http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Lesson_66_Handout_Robert_LaFollette.htm
Robert M. LaFollette 
Robert Marion LaFollette, (1855-1925), American political leader. A founder of the Progressive Movement, he was a spearhead for political reform in Wisconsin and the nation for 25 years. Unwilling to compromise on principle, "Fighting Bob" LaFollette earned the deep admiration of his supporters and the hatred of many foes. LaFollette was born in Primrose, Wis., on June 14, 1855. A farmer's son, he graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1879 and practiced law in Madison. In 1880 he defied a local political leader to win the office of district attorney. He then served (1885-1891) as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Governorship 
Defeated in 1890, LaFollette resumed his practice. In 1891 he became convinced that Sen. Philetus Sawyer, a wealthy lumberman, had tried to bribe him in connection with a legal case, and LaFollette's outrage triggered 50 years of bitter political rivalry. From then on the real division in Wisconsin was almost always between pro- and anti-LaFollette factions rather than between Republicans and Democrats. He remained a Republican, and was opposed by conservatives in both parties. LaFollette's subsequent rise coincided with unrest among farmers angry at Eastern capitalists who controlled money and credit and who dictated railroad freight rates. Supporting LaFollette, they were joined by small businessmen, professionals, and intellectuals disturbed by how wealthy businessmen controlled access to political power.
This progressive spirit flourished elsewhere, but nowhere better organized than under LaFollette in Wisconsin. A brilliant orator, he campaigned across the state for years. After twice losing the nomination for governor under the convention system, he was elected in 1900. Reelected in 1902 and 1904, he achieved many of his goals. Wisconsin was the first state to adopt the primary for nominations for state offices. A new law taxed railroads on the value of their property, ending an inequity. Taxes on corporations permitted the state to pay its debts. A railroad commission was created to regulate rates. Funding for education was increased. A civil-service law was adopted. This legislation was drafted by political and social scientists and economists, a feature of the "Wisconsin Idea."
The Senate 
Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1905, LaFollette took his seat in 1906. In Washington, he fought the same forces of privilege he had defeated in Wisconsin. A few progressive Republicans joined him, and they often held the balance of power in a Senate closely divided between the two parties. LaFollette opposed the protective Payne-Aldrich tariff and worked to regulate the railroads and other industries. He sought the GOP presidential nomination in 1908 and 1912. He founded LaFollette's Weekly Magazine (1909) and the National Progressive Republican League (1911). In one of his finest achievements, he secured approval of a bill protecting the rights of seamen. 
Representing a state with a large German population and reflecting Midwestern isolationism, LaFollette opposed President Wilson's support for the Allies after war broke out in Europe in 1914. When LaFollette opposed the arming of U.S. merchant ships, Wilson denounced the "little group of wilful men" who he said had made the government "helpless and contemptible." 
In April 1917, LaFollette voted against declaring war. When he continued to criticize the war, an attempt was made to expel him from the Senate for disloyalty. (In 1957 the Senate voted LaFollette one of the five most outstanding senators of all time.) He also opposed the Treaty of Versailles.

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000091
SAWYER, Philetus, 1816-1900
Senate Years of Service: 1881-1893 
Party: Republican 

SAWYER, Philetus, a Representative and a Senator from Wisconsin; born in Whiting, Rutland County, Vt., September 22, 1816; moved with his parents to Crown Point, N.Y., in 1817; attended the common schools; moved to Fond du Lac County, Wis., in 1847 and engaged in the lumber business; member, Wisconsin assembly 1857, 1861; mayor of Oshkosh 1863-1864; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1875); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1874; chairman, Committee on Public Expenditures (Forty-second Congress), Committee on Pacific Railroads (Forty-third Congress); elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1881; reelected in 1887 and served from March 4, 1881, to March 3, 1893; was not a candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on Railroads (Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses), Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Fiftieth through Fifty-second Congresses); resumed his former business pursuits; died in Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wis., March 29, 1900; interment in the family vault at Riverside, Oshkosh. 
Bibliography
American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Current, Richard N. Pine Logs and Politics: A Life of Philetus Sawyer, 1816-1900. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1950.