguay as* 57th of 168 reported countries in 2006. Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006 According to Freedom House, an American organization that tracks global trends in political freedom, Uruguay ranked twenty-seventh in its "Freedom in the World" index. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Uruguay scores a 7.96 on the Democracy Index, located in the last position among the 28 countries considered to be Full Democracies in the world. The report looks at 60 indicators across five categories: Free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation and political culture. The Economist, The world in 2007, A Pause in democracy's march Page 93 Uruguay ranks 28th in the World CPI (Corruption Perception Index) composed by Transparency International. The Uruguayan constitution allows citizens to challenge laws approved by Parliament by use of a Referendum, or to propose changes to the Constitution by the use of a Plebiscite. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm an amnesty to members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973-1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies (See Economy: Public Sector), to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources. At 176,214 square kilometres (68,036 square miles) of continental land and 142,199 square kilometres (54,903 sq mi) of jurisdictional waters and small river islands, Instituto Nacional Estadistica Uruguay is the second smallest sovereign nation in South America (after Suriname) and the third smallest territory (French Guiana is the smallest). The landscape features mostly rolling plains and low hill ranges (cuchillas) with a fertile coastal lowland. A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the RÃo de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna MerÃn and the RÃo Negro. The major internal river is the RÃo Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast. The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral at 513.66 meters (1,685 ft 3 in) in the 'Sierra de CarapÃ©' mountain range. To the southwest is the RÃo de la Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River, which forms the western border, and the ParanÃ¡ River, that does not run through Uruguay itself. Uruguay consists of nineteen departments ( , singular ). The first departments were formed in 1816 and the newest date from 1885 which is Flores. The departments are governed by an intendente municipal who is elected for five years. The members of the Departmental Assembly ( ) form the legislative level of the department. Map of Uruguay Uruguay shares borders with two countries, with Argentina: :Uruguay River to the west and RÃo de la Plata in the south. and with Brazil: :Chuy Stream 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), straight line (Chuy) 8.7 kilometres (5.4 mi), San Miguel Stream 13 km (8.1 mi), MerÃn Lagoon, 280.1 km (174 mi) YaguarÃ³n River, 142.4 km (88.5 mi), YaguarÃ³n 'Chico' River 18.5 km (11.5 mi), 'Arrollo de la Mina' Stream 20.4 km (12.7 mi), AceguÃ¡ straight line 37.2 km (23.1 mi), San Luis Stream 31.3 km (19.4 mi), North Branch of the San Luis Stream 3.6 km (2.2 mi), Straight line 8 km (5 mi), 'CaÃ±ada del Cementerio' 4 km (2.5 mi), Straight lines 0.6 km (0.4 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' SE 168.5 km (104.7 mi), Rivera-Livramento 4.8 km (3 mi), 'Cuchilla de Santa Ana' 20.8 km (12.9 mi), 'Cuchilla Negra' 4189.3 km (2603.1 mi), 'Arrollo de la Invernada' Stream 37.8 km (23.5 mi), Cuareim River 313.4 km (194.7 mi) Servicio Geografico Militar The climate in Uruguay is temperate: it has warm summers and cold winters. The predominantly gently undulating landscape is also somewhat vulnerable to rapid changes from weather fronts. It receives the periodic influence of the polar air in winter, and tropical air from Brazil in summer. Without mountains in zone that act as a barrier, the air masses freely move by the territory, causing abrupt weather changes. The coolest month is June, while the warmest is January. The rainfall is equally distributed throughout the year, but tends to be a bit more frequent in the autumn months. There can be frequent thunderstorms in the summer. Although snow is not very common, it snowed in 1913, 1918, 1963, 1989, 1992, and 2007. Playa Brava in Punta del Este, Uruguay Since 1984 Uruguay has the Antarctic base "General Artigas" on King George Island in Antarctica, part of the South Shetland Islands archipelago, at , some 100 km (62 mi) from the Antarctic peninsula itself. Montevideo, Uruguay's capital. Uruguay has a middle income economy, mainly dominated by the State services sector, an export-oriented agricultural sector and an industrial sector. Uruguay relies heavily on trade, particularly in agricultural exports, leaving the country particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. After averaging growth of 5% annually in 1996-1998, in 1999-2001 the economy suffered from lower demand in Argentina and Brazil, which together account for nearly half of Uruguay's exports. Despite the severity of the trade shocks, Uruguay's financial indicators remained stabler than those of its neighbours, a reflection of its solid reputation among investors and its investment-grade sovereign bond rating â one of only two in South America. About.com: Go South America, based on information from the CIA World Factbook. In recent years Uruguay has shifted some of its energy into developing the commercial use of IT technologies and has become the first exporter of software in Latin America. Diego Stewart, Building out: Uruguay exports architectural services to India and Latin America," in Latin Trade, May 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2007. While some parts of the economy appeared to be resilient, the downturn had severe impact on the local population. Unemployment levels rose to more than 20%, real wages fell, the peso devalued. These worsening economic conditions played a part in turning public opinion against the mildly free market economic policies adopted by the previous administrations in the 1990s, leading to the popular rejection of proposals for privatization of the state petroleum company in 2003 and of the state water company in 2004. The newly elected Frente Amplio government, while pledging to continue payments on Uruguay's external debt, Michael Fox, Uruguay's Frente Amplio: From Revolution to Dilution, June 19, 2007. Retrieved August 11, 2007. has also promised to undertake a Emergency Plan (See section:Social Problems Poverty and inequality) to attack the widespread problems of poverty and unemployment. (See leaders, President Tabare Vazquez 'On taking office he announced a $100m emergency plan to help the poor ' Agriculture played such an important part in Uruguayan history and national identity until the middle of the twentieth century that the entire country was then sometimes likened to a single huge estancia (agricultural estate) centred around Montevideo, where the wealth generated in the hinterland was spent, at its casco or administrative head. A heartland of historic estancias: Estancia San Eugenio, CasupÃ¡, southern department of Florida. Today, agriculture contributes roughly 10% to the countryâs GDP and is still the main foreign exchange earner, putting Uruguay in line with other agricultural exporters like Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. Uruguay is a member of the Cairns Group of exporters of agricultural products. Uruguayâs agriculture has relatively low inputs of labour, technology and capital in comparison with other such countries, which results in comparatively lower yields per hectare but also opens the door for Uruguay to market its products as "natural" or "ecological." Campaigns like âUruguayan grass-fed beefâ and âUruguay Naturalâ aim to establish Uruguay as a premium brand in beef, wine and other food products. Recently, an industry has developed around estancia tourism which capitalizes on the traditional or folkloristic connotations associated with gaucho culture and the remaining resources of Uruguay's historic estancias. Approximately 88% of its population are of prevalently white European descent: Spaniards, followed closely by Italians, then French, Germans, Portuguese, British, Swiss, Russians, Poles, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Dutch, Belgians, Croatians, Greeks, Scandinavians, Irish, and Armenians. 