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Your Name Instructor Name Course Number Date World War 1 and American Involvement WW1 took place in Europe, especially between Germany and Great Britain and France from 1914 to 1918. Up until 1917, America and their president Woodrow Wilson were trying whatever it could not get involved in the War between Europe, and they were trying as hard as they could to be “neutral” about the conflict(Rubin 2014). Most American’s at the time didn’t want to get involved in the war because the country had a lot of immigrants from each fighting country, including Germany. And almost everyone in America felt that the conflict between the European powers wasn’t their problem, so they decided to isolate themselves, and President Wilson made a policy to keep out of the war. He was even reelected because he had “kept America out of the war”(Keene, “What Did It All Mean?”) President Wilson declares war against Germany to protect democracy and the rights of the American people. The Overman Act of 1917 was drafted, which gave President Wilson absolute authority over the federal government, and America’s industry. These documents show that the tone set by WWI was America’s shift to an interventionist policy, under the claim that America needs to protect its Constitutional rights of liberty. America got involved before 1917 by becoming trade partners with Great Britain and France because everyone at the time realized that if the allies lost the war, then America wouldn’t have any “friends” and it would just be
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Last Name2 America VS Germany because America was partners with France and Britain even before the war. So the U.S.A decided to start shipping supplies to Great Britain and France(Kazin 2017). President Wilson declared war on Germany as a result of Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare. Wilson claimed that America’s involvement in WW1 was to protect democracy and was necessary to maintain America’s peace and safety. Wilson’s declaration of war against Germany helped set the tone for the rest of the 20thcentury because it shows the deviation from President Washington’s policy of neutrality, and how America should stay neutral from forwarding affairs. Taking sides with the Allies and breaking that policy of neutrality was not only for the sake of America’s peace but for the peace of all nations. Wilson talks about the “rights and liberties of small nations,”(Lloyd 2014)as if he has jurisdiction over the rights of “smaller nations.” This document shows how America began to see itself as a world superpower and how it would begin to intervene in foreign affairs and dictate how other nations should conduct themselves. This document settled the foundation of WWII and other upcoming wars, as this document shows how later presidents would engage in later foreign affairs and battles, such as the Vietnam War, under the claim of protecting American freedom and democracy. The Overman Act of 1917 bypassed the Constitution and gave President Wilson unprecedented power over the economy of America, and total authority over the federal government. This act was passed during President Wilson’s intervention in WWI, and its purpose was to boost industrial output to aid in the war against Germany. The president was given the power to control the distribution of goods, ranging from war goods to food, and how businesses distribute those goods. The Overman Act essentially turned America into a command economy during times of war(Keene, “America in the First World War”). The Overman Act of
Last Name3 1917 helped set the tone for the rest of the 20thcentury because it shows how America was willing to put aside the values of freedom, and economic liberty, such as the theory of laissez- faire, where the government has a hands-off approach to private business. These are the same values America fought for during past wars, such as the American Revolution against the British. Later presidents would use this act in times of war to gain the same kind of rule over the government and the American economy, to achieve victory in wars they thought were necessary to fight in to protect democracy and American peace(Schlenoff 2020). By mobilizing America’s people and resources for the sake of defeating the Central Powers, the Overman act showed how America had shifted into an interventionist policy and sacrificed its principles to fight in WWI. Wilson’s declaration of war against Germany and the Overman Act of 1917 both helped set the tone for the rest of the 20thcentury. America, then, was willing to sacrifice its morals and bypass its Constitution, to shift to an interventionist policy and intervene in foreign affairs. This same reasoning would be used in future wars, such as the fight against communism, to protect not just American peace and democracy, but global peace and democracy.
Last Name4 Works Cited Kazin, Michael. “Opinion | Should America Have Entered World War I?”The New York Times, 6 Apr. 2017.NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/opinion/should- america-have-entered-world-war-i.html. Keene, Jennifer. “America in the First World War.”The British Library, The British Library, 5 Mar. 2019, https://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/america-in-the-first-world-war. ---. “What Did It All Mean? The United States and World War I.”Histoire@Politique, vol. n° 22, no. 1, Centre d’histoire de Sciences Po, Oct. 2014, pp. 120–36. Lloyd, Nick. “How the U.S. Helped Win World War I.”Wall Street Journal, 25 Jan. 2014. www.wsj.com, https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-us-helped-win-world-war-i- 1390611318. Rubin, Richard. “Why Don’t Americans Remember WWI?”The Atlantic, 29 Sept. 2014, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/08/why-dont-americans-remember- the-war/373469/. Schlenoff, Dan. “Before America Joined the Great War.”Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-opinions/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2020.