Editing Woodrow Wilson (section)

== Governor of New Jersey (1911–1913) ==
{{Further|1910 New Jersey gubernatorial election}}
[[File:Woodrow Wilson, New Jersey Governor - 1911.jpg|thumb|Wilson as New Jersey governor in 1911]]

By January 1910, Wilson had drawn the attention of [[James Smith Jr.]] and [[George Brinton McClellan Harvey]], two leaders of [[New Jersey Democratic State Committee|New Jersey's Democratic Party]], as a potential candidate in the upcoming [[1910 New Jersey gubernatorial election|gubernatorial election]].<ref>Heckscher (1991), p. 208.</ref> Having lost the last five gubernatorial elections, New Jersey Democratic leaders decided to throw their support behind Wilson, an untested and unconventional candidate. Party leaders believed that Wilson's academic reputation made him the ideal spokesman against [[trust (business)|trusts]] and corruption, but they also hoped his inexperience in governing would make him easy to influence.<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 181–182</ref> Wilson agreed to accept the nomination if "it came to me unsought, unanimously, and without pledges to anybody about anything."<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 192–193</ref>

At the state party convention, the bosses marshaled their forces and won the nomination for Wilson. On October 20, Wilson submitted his letter of resignation to Princeton University.<ref>Heckscher (1991), pp. 194, 202–203</ref> Wilson's campaign focused on his promise to be independent of party bosses. He quickly shed his professorial style for more emboldened speechmaking and presented himself as a full-fledged [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]].<ref>Heckscher (1991), p. 214.</ref> Though Republican William Howard Taft had carried New Jersey in the [[1908 United States presidential election|1908 presidential election]] by more than 82,000 votes, Wilson soundly defeated Republican gubernatorial nominee [[Vivian M. Lewis]] by a margin of more than 65,000 votes.<ref>Heckscher (1991), p. 215.</ref> Democrats also took control of the [[New Jersey General Assembly|general assembly]] in the [[1910 United States elections|1910 elections]], though the [[New Jersey Senate|state senate]] remained in Republican hands.<ref name="heckscher220"/> After winning the election, Wilson appointed [[Joseph Patrick Tumulty]] as his private secretary, a position he held throughout Wilson's political career.<ref name="heckscher220">Heckscher (1991), p. 220.</ref>

Wilson began formulating his reformist agenda, intending to ignore the demands of his party machinery. Smith asked Wilson to endorse his bid for the U.S. Senate, but Wilson refused and instead endorsed Smith's opponent [[James Edgar Martine]], who had won the Democratic primary. Martine's victory in the Senate election helped Wilson position himself as an independent force in the New Jersey Democratic Party.<ref>Heckscher (1991), pp. 216–217.</ref> By the time Wilson took office, New Jersey had gained a reputation for public corruption; the state was known as the "Mother of Trusts" because it allowed companies like [[Standard Oil]] to escape the [[United States antitrust law|antitrust laws]] of other states.<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 189–190</ref> Wilson and his allies quickly won passage of the Geran bill, which undercut the power of the political bosses by requiring primaries for all elective offices and party officials. A corrupt practices law and a workmen's compensation statute that Wilson supported won passage shortly thereafter.<ref>Heckscher (1991), pp. 225–227</ref> For his success in passing these laws during the first months of his gubernatorial term, Wilson won national and bipartisan recognition as a reformer and a leader of the Progressive movement.<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 216–217</ref>

Republicans took control of the state assembly in early 1912, and Wilson spent much of the rest of his tenure vetoing bills.<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 228–229</ref> He nonetheless won passage of various reform laws
<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4qNFAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA3&dq=Wilson%27s+labor+record+as+governor+of+New+Jersey&article_id=2861,3742428&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjV7Nab9rGKAxWtQEEAHdtKFG4Q6AF6BAgJEAI#v=onepage&q=Wilson's%20labor%20record%20as%20governor%20of%20New%20Jersey&f=false The Canaseraga Times 30 Aug 1912]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QNElAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA21&dq=AS+GOVERNOR+of+New+Jersey+Woodrow+Wilson+secured+the+enactment+of+these+laws&article_id=5549,669336&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj1rJm79rGKAxXpXEEAHcRmHV0Q6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=AS%20GOVERNOR%20of%20New%20Jersey%20Woodrow%20Wilson%20secured%20the%20enactment%20of%20these%20laws&f=false Gettysburg Compiler 28 Aug 1912 ‘Wilson’s Labor Record’]</ref> including ones that restricted labor by women and children and increased standards for factory working conditions.<ref>Cooper (2009), p. 135</ref> A new State Board of Education was set up "with the power to conduct inspections and enforce standards, regulate districts' borrowing authority, and require special classes for students with handicaps."<ref>Cooper (2009), p. 134</ref> Before leaving office Wilson oversaw the establishment of free dental clinics and enacted a "comprehensive and scientific" poor law. Trained nursing was standardized, while contract labor in all reformatories and prisons was abolished and an indeterminate sentence act passed.<ref>''The Survey'', Volume 30, Survey Associates, 1913, p.140</ref> A law was introduced that compelled all railroad companies "to pay their employees twice monthly", while regulation of the working hours, health, safety, employment, and age of people employed in mercantile establishments was carried out.<ref>''Woodrow Wilson and New Jersey Made Over'' by Hester E. Hosford, New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1912, p. 88</ref> Shortly before leaving office, Wilson signed a series of antitrust laws known as the "Seven Sisters", as well as another law that removed the power to select [[juries in the United States|juries]] from local sheriffs.<ref>Berg (2013), p. 257</ref>