0.8% are Mestizo, and the remaining are from Afro-Latin American ancestry. /ref> INE, (in Spanish) Many of the European immigrants arrived in Uruguay in the late 1800s and have heavily influenced the architecture and culture of Montevideo and other major cities. For this reason, Montevideo and life within the city are reminiscent of parts of Europe. For example Barcelona, Thessaloniki or Tel-Aviv are said to be similar to Montevideo in different aspects /ref> Some colonies such as Colonia Valdense -a Waldensian colony-, Colonia Suiza -also named Nueva Helvecia- a mainly Swiss colony with some German and Austrian settlers, were founded in the department of Colonia. There are also towns founded by early British settlers, like Conchillas and Barker. A Russian colony called San Javier was found in the department of RÃo Negro. Mennonite colonies can also be found in the department of RÃo Negro and in the department of Canelones. One of them, called El OmbÃº, is famous for its well-known Dulce de Leche "Claldy", and is located near the city of Young. Uruguay has a large urban middle class, and literacy rate of 96.79% (1996 est), /ref>. During the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 600,000 Uruguayans emigrated, mainly to Spain, Italy, Argentina and Brazil. Other Uruguayans went to various countries in Europe, to the USA and Australia. The birth rate is 16.73 births/1000 population. and Brazil (16.56 births/1,000 population). /ref> Uruguay's oldest church is in San Carlos, Maldonado. Church and state are officially separated since approximately 1916. Most Uruguayans adhere to the Roman Catholic faith (62%), with smaller Protestant (4%) and Jewish (3%), as well as a large nonprofessing group (31%). Although the majority of Uruguayans do not actively practice a religion, they are nominally church members in the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities. It is widely considered the most secular nation in Latin America. According to data published by the United Nations, the Gini index for Uruguay equals to 44.8 in 2003, where 100 stands for maximum inequality and 0 for even distribution of the wealth between the population. A recent report compiled and published by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica) of Uruguay used 2 indicators to estimate the number of people living in poverty in the country. Indigence line: income of the family is not enough for the basic food consumption. Poverty line: income of the family is not enough for food consumption, clothing, health and transport. The numbers obtained depends according with the methodology used, the inform uses 3 different methods. According to the one proposed by the Regional Workshop about poverty measurement in 1996, which produces the highest values of all, the results for the first quarter of 2006 are: Population below Indigence line: 3.01% Population below Poverty line: 18% The reports shows the indicators are improving as the country is recovering from the last 2002 crisis; in 2004, poverty indicators reached an all time high. /ref> A new ministry of Social Development was created by the Broad Front (Uruguay) (Frente Amplio) government led by Tabare Vazquez, and an Emergency plan which targets the less favoured 200.000 Uruguayans. The average income of a woman in 2002 in Uruguay was 71.8% of the income of men for the same activity. /ref> The average income of African heritage workers is 65% of that of those of European heritage. /ref> Montevideo, capital of the country. A view of pedestrian street in the Ciudad Vieja, former Spanish citadel Although rents in neighborhoods not in high demand are not very expensive in Uruguay, it is usually required to have another property as a warranty for the contract, or leave a deposit which many can not afford. This first condition makes renting a property especially difficult for the least favoured sectors of the population. According to the INE 23, 3% of the population lives in a place neither owned nor rented. Some of them are proper built houses, but others are precarious constructions built illegally in public or private empty land just outside the cities. Thus, whole new poor neighborhoods have emerged in the last decades. They are called Asentamientos or more colloquially Cantegriles in ironic allusion to the fashionable Neighborhood of Cantegril in Punta del Este. The phenomena is similar to the Favelas in Brazil, Villas Miseria in Argentina, Barrios in Venezuela, Arrabales in Spain, Poblaciones Callampa in Chile or Jacales in Mexico. The main sport in Uruguay is football. The Uruguay national football team is one of only five nations to win the FIFA World Cup on two or more occasions. In 1930, Uruguay hosted the first ever World Cup and went on to win the competition, defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Uruguay won the 1950 FIFA World Cup as well, famously defeating the favored hosts, Brazil, 2-1 in the final. Uruguay is by far the smallest country, population wise, to win a World Cup. Out of the World Cup winners, the nation with the second smallest population is Argentina (winners of the 1978 and 1986 editions) who currently have just over 40,000,000 people according to the latest estimate; the 2002 census has Uruguay's current population slightly under 3,400,000. The Uruguay national team has also won the Copa AmÃ©rica 14 different times, a record it shares with Argentina. Basketball, rugby union, and tennis are other popular sports in Uruguay. ;Political and economic rankings :GDP per capita - 60 th highest, at I$11,969 :Human Development Index - 43 rd high, at 0.851 :Income Equality - , at 44.9 (Gini Index) :Literacy Rate - 51 st , at 97.7% :Unemployment rate - 112 th , at 9.70% ;Health rankings :Fertility rate- 139 th most fertile, at 1.97 per woman ::Birth rate - 157 th most births, at 13.91 per 1000 people :::Infant mortality - 128 nd most deaths, at 1 per 1000 live births :Death rate - 84 th highest death rate, at 9.16 per 1000 people :Life Expectancy - 47 th highest, at 76.4 years ::Suicide Rate - 48 th highest suicide rate, at 16.6 for males and 4.2 for females per 100,000 people :HIV/AIDS rate - 108 th most cases, at 0.30% ;Other rankings :CO 2 emissions - 125 th highest emissions, at 1.65 tonnes per capita :Electricity Consumption - 88 th highest consumption of electricity, at 7,762,000,000 kWh :Broadband Internet access - no data :Global Peace Index - 24 th Related Wikipedia Articles National Anthem of Uruguay Spanish language Montevideo Montevideo Republic presidential system President of Uruguay TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Vice President of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa Independence Brazil 25 August 1825 Declaration of Independence 28 August 1828 2005 Uruguayan peso ISO 4217 .uy Pronunciation Uruguay River South America Montevideo metropolitan area Brazil Argentina Uruguay River estuary RÃo de la Plata Atlantic Ocean Suriname France overseas department French Guiana Spain Argentina Brazil constitutional democracy president head of state head of government economy agriculture GDP Transparency International Latin America Chile November 2007 Latin American American Continent European ethnic groups Roman Catholics GuaranÃ language urÃº CharrÃºa GuaranÃ Indians Paraguay Montevideo Provincia Oriental Liga Federal Villa Soriano RÃo Negro (Uruguay) Colonia del Sacramento Montevideo stronghold Buenos Aires presidential system representative democracy republic President of Uruguay head of state head of government Executive power Legislative power government General Assembly of Uruguay Judiciary Colorado Party (Uruguay) National Party (Uruguay) Frente Amplio Tupamaros Social democracy TabarÃ© VÃ¡zquez Reporters Without Borders Freedom House Freedom in the World Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index Corruption Perceptions Index Transparency International Uruguayan Referendum Plebiscite square kilometre South America Suriname French Guiana Lagoa Mirim RÃo Negro (Uruguay) lagoon Atlantic Ocean inch RÃo de la Plata Uruguay River ParanÃ¡ River Department (country subdivision) Artigas Department Artigas, Uruguay Canelones Department Canelones Cerro Largo Department Melo Colonia Department Colonia del Sacramento Durazno Department Durazno Flores Department Trinidad, Uruguay Florida Department Florida, Uruguay Lavalleja Department Minas, Uruguay Maldonado Department Maldonado, Uruguay Montevideo Department Montevideo PaysandÃº Department PaysandÃº RÃo Negro Department Fray Bentos Rivera Department Rivera Rocha Department Rocha Salto Department Salto, Uruguay San JosÃ© Department San JosÃ© de