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===Political theory===
===Political theory===
Wilson made significant contributions to political science.<ref> he also wrote popular history of high quality, including a five-volume history of the United States and a life of George Washington.</ref> In his book ''Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics'' (1885), noting how the Constitution's separation of powers had been eroded since the Civil War by the increasing power of Congress, he suggested a remedy for this in a cabinet-style government of the variety proposed by [[Walter Bagehot]] in Britain. By criticizing the Constitutionalist and Federalist traditions that had characterized American politics for a century, and showing their faults, Wilson sought to open a serious debate on the political changes in the United States in the intervening century and whether the Constitution remained an adequate regulator of these. By the time he wrote ''Constitutional Government in the United States'' (1908), Wilson was advocating the need for constitutional reform that would make Congress and president more representative and, above all, the need for a strong president who could influence Congress rather than submit to it.
Wilson made significant contributions to political science.<ref> he also wrote popular history of high quality, including a five-volume history of the United States and a life of George Washington.</ref> In his book ''Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics'' (1885), noting how the Constitution's separation of powers had been eroded since the Civil War by the increasing power of Congress, he suggested a remedy for this in a cabinet-style government of the variety proposed by [[Walter Bagehot]] in Britain. By criticizing the Constitutionalist and Federalist traditions that had characterized American politics for a century, and showing their faults, Wilson sought to open a serious debate on the political changes in the United States in the intervening century and whether the Constitution remained an adequate regulator of these. By the time he wrote ''Constitutional Government in the United States'' (1908), Wilson was advocating the need for constitutional reform that would make Congress and president more representative and, above all, the need for a strong president who could influence Congress rather than submit to it.
===Football===
Wilson as president of Princeton, and [[Theodore Roosevelt]] as president of the United States, took an intense interest in the controversy over the reform of college football. In the 1890s and early 1900s, college football faced sharp of criticism over injuries and the role of athletics in college life. Roosevelt and Wilson, loyal followers of Harvard and Princeton, had defended football in the 1890s. In the fall of 1905, however, President Roosevelt called a conference of football experts at the White House to discuss brutality and unsportsmanlike conduct. Thereafter, Roosevelt worked behind the scenes to bring about sufficient reform to preserve football and insure that it would continue to be played at Harvard. In the years 1909-10, when college football again faced an injury crisis, Wilson worked with the presidents at Harvard and Yale to make reasonable reforms. Both Roosevelt's and Wilson's approaches were consistent with their strategies for national political change. In the years that followed the reforms on the gridiron, football evolved rapidly into the 'attractive' game that Wilson had advocated and a far less brutal game than the unruly spectacle that Roosevelt had tried to control.<ref>John S. Watterson, III, "Political Football: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and the Gridiron Reform Movement," ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 1995 25(3): 555-564 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/27551467
in JSTOR]</ref>
==Reform governor==
==Reform governor==
By 1910 when internal politics at Princeton meant that the research university became dominant. Frustrated, Wilson moved into state politics, winning the governorship of New Jersey as a Democrat in 1910, supported by the party bosses. He immediately broke with the bosses and launched a reform administration that was a model of Progressive Era state government. Wilson by 1912 had emerged as the leader of the [[Progressive Movement]] in the Democratic Party.
By 1910 when internal politics at Princeton meant that the research university became dominant. Frustrated, Wilson moved into state politics, winning the governorship of New Jersey as a Democrat in 1910, supported by the party bosses. He immediately broke with the bosses and launched a reform administration that was a model of Progressive Era state government. Wilson by 1912 had emerged as the leader of the [[Progressive Movement]] in the Democratic Party.
===Domestic affairs and ideas===
===Domestic affairs and ideas===
[[File:$100k.jpg|thumb|100px|Wilson's image appeared on the now-withdrawn $100,000 bill]]
[[File:$100k.jpg|120px|Wilson's image appeared on the now-withdrawn $100,000 bill]]
* Abrams, Richard M. "Woodrow Wilson and the Southern Congressmen, 1913-1916," ''Journal of Southern History,'' Vol. 22, No. 4 (Nov., 1956), pp. 417-437 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2954640 in JSTOR]
* Abrams, Richard M. "Woodrow Wilson and the Southern Congressmen, 1913-1916," ''Journal of Southern History,'' Vol. 22, No. 4 (Nov., 1956), pp. 417-437 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2954640 in JSTOR]
* Clements, Kendrick A. ''The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson'' (1992), covers domestic and foreign policies
* Clements, Kendrick A. ''The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson'' (1992), covers domestic and foreign policies