ABSTRACT
Woodrow Wilson stood for freedom; so it was not surprising early in 1913 when a group of social workers asked him to help free the children from the nation’s factories. The new President politely declined. No one was more idealistic, but an important part of his idealism was a deep, almost sacred belief in states’ rights. “It is plain,” he told the reformers, “that you would have to go much further than most interpretations of the Constitution would allow, if you were to give the government general control over child labor throughout the country.”