Mayo Soriano Department Mercedes, Uruguay TacuarembÃ³ Department TacuarembÃ³ Treinta y Tres Department Treinta y Tres JaguarÃ£o River Cuareim River climate King George Island Antarctica South Shetland Islands Montevideo Agriculture Argentina Brazil CIA World Factbook real wage Uruguayan peso free market privatization Frente Amplio Cairns Group Agritourism Hacienda Spaniards Italians French people German people Portuguese people Briton Swiss people Russian people Poles Bulgarian people Hungarian people Ukrainians Lithuanians Estonians Latvians Dutch people Belgian people Croatian people Greek people Scandinavia Irish people Armenian people Mestizo Afro-Latin American Montevideo Nueva Helvecia Swiss Great Britain Mennonite middle class literacy Spain Italy Argentina Brazil Europe United States Australia Brazil San Carlos Maldonado 1916 Roman Catholic Protestant Jew Gini index Broad Front (Uruguay) Tabare Vazquez Emergency plan Montevideo Punta del Este Brazil Argentina Venezuela Spain Chile Mexico Uruguay national football team FIFA World Cup 1930 1930 FIFA World Cup Argentina national football team 1950 FIFA World Cup Uruguay v Brazil (World Cup 1950) Brazil national football team 1978 FIFA World Cup 1986 FIFA World Cup 2002 Copa AmÃ©rica Basketball rugby union tennis List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita International dollar List of countries by Human Development Index List of countries by income equality Gini Index List of countries by literacy rate List of countries by unemployment rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate List of countries by birth rate List of countries by infant mortality rate (2005) List of countries by death rate List of countries by life expectancy List of countries by suicide rate List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita List of countries by electricity consumption List of countries by broadband users Global Peace Index
Woodrow_Wilson	Was Woodrow Wilson the thirtieth President of the United States?	no	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Was Woodrow Wilson the thirtieth President of the United States?	No	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Did Woodrow Wilson create the League of Nations?	yes	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Did Woodrow Wilson create the League of Nations?	Yes	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Did the U.S. join the League of Nations?	no	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Did the U.S. join the League of Nations?	No	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Where was the League of Nations created?	Paris	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Where was the League of Nations created?	Paris	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	When was Woodrow Wilson born?	December 28, 1856	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	When was Woodrow Wilson born?	December 28, 1856	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Who was President when Wilson finished Congressional Government?	Grover Cleveland	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Who was President when Wilson finished Congressional Government?	Grover Cleveland	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	What field did Woodrow Wilson leave law practice to study?	history and political science	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	What field did Woodrow Wilson leave law practice to study?	Government	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	What caused Wilson to ask Congress to declare war on the Central Powers?	German began unrestricted submarine warfare	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	What caused Wilson to ask Congress to declare war on the Central Powers?	World War I	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	What was more damaging than moving students into colleges?	His confrontation with Andrew Fleming West	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Was Wilson a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity?	yes	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Was Wilson a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity?	Totally.\t	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Was Wilson an automobile enthusiast?	yes	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Was Wilson an automobile enthusiast?	ouai	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Did Wilson's father own slaves?	yes	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Did Wilson's father own slaves?	Yeah	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Where is Wilson buried?	He was buried in Washington National Cathedral	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Where is Wilson buried?	Washington National Cathedral	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Where did Wilson attend law school?	Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Where did Wilson attend law school?	University of Virginia	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Where was Woodrow Wilson born?	Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Where was Woodrow Wilson born?	Staunton, Virginia	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Did Wilson support desegregation?	no	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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Woodrow_Wilson	Did Wilson support desegregation?	Not in the slightest.	data/set3/a8	Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856âFebruary 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading "intellectual" of the Progressive Era, he served as president of Princeton University then became the reform governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation including the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany. Subsequently he asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war Allied victory in 1918 possible. In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the Armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations went into operation anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, whereby the U.S. enters the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 as the third of four children to Reverend Dr. Joseph Wilson (1822â1903) and Janet Woodrow (1826â1888). His ancestry was Scots-Irish and Scottish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland, while his mother was born in London to Scottish parents. Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio where his grandfather had been an abolitionist newspaper publisher and his uncles were Republicans. But his parents moved South in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate army. Wilsonâs father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern churchâs General Assembly, was Stated Clerk from 1865-1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church. Wilson did not learn to read until he was about 12 years old. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia or A.D.D., but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta. Link Road to the White House pp. 3-4. During Reconstruction he lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870-1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary. Walworth ch 1 In 1873 he spent a year at Davidson College in North Carolina, then transferred to Princeton as a freshman, graduating in 1879. Beginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. He was active in the undergraduate discussion club, and organized a separate Liberal Debating Society. Link, Wilson I:5-6; Wilson Papers I: 130, 245, 314 In 1879, Wilson attended law school at University of Virginia for one year but he never graduated. His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina where he continued his studies. Wilson was also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Rome, Georgia. Wilsonâs mother was probably a hypochondriac and Wilson seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. However, he did suffer from hyper-tension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke at age 39. He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the Lake District in Britain. Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C. as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill. During the winter the Secret Service would paint some golf balls black so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn. for details on Wilson's health see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton 1981) In January 1882, Wilson decided to start his first law practice in Atlanta. One of Wilsonâs University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited Wilson to join his new law practice as partner. Wilson joined him there in May 1882. He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19,1882 he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed with flying colors and he began work on his thesis Congressional Government in the United States. Competition was fierce in the city with 143 other lawyers, so with few cases to keep him occupied, Wilson quickly grew disillusioned. Moreover, Wilson had studied law in order to eventually enter politics, but he discovered that he could not continue his study of government and simultaneously continue the reading of law necessary to stay proficient. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the new Johns Hopkins University to study for a Ph.D. in history and political science, which he completed in 1886. He is the only president to date to have earned a Ph.D. In July 1883, Wilson left his law practice to begin his academic studies. Mulder, John H. Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation. (Princeton, 1978) 71-72. . Wilson came of age in the decades after the American Civil War, when Congress was supreme "the gist of all policy is decided by the legislature" and corruption was rampant. Instead of focusing on individuals in explaining where American politics went wrong, Wilson focused on the American constitutional structure. Congressional Government, 180 Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament (though he first visited London in 1919), Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s, Wilson wrote: :"I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president, and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress?" The Politics of Woodrow Wilson, 41 48 Wilson started Congressional Government, his best known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but Wilson was impressed by Grover Cleveland, and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. Wilson himself claimed, "I am pointing out facts diagnosing, not prescribing remedies.". Congressional Government, 205 Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable for ill-doing. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked, :"...how is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government.... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does. The main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The 'literary theory' of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves... [the Framers] would be the first to admit that the only fruit of dividing power had been to make it irresponsible." Congressional Government, 186â7 The longest section of Congressional Government is on the United States House of Representatives, where Wilson pours out scorn for the committee system. Power, Wilson wrote, "is divided up, as it were, into forty-seven signatories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court baron and its chairman lord proprietor. These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself.". Congressional Government, 76 Wilson said that the committee system was fundamentally undemocratic, because committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, were responsible to no one except their constituents, even though they determined national policy. In addition to their undemocratic nature, Wilson also believed that the Committee System facilitated corruption. :"the voter, moreover, feels that his want of confidence in Congress is justified by what he hears of the power of corrupt lobbyists to turn legislation to their own uses. He hears of enormous subsidies begged and obtained... of appropriations made in the interest of dishonest contractors; he is not altogether unwarranted in the conclusion that these are evils inherent in the very nature of Congress; there can be no doubt that the power of the lobbyist consists in great part, if not altogether, in the facility afforded him by the Committee system. Congressional Government, 132 By the time Wilson finished Congressional Government, Grover Cleveland was President, and Wilson had his faith in the United States government restored. When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, however, Wilson refused to stand by the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government. David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900,"Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75. After experiencing the vigorous presidencies from William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson no longer entertained thoughts of parliamentary government at home. In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency, Wilson merely hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. "Eight words," Wilson wrote, "contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties." Frozen Republic, 145 Wilson served on the faculties of Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University (where he also coached the football team) and founded the Wesleyan University debate team (which to this date is named the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team) before joining the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in 1890. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women. Additionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes. Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service." (This has become a frequently alluded-to motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." "Beyond FitzRandolph Gates," Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 22, 1998. ) In this famous speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past". Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's residence during his term as president of the university. The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902. He had bold plans. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, he sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary raises. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history. He achieved little of that because he was not a strong fund raiser, but he did increase the faculty from 112 to 174 men, most of them personally selected as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education. To enhance the role of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men." In 1906-10, he attempted to curtail the influence of the elitist "social clubs" by moving the students into colleges. This was met with resistance from many alumni. Wilson felt that to compromise "would be to temporize with evil." Walworth 1:109 Even more damaging was his confrontation with Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally, former President Grover Cleveland, a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges; West wanted them separated. The trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's plans in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites (West) versus democracy (Wilson). Wilson, after considering resignation, decided to take up invitations to move into New Jersey state politics. Walworth v 1 ch 6, 7, 8 During the New Jersey election of 1910, the Democrats took control of the state house and Wilson was elected governor. The state senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, ignoring what party bosses told him he was to do. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission, and introduced worker's compensation. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X Wilson made himself known at the Democratic Convention in 1912, again denouncing the party bosses by declaring his opponent Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, as a party boss man. This allowed him to come away with the party's nomination for the President. Shenkman, Richard. p. 275. Presidential Ambition. New York, New York. Harper Collins Publishing, 1999. First Edition. 0-06-018373-X The Democratic National Committee met in Baltimore in 1912 to select Wilson as their candidate. He then chose the officers of the Democratic National Committee that would serve the campaign: Charles R. Crane (Taft's Ambassador to China), Vice-President of the Finance Committee; Rolla Wells, twice mayor of St. Louis (from 1901 to 1909), and later Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank at St. Louis, as Treasurer; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., President of the Finance Committee. His running mate was Gov. Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana. New York Times, Aug 7, 1912 In the election Wilson ran against two major candidates, incumbent President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt, who broke with Taft and the Republican Party and created the Progressive Party. The election was bitterly contested. Vice President James S. Sherman died on October 30, 1912, less than a week before the election, leaving Taft without a running mate. And with the Republican Party divided, Wilson captured the presidency handily on November 5. Wilson won with just 41.8% of the votes, but he won 435 electoral votes. Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters. Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914 of Bright's disease. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18. The Federal Reserve Act was the most important legislation of the Wilson era and one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States. Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) p 370 Wilson had to outmaneuver bankers and enemies of banks, North and South, Democrats and Republicans to secure passage of the Federal Reserve system in late 1913. [Link 1954 pp 43-53; Link 1956 pp 199-240] He took a plan that had been designed by conservative Republicans led by Nelson W. Aldrich and banker Paul M. Warburg and passed it. However, Wilson had to find a middle ground between those who supported the Aldrich Plan and those who opposed it, including the powerful agrarian wing of the party, led by William Jennings Bryan, which strenuously denounced banks and Wall Street. They wanted a government-owned central bank which could print paper money whenever Congress wanted. Wilsonâs plan still allowed the large banks to have important influence, but Wilson went beyond the Aldrich plan and created a central board made up of persons appointed by the President and approved by Congress who would outnumber the board members who were bankers. Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryanâs supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan fit their demands. Wilsonâs plan also decentralized the Federal Reserve system into 12 districts. This was designed to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryanâs allies in the South and West. This decentralization was a key factor in winning the support of Congressman Carter Glass (D-VA) although he objected to making paper currency a federal obligation. Glass was one of the leaders of the currency reformers in the U.S. House and without his support, any plan was doomed to fail. The final plan passed, in December 1913, despite opposition by bankers, who felt it gave too much control to Washington, and by some reformers, who felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Wilson named Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. Despite the reformers' hopes, the New York branch dominated the Fed and thus power remained in Wall Street. The new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Wilson's early views on international affairs and trade were stated in his Columbia University lectures of April 1907 where he said: "Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed must be battered downâ¦Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused". -- From Lecture at Columbia University (April 1907) (cited in William Appleman William's book, "The Tragedy of American Diplomacy", p. 72). In 1913, the Underwood tariff lowered the tariff. The revenue thereby lost was replaced by a new federal income tax (authorized by the 16th Amendment, which had been sponsored by the Republicans). The "Seaman's Act" of 1915 improved working conditions for merchant sailors. As response to the RMS Titanic disaster, it also required all ships to be retrofitted with lifeboats. A series of programs were targeted at farmers. The "Smith Lever" act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. The agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 "Federal Farm Loan Board" issued low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. Additional child labor bills would not be enacted until the 1930s. The railroad brotherhoods threatened in summer 1916 to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused he had Congress pass the "Adamson Act" in September 1916, which avoided the strike by imposing an 8-hour work day in the industry (at the same pay as before). It helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court. Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon Wilson broke with the "big-lawsuit" tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as "Trustbusters", finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped "unfair" trade practices. In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements forbidding retailers from handling other companiesâ products, and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than previous anti-trust laws, because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, he approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike. Wilson spent 1914 through the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilsonâs refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Wilson won the support of the U.S. peace element by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. He vigorously protested Germanyâs use of submarines as illegal, causing his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to resign in protest in 1915. While German submarines were sinking allied ships, Britain had declared a blockade of Germany, preventing neutral shipping carrying âcontrabandâ goods to Germany. Wilson protested this violation of neutral rights by London. However, his protests to the British were not viewed as being as forceful as those he directed towards Germany. This reflects the fact that while Britain was violating international law towards neutral shipping by mining international harbors and killing sailors (including Americans), their violations were not direct attacks on the shipping of Americans or other neutrals, while German submarine warfare directly targeted shipping that benefited their enemies, neutral or not, violating international law and resulting in visible American deaths. Renominated in 1916, Wilson's major campaign slogan was "He kept us out of the war" referring to his administration's avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated: :"The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907-1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey. Theodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to âNever murder a man who is committing suicide.â The final result was exceptionally close and the result was in doubt for several days. Because of Wilson's fear of becoming a lame duck president during the uncertainties of the war in Europe, he created a hypothetical plan where if Hughes were elected he would name Hughes secretary of state and then resign along with the vice-president to enable Hughes to become the president. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes 254. Wilson was able to win reelection in 1916 by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912. Wilson's second term focused almost exclusively on World War I, which for the US formally began on April 6, 1917, only a little over a month after the term began. After Wilson, the next U.S. President to win both of his terms with under 50% of the popular vote was fellow Democrat, Bill Clinton, in the 1992 and 1996 elections. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 and made a clumsy attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally (see Zimmermann Telegram), Wilson took America into World War I as a war to make "the world safe for democracy." He did not sign a formal alliance with Great Britain or France but operated as an "Associated" power. He raised a massive army through conscription and gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy. President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in official relations with Germany. February 3, 1917. Woodrow Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech, Western civilization itself could be destroyed. His statement announcing a "war to end all wars" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction. This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization, which later emerged as the League of Nations. To stop defeatism at home, Wilson pushed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 through Congress to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions. He welcomed socialists who supported the war, such as Walter Lippmann, but would not tolerate those who tried to impede the war or, worse, assassinate government officials, and pushed for deportation of foreign-born radicals. Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 His wartime policies were strongly pro-labor, though again, he had no love for radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. The American Federation of Labor and other 'moderate' unions saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. There was no rationing, so consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, white-collar workers suffered. Appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful, however. Bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s. Wilson set up the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship. President Woodrow Wilson articulated what became known as the Fourteen Points before Congress on January 8, 1918. The Points were the only war aims clearly expressed by any belligerent nation and thus became the basis for the Treaty of Versailles following World War I. The speech was highly idealistic, translating Wilson's progressive domestic policy of democracy, self-determination, open agreements, and free trade into the international realm. It also made several suggestions for specific disputes in Europe on the recommendation of Wilson's foreign policy advisor, Colonel Edward M. House, and his team of 150 advisors known as âThe Inquiry.â The points were: Abolition of secret treaties Freedom of the seas Free Trade Disarmament Adjustment of colonial claims (decolonization and national self-determination) Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories deoccupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea General association of the nations â a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations) The speech was controversial in America, and even more so with their Allies. France wanted high reparations from Germany as French agriculture, industry, and lives had been so demolished by the war, and Britain, as the great naval power, did not want freedom of the seas. Wilson compromised with Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and many other European leaders during the Paris Peace talks to ensure that the fourteenth point, the League of Nations, would be established. In the end, Wilson's own Congress did not accept the League and only four of the original Fourteen Points were implemented fully in Europe. Between 1914 and 1918, the United States intervened in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and Panama. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout his administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. American troops in Haiti forced the Haitian legislature to choose the candidate Wilson selected as Haitian president. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934. After Russia left the war in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution the Allies sent troops, presumably, to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies which had been previously shipped as aid to the Czarist government. Wilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czech and Slovak prisoners along the Trans-Siberian Railway, hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok, and safeguard supplies sent to the Tsarist forces. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces had several armed conflicts against Russian forces. Wilson withdrew the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained as late as 1922. As Davis and Trani conclude, "Wilson, Lansing, and Colby helped lay the foundations for the later Cold War and policy of containment. There was no military confrontation, armed standoff, or arms race. Yet, certain basics were there: suspicion, mutual misunderstandings, dislike, fear, ideological hostility, and diplomatic isolation....Each side was driven by ideology, by capitalism versus communism. Each country sought to reconstruct the world. When the world resisted, pressure could be used." Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani, The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations. (2002) p. 202. Wilson Returning From the Versailles Peace Conference 1919. After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, introducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike. Wilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months at Paris for the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office). He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles. For his peacemaking efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. However, Wilson failed to win Senate support for ratification and the United States never joined the League. Republicans under Henry Cabot Lodge controlled the Senate after the 1918 elections, but Wilson refused to give them a voice at Paris and refused to agree to Lodge's proposed changes. The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war. Historians generally have come to regard Wilson's failure to win U.S. entry into the League as perhaps the biggest mistake of his administration, and even as one of the largest failures of any American presidency. /ref> Wilson had ignored the problems of demobilization after the war, and the process was chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. In 1919, major strikes in steel and meatpacking broke out. Serious race riots hit Chicago and other cities. After a series of bombings by radical anarchist groups in New York and elsewhere, Wilson directed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to put a stop to the violence. Palmer then ordered the Palmer Raids, with the aim of collecting evidence on violent radical groups, to deport foreign-born agitators, and jail domestic ones. The successful Communist takeover of Russia in 1917 was also a background factor: many anarchists believed that the worker's revolution that had taken place there would quickly spread across Europe and the United States. Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press, 1991 Wilson broke with many of his closest political friends and allies in 1918-20, including Colonel House. Historians speculate that a series of minor strokes may have affected his personality. He desired a third term, but his Democratic party was in turmoil, with German voters outraged at their wartime harassment, and Irish voters angry at his failure to support Irish independence. Wilson, a staunch opponent of antisemitism , was sympathetic to the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France. As President, Wilson repeatedly stated in 1919 that U.S. policy was to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration but not officially support Zionism Walworth (1986) 473-83, esp. p. 481; Melvin I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust, (1995) ch. 6; Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt. (1991) ch 1-4. . After he left office Wilson wrote a letter of strong support to the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and objected to territorial concessions regarding its borders. In 1923 he wrote "The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation...I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Quoted in Palestine: The Original Sin , Meir Abelson Until Wilson announced his support for suffrage, a group of women calling themselves Silent Sentinels protested in front of the White House, holding banners such as "Mr. President What will you do for woman suffrage?" "Absolutely nothing." In January 1918, after years of lobbying and public demonstrations, Wilson finally announced his support of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The Amendment passed the House but failed in the Senate. Finally, on June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment. The cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the demanding public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support of the American people for ratification of the Covenant of the League. After one of his final speeches to attempt to promote the League of Nations in Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919 , he collapsed. