How Did The Senate Defeat Of The Treaty Of Versailles Dbq

Wilson failed to gain support from the people about aiding foreign European countries if they were in need, but refused to listen and signed the treaty on June 28,1919 nonetheless. Nationalists created “reservations” that protected the right of the U.S. to make decisions based on its own national interest. By September of 1919, the Treaty faced much opposition because a majority of the U.S. did not want to join the League. Wilson also refused to make any changes to Article X, as he felt it was the main way to prevent future wars. In the end, the Senate refused to ratify the Treaty, which crushed Wilson. Wilsonianism was the ideas of self-determination, disarmament, and the cooperation of nations in-order to create a lasting peace, which many viewed as idealistic. After 1920, many Americans returned to isolationism until the beginning of WWII. President Roosevelt identified “Four Freedoms” worth fighting for: freedom of speech, worship, want and fear. Wilsonianism is seen in many policies today such as the world’s craving for democracy, and Bush’s foreign policies of making America safer by extending

It is true that Henry Cabot Lodge and the Republican majority in the Senate were a force in the defeat of the treaty. By holding off the vote and making his own changes to the treaty, Lodge knew that he was using Wilson's hatred to his advantage. Wilson would have accepted the changes if they had been proposed by one of his fellow Democrats, but the fact that they had been written by Lodge made Wilson see red. He immediately ordered Democrats to vote entirely against the treaty with the added Lodge votes. The only possible path to ratification would be to accept the treaty with the new changes. Wilson chose to block the passing of the treaty by persuading Democrats to vote against it. Unfortunately, Wilson had a stroke, and his last efforts in getting the vote to go his way

I believe America rejecting this treaty was in someways because of their neutral ways. Before entering the war, the United States wanted to remain as neutral as possible. When they eventually joined, it to keep the world safe from, democracy. During the treaty the Americans had already, from the start disagreed with Wilsons League of Nations idea and 14 points systems. They wanted to stay out of European disagreements and fights as much as possible. So by rejecting this treaty it got them away from some major drama.

In the aftermath of World War I, during the years 1917-1921, President Wilson advocated the Treaty of Versailles, which called for the principle of self-determination, the formation of a League of Nations, and general amnesty towards Germany, as the solution for peace. However, his unwillingness to compromise led to widespread disagreement. The opposition forces in the U.S. senate consisted of the reservationists, who were willing to ratify the Treaty of Versailles with amendments, and the irreconcilables, who refused to join the League of Nations under any circumstances. If President Wilson was only willing to modify the language of the treaty, ratification may have occurred.

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 Treaty of Versailles was a peace settlement between Germany and the Allied Powers signed on June 28, 1919. The Treaty of Versailles officially ended World War 1. However, since the conditions in the treaty were so punitive towards Germany many believe that it was also partly responsible for starting World War 2. Before the treaty was signed President Woodrow Wilson and his opponent in congress, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge debated over the membership in the League of Nations and about the mortality of the treaty. Many debated that the United States should have signed the Treaty of Versailles and joined the League of Nations while others oppose both the treaty and the alliance. I believe that the United States did the right thing by rejecting the Treaty of Versailles, and avoiding the entangling commitments overseas which the alliance would have brought upon us.

President Woodrow Wilson had secured the political clout to establish foreign policy after World War I. However, the Europeans, especially the two major powers in Europe, England and France had the right to be circumspect of several aspects of Wilson’s plan. The German Delegation utilized President Wilson’s analogy that, “no single fact caused the war, but that in last analysis the whole European system is in a deeper sense responsible for the war…” (Comments of the German Delegation, 1919). European leaders could have taken offense to Wilson’s plan. President Wilson’s represented a nation that was protected by thousands of miles of oceans, and during the war the United States suffered no loss of infrastructure and economically their markets made money during the war. However, that was not the case for the European political leaders. They truly had an ax to grind against Germany. France with closer proximity to Germany than England elected to be protective and leery of Germany’s intentions after the war. Germany on the other hand was distraught over the terms laid before them by the Europeans at the Paris Peace Conference. The Germans believed they were being singled out, and