Excellent observation. I recently picked up the same theme reading biographies of Grover Cleveland and James Garfield. It’s amazing how conservative the NY Times and other media outlets used to be. There really wasn’t such thing as a progressive in the U.S. back then.
In 1913 Democrat President Woodrow Wilson helped destroy the USA with his progressive era, imposing the 16th amendment (the income tax) on the USA, and the 17th. without these 2 amendments we'd have no income tax no huge government and states rights.
The 16th Amendment led directly to the enactment of a national income tax in .... In 1913, with the very active assistance of President Wilson, ...
http://dailyreckoning.com/the-wilson-presidency-woodrow-wilsons-world/