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye. For at least a few months, he was confined to a wheelchair. Afterwards he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924. Wilson was purposely, with few exceptions, kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet or Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his presidential term. His first wife, Ellen, had died in 1914, so his second wife, Edith, served as his steward, selecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. This was, as of 2007, the most serious case of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as a key example why ratification of the 25th Amendment was seen as important. * Signed Revenue Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Reserve Act of 1913 * Signed Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 * Signed National Park Service Act of 1916 * Signed Jones Act of 1917 * Signed Espionage Act of 1917 * Signed Sedition Act of 1918 * Vetoed Volstead Act in 1919. It was passed over his veto. Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty 1913-1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. An important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House. Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet in the Cabinet Room Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: James Clark McReynolds 1914 Louis Dembitz Brandeis 1916 John Hessin Clarke 1916''' The official White House portrait of President Woodrow Wilson Wilson was a remarkably effective writer and thinker and his diplomatic policies had a profound influence on shaping the world. Diplomatic historian Walter Russell Mead has explained: :"Wilson's principles survived the eclipse of the Versailles system and that they still guide European politics today: self-determination, democratic government, collective security, international law, and a league of nations. Wilson may not have gotten everything he wanted at Versailles, and his treaty was never ratified by the Senate, but his vision and his diplomacy, for better or worse, set the tone for the twentieth century. France, Germany, Italy, and Britain may have sneered at Wilson, but every one of these powers today conducts its European policy along Wilsonian lines. What was once dismissed as visionary is now accepted as fundamental. This was no mean achievement, and no European statesman of the twentieth century has had as lasting, as benign, or as widespread an influence." Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence,'' (2001) at American foreign relations since 1914 have rested on Wilsonian idealism, argues historian David Kennedy, even if adjusted somewhat by the "realism" represented by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger. Kennedy argues that every president since Wilson has, "embraced the core precepts of Wilsonianism. Nixon himself hung Wilson's portrait in the White House Cabinet Room. Wilson's ideas continue to dominate American foreign policy in the twenty-first century. In the aftermath of 9/11 they have, if anything, taken on even greater vitality." David M. Kennedy, "What 'W' Owes to 'WW': President Bush May Not Even Know It, but He Can Trace His View of the World to Woodrow Wilson, Who Defined a Diplomatic Destiny for America That We Can't Escape." The Atlantic Monthly Vol: 295. Issue: 2. (March 2005) pp 36+. Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation. While president of Princeton University, Wilson discouraged blacks from even applying for admission. Arthur Link, Wilson:The Road to the White House (Princeton University Press, 1947) 502 Princeton would not admit its first black student until the 1940s. Wilson allowed many of his cabinet officials to establish official segregation in most federal government offices, in some departments for the first time since 1863. "His administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees." /ref> Wilson and his cabinet members fired many black Republican office holders, but also appointed a few black Democrats. W.E.B. DuBois, a leader of the NAACP, campaigned for Wilson and in 1918 was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations. (DuBois accepted but failed his Army physical and did not serve.) Ellis, Mark. "'Closing Ranks' and 'Seeking Honors': W. E. B. du Bois in World War I" Journal of American History 1992 79(1): 96-124. ISSN 0021-8723 Fulltext in Jstor When a delegation of blacks protested his discriminatory actions, Wilson told them that "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1914, he told the New York Times that "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it." Wilson was attacked by African-Americans for his actions, but he was also attacked by southern hard line racists, such as Georgian Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government. The segregation introduced into the federal workforce by the Wilson administration was kept in place by the succeeding presidents and was not finally rescinded until the Truman Administration. Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson noted that the Klan âbegan to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action.â Woodrow Wilson, A History of the American People (1931) V:59. . Wilson's words were repeatedly quoted in the film The Birth of a Nation, which has come under fire for racism. Thomas Dixon, author of the novel The Clansman upon which the film is based, was one of Wilson's graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in 1883-1884. Dixon arranged a special White House preview (this was the first time a film was shown in the White House) without telling Wilson what the film was about. There is debate about whether Wilson made the statement, "It is like writing history with lightning; my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", or whether it was invented by a film publicist. "Family Life", Essays on Woodrow Wilson and His Administration, American President: An Online Reference Resource, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia Others argue Wilson felt he had been tricked by Dixon and in public statements claimed he did not like the film; Wilson blocked its showing during the war. Link vol 2 pp 252-54. In a 1923 letter to Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, Wilson noted of the reborn Klan, â...no more obnoxious or harmful organization has ever shown itself in our affairs.âAlthough Wilson had a volatile relationship with American Blacks he was a friend of the Ethiopian Emperor Halie Selassie, a black African Monarch. A sword(a gift from Selassie) can still be seen in Wilson's Washington DC home. Link, Papers of Woodrow Wilson 68:298 Wilson had some harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books. However, after he entered politics in 1910, Wilson worked to integrate new immigrants into the Democratic party, into the army, and into American life. For example, the war bond campaigns were set up so that ethnic groups could boast how much money they gave. He demanded in return during the war that they repudiate any loyalty to the enemy. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war alongside their enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916. Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged and the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for the lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying, "There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, and I want to say--I cannot say too often--any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." American Rhetoric, "Final Address in Support of the League of Nations", Woodrow Wilson, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO. John B. Duff, "German-Americans and the Peace, 1918-1920" American Jewish Historical Quarterly 1970 59(4): 424-459. and Duff, "The Versailles Treaty and the Irish-Americans" Journal of American History 1968 55(3): 582-598. ISSN 0021-8723 In 1921, Wilson and his wife retired from the White House to a home in the Embassy Row section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued going for daily drives and attended Keith's vaudeville theater on Saturday nights. Wilson died in his S Street home on February 3, 1924. Because his plan for the League of Nations ultimately failed, he died feeling that he had lied to the American people and that his motives for joining the war had been in vain. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying on December 28, 1961. Mrs. Wilson left the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down. His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways. Richard F. Weingroff, President Woodrow Wilson -- Motorist Extraordinaire, Federal Highway Administration Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which resides in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia. * Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1916 he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton he was unable to make the varsity and so became the assistant manager of the team. He was the first President officially to throw out a first ball at a World Series. /ref> * His earliest memory, from age 3, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. * Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face. * Wilson (born in Virginia and raised in Georgia) was the first Southerner to be elected since 1848 (Zachary Taylor) and the first Southerner to take office since Andrew Johnson in 1865. * Wilson was also the first Democrat elected to the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1892. The next Democrat elected was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. * Wilson was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. * Wilson appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, which is now out of print but is still technically legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks. Ask Yahoo! November 10, 2005 The $100,000 bill Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate * Wilson is the only U.S. President buried in Washington, D.C. * Wilson remains the only American President to have earned a research doctoral degree. * His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University. * Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to become president of the American Historical Association. * Wilson was president of the American Political Science Association in 1910. * Wilson was the subject of the 1944 biographical film Wilson, directed by Henry King and starring Alexander Knox as Wilson. The picture was a commercial failure, despite receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning five. In Harry Turtledove's "Great War" trilogy of alternate history novels, Wilson is elected 9th President of the Confederate States of America on the Whig ticket in 1910. The Italian steam locomotive group FS 735, designed and built by ALCO and Montreal Locomotive Works for Ferrovie dello Stato while Italy was fighting World War I, was nicknamed Wilson after T.W. Wilson, then president of United States * The book Stardust and Shadows, 2000, Toronto: Dundern Press by Charles Foster details an alleged relationship between silent-era motion picture actress Florence La Badie and Wilson. When President Wilson came to Europe to settle the peace terms, Wilson visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, which made Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office. Wilson was the only presidential candidate to defeat two former presidents in a single election (Roosevelt and Taft). * United States presidential election, 1912 * United States presidential election, 1916 * History of the United States (1865â1918) * History of the United States (1918â1945) * USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) (An USN SSBN named after President Wilson.) * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library * The Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.) * The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars * World War I * Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas, Texas * Woodrow Wilson High School, Portland, Oregon * Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Clifton,, New Jersey * Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton, New Jersey * 'Wilson and the Federal Reserve' * Ambrosius, Lloyd E., âWoodrow Wilson and George W. Bush: Historical Comparisons of Ends and Means in Their Foreign Policies,â Diplomatic History, 30 (June 2006), 509â43. * Bailey; Thomas A. Wilson and the Peacemakers: Combining Woodrow Wilson and the Lost Peace and Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal (1947) * Bennett, David J., He Almost Changed the World: The Life and Times of Thomas Riley Marshall (2007) * Brands, H. W. ''Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921'â (2003) * Clements, Kendrick, A. Woodrow Wilson : World Statesman (1999) * Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992) * Clements, Kendrick A. "Woodrow Wilson and World War I," Presidential Studies Quarterly 34:1 (2004). pp 62+. * Davis, Donald E. and Eugene P. Trani; The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations (2002) online * Greene, Theodore P. Ed. Wilson at Versailles (1957) * Hofstadter, Richard. "Woodrow Wilson: The Conservative as Liberal" in The American Political Tradition (1948), ch. 10. * Knock, Thomas J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1995) * N. Gordon Levin, Jr., Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (1968) * Link, Arthur S. "Woodrow Wilson" in Henry F. Graff ed., The Presidents: A Reference History (2002) pp 365-388 * Link, Arthur Stanley. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era, 1910-1917 (1972) standard political history of the era * Link, Arthur Stanley. Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947), first volume of standard biography (to 1917); Wilson: The New Freedom (1956); Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality: 1914-1915 (1960); Wilson: Confusions and Crises: 1915-1916 (1964); Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace: 1916-1917 (1965), the last volume of standard biography * Link, Arthur S.; Wilson the Diplomatist: A Look at His Major Foreign Policies (1957) * Link, Arthur S.; Woodrow Wilson and a Revolutionary World, 1913-1921 (1982) * Livermore, Seward W. Woodrow Wilson and the War Congress, 1916-1918 (1966) * Malin, James C. The United States after the World War 1930. online * May, Ernest R. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959) * Saunders, Robert M. In Search of Woodrow Wilson: Beliefs and Behavior (1998) * Trani, Eugene P. âWoodrow Wilson and the Decision to Intervene in Russia: A Reconsideration.â Journal of Modern History (1976). 48:440â61. in JSTOR Walworth, Arthur. Woodrow Wilson 2 Vol. (1958), Pulitzer prize winning biography. Arthur Walworth; Wilson and His Peacemakers: American Diplomacy at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 W. W. Norton, 1986 * The Papers of Woodrow Wilson ed. By Arthur S. Link complete in 69 vol, at major academic libraries. Annotated edition of all of WW's letters, speeches and writings plus many letters written to him * Tumulty; Joseph P. Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him (1921) memoir by chief of staff * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Freedom (1913) 1912 campaign speeches * Wilson, Woodrow. Why We Are at War (1917) six war messages to Congress, Jan- April 1917 * Wilson, Woodrow. Selected Literary & Political Papers & Addresses of Woodrow Wilson (3 vol 1918 and later editions) * Wilson, Woodrow. Messages & Papers of Woodrow Wilson 2 vol (ISBN 1-135-19812-8) * Wilson, Woodrow. The New Democracy. Presidential Messages, Addresses, and Other Papers (1913-1917) 2 vol 1926 (ISBN 0-89875-775-4 * Wilson, Woodrow. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918). * NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes WW1 - US Conribution - an attempt to assess impact of US intervention in WW1 Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Extensive essay on Woodrow Wilson and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs * Ode to Woodrow Wilson * Official White House biography * Presidential Biography by Stanley L. Klos * Audio clips of Wilson's speeches * Woodrow Wilson â Biography * First Inaugural Address * Second Inaugural Address * President Wilson's War Address * Woodrow Wilson Biography * Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at His Birthplace Staunton, Virginia * Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson Augusta, GA * Woodrow Wilson House Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Washington,DC * Woodrow Wilson Links * * Library of Congress: "Today in History: December 28" * Library of Congress: "Today in History: June 9" * Woodrow Wilson Ancestral Home * John Wesley's Place in History at The DCL. * President Woodrow Wilson: Address To The American Indians * New Jersey Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, National Governors Association (listen online) Related Wikipedia Articles President of the United States March 4 1913 March 4 1921 William Howard Taft Warren G. 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