Essay about 1991 Apush Dbq

President Wilson's own ineptitude and stubbornness is what led to the Senate's defeat of the Treaty of Versailles, rather than the strength of the opposing forces. Even Wilson's closest and most trusted advisors could not sway his stance. Wilson was strong in his stance and incorporated the idea of the 14 points. While it is true that opposing forces contributed to defeat the treaty, it was Wilson's unmovable position that led to its ultimate defeat in the Senate.

“From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the United States with an effective government.” This statement is quite bold considering that the Articles lasted only eight years. In some ways this form of government was effective and in some ways it was not. It did provide the newly formed American colonies with the means to govern themselves in the manner that they wished to be governed and set the rules for operations of the United States government. On the other hand, it was ineffective because there was no president or executive agencies or judiciary, nor was there a tax base or even a way to pay off state and national debts from war years. They could also be called ineffective because of their limited scope and the

After winning the election of 1916 barring the slogan, “We kept us out of war!” Wilson began his “peace without victory” crusade. (Zieger, 44) He failed to identify the secret treaties that were entered between the Allies during the war and Germany’s unwillingness to concede anything from a war they did not lose. When it was apparent that a “peace without victory” would be unattainable all that was left was a catalyst and the United States

The treaty of the Versailles was an agreement between France, England and the United states. Its intentions were to prevent a second world war however, it was a total fail. An obvious reason for not being effective could be because not everyone was included in the conference such as Russia, and Central Powers. Instead, Prime minister George Clemenceau had thought he would speak for all of europe and wanted to be the strongest of europe. Clemenceau seeked revenge towards Germany, in fact he desired most dismantle the best of Germany 's military and their nationalist pride. As for the United States, Wilson implemented the fourteen points which focused on self determination of people. Only few of his points were included in the treaty but these points had been the reason for conflicts happening in europe. Participation from everyone is important and not allowing everyone 's input could lead to negative outcomes such as, The league of nations which most likely failed because the United States wasn’t allowed to participate.

The end of World War I left much of America confused on the country’s role in world affairs. Many people believed that the United States should primarily worry about its own issues and problems, and let the world handle their own problems. But President Woodrow Wilson was not one of those people. He believed that the United States should be directly involved in the issues affecting all of the countries of the world. He also wanted the United States to be the country to make a push for a League of Nations. “The people of the United States could act upon no other principle; and to the vindication of this principle they are ready to devote their lives, their honor, and everything that they possess. The normal climax of this the culminating and final war for human liberty has come, and they are ready to put their own strength, their own highest purpose, their own integrity and devotion to the test.” Wilson believed that if the United States needed to be a part of a League of Nations in charge of keeping peace around the world, this would keep America

The statement is invalid because although the strength of the opposition forces, both liberal and conservative, were a factor in the Senate defeat of the Treaty of Versailles, it was ultimately President Wilson's ineptitude and stubbornness that led to its defeat. This is because the Senate was split on the decision, and one group of Senators were willing to agree if some amendments were made to the Treaty. However, President Wilson was not willing to compromise on the League of Nations, the most controversial point of the Treaty. The debate in congress was President Wilson against the Reservationists in the Senate more than one group in the Senate against another. President Wilson was a liberal, meaning he favored progressive change,

With Woodrow Wilson being a democrat, ratification of the Treaty would be difficult in a Republican led senate. The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles based primarily on objections to the League of Nations. One of the main objections to the League of Nations was that it would eventually lead to a loss of American Sovereignty. William Borah said during a speech in United States Senate “Will anyone advocate that those matters which are of vital importance to our people shall be submitted to a tribunal created other than by our own people and give it an international army subject to its direction and control to enforce its decrees?” (Document A)

Case Study 2: A Review of Comments of the German Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference on the Conditions of Peace (October 1919)

This fostered a strong desire to return to isolationism, as demonstrated by President Harding’s “return to normalcy.” One of the first steps was to reject involvement in the League of Nations, a post-World War I body meant to ensure collective peace and security. Many Americans did not want to become involved in European affairs and risk being pulled into another global war, which they feared would be inevitable if the United States joined the League of Nations. In a speech, Presidential Candidate Warren G. Harding stated, “My position at present is that the League strikes a deadly blow at our constitutional integrity and surrenders to a dangerous extent of our independence as a nation,” (Doc A). Nevertheless, the United States did participate in multiple international events at the beginning of the 1920s, including the

The Republicans resisted the Treaty because they believed that if it were to be ratified, Wilson’s prestige would soar and he might even be re-elected for a third time (Bailey, 184). Thus, the Republican Party was against the Treaty of Versailles in its original form out of fear. Wilson fully believed that the Treaty was going to bring world peace, and regardless of this belief, the Republican Party voted against it because of who came up with it. Wilson fought greatly for it and said that if the Treaty failed that he would gather all the soldiers who fought in World War One and tell them “I told you before you went across the seas that this was a war against wars and I did my best to fulfill the promise, but I am obliged to come to you in mortifications and shame and say I have not been able to fulfill the promise,” (Wilson). Wilson was willing to take blame for the hypothetical failure of the Treaty of Versailles and the Republicans still voted against it because they did not want Wilson’s popularity to go up. Wilson believed so strongly in Article Ten that he believed that the League of Nations would justify the United States’ honor and bring peace to the world (Wilson). The belief that the Republican Party did not ratify the Treaty because they did not want to risk another Wilson presidency is absurd. This idea perpetuates the idea that if one person, in a position of power, strongly believes in something, then it must good. One can apply this idea to how strongly Wilson believed in the Treaty of Versailles, yet it was not enough to convince the Senate that the League of Nations’ Collective Security Covenant was a good idea. It was not the Republican Party’s fear of a third term of Wilson that caused the death of the Treaty, but Wilson himself. The belief that if

Senator Gilbert Hitchcock’s address was titled, “The trouble with Senators who oppose the League of Nations”. Hitchcock was a democrat, like President Wilson, and felt that the United States should join the League of Nations. He states, “The trouble with Senators who

Henry Cabot Lodge’s speech (Document B) expresses a more similar message to the political cartoon (Document C) because both sources oppose the League of Nations. The League of Nations was introduced in the Treaty of Versailles. This League provided a place for countries to meet, settle disputes peacefully, and punish any nation that broke the peace. At the time the league was introduced, there started to be a heated debate to weather the United States should be involved. Henry Cabot Lodge’s speech (Document B) has a similar message to the political cartoon because both of these sources prove that the League of NAtions is harmful or has a negative effect to the United States.

The failure of the Treaty of Versailles in the United States Senate was due to both the opposition of the treaty in liberal and conservative forces, as well as Woodrow Wilson’s stubbornness and incompetence when deciding the final version of the treaty with imperialism, German restrictions, and the League of Nations. As World War I began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, igniting a conflict between Serbia and Austria-Hungary that snowballed into a war with Great Britain, France, and Russia against Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. When the war was over, the Treaty of Versailles needed to be discussed between the Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States. The European demands from the war were fueled by revenge, and their imperialism countered Wilson’s apparent morality. Although isolationists and Republicans desired to influence the treaty, Wilson had accepted the European demands, and even after altering the treaty for European gain, he disallowed the treaty from passing twice in the Senate after Henry Cabot Lodge added reservations. Wilson’s influence on the Senate and the Treaty of Versailles led to its defeat in the United States and ultimately the US absence in the League of Nations.

The Treaty of Versailles was drafted in the spring of 1919. Although the war was fought by well over a dozen countries, negotiations were almost entirely dominated by the three big leaders Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd George, and Georges Clemenceau; who represented the United States, Great Britain, and France, respectively. These three leaders were all influenced by their own ideological and political reasons, so much bargaining had to be done. In contrast to the Congress of Vienna in the early 1800’s, the perpetrators, the Central powers, had absolutely no say in these negotiations and had no knowledge of its content when they were giving the treaty to sign. The treaty consisted of 440 clauses; the first few were dedicated to the establishment of the League of Nations, modeled after Wilson’s 14-point plan for world peace and stability. The second part of the

Many times when covering the creation of the League of Nations, history books make the mistake of romanticizing the reality that brought forth this organization. In actuality, European countries were not thinking about how they can create new partnerships and solidify their old ones at the end of WWI. European leaders were not thinking of how to protect the political independence of sovereign nations. They were terrified and