Woodrow Wilson was born on 28 December 1856 to Joseph Ruggles Wilson, a Presbyterian minister in Staunton, Virginia. As a child, he lived in Augusta, Georgia and Columbia, South Carolina, and the hard years of Reconstruction had a strong impression on him.
Wilson first attended Davidson College in 1873 -74 and later transferred to Princeton University. He was an active student, interested in debate, public speaking and athletics, and graduated in the middle of his class. He entered the University of Virginia law school but never completed his degree due to poor health. After an unsuccessful law practice, Wilson entered The John Hopkins University and studied government and history. He also wrote his influential book, Congressional Government, which dealt with the legislative process and the relationship between the presidency, congress and the committee system. In 1886 he received his doctoral degree.
On June 24, 1885 Wilson married Ellen Louise Axon with whom he had three daughters. He taught at Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University, and in 1890 accepted a position at Princeton University. In 1902 he was elected President of Princeton.
Wilson became involved in New Jersey politics as a candidate for governor in 1910. After his successful election, Wilson resigned from Princeton. He actually spent little time as governor, although he still acquired a reputation as a reformer. This brought him national recognition and led him to run for president.
There were several key factors in Wilson's election, including that Wilson was a notable reformer known because of his actions as governor of New Jersey such as the "primary election law" and "Employers Liability Act." These efforts had caught the interest of the national Democratic establishment. Wilson had also met Edward Mandell House, a wealthy Texan, who was known as a behind-the-scenes operator.
While Wilson's charisma and effective speaking skills helped build a constituency, another factor in Wilson's national prominence was the fact that he ran as an outsider and as a progressive. One of the key factors in Wilson's election was rivalry in the Republican party between William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. This split the republican vote and allowed Wilson to get a majority. On 5 November 1912 Wilson became president.
Wilson continued his progressive politics early in his presidency, enacting the Federal Reserve Act and establishing the Federal Trade Commission. When the war broke out in 1914, Wilson sent House, as his personal advisor, to Paris in order to seek out the possibility of peace but to no avail.
In 1916 Wilson was reelected president. After the sinking of the several American ships by the Germans, the United States entered the war against Germany. This happened reluctantly on Wilson's part because he had long sought peace.
As the war continued, Wilson promoted the Fourteen Points, initially announced on 8 January 1918, as the conditions for a future peace settlement. Through the work of House, the allies agreed to accept the Points as the basis of the future peace treaty. The Points were notable because specific territories were described. Most of the allies were against any negotiations with the Germans, but Wilson remained willing too. When the Germans sought peace in 1918, they first approached Wilson and assumed that the Fourteen Points would be used during the peace conference in Paris.
At the Versailles peace conference, Wilson choose to represent America himself and went to Paris, but he soon learned that he would not get what he wanted unless he compromised on many issues. Sadly at the end of the conference he was unable to get the Senate to ratify the final treaty. Declining health soon overtook Wilson, and a stroke left him paralyzed. He died on 3 February 1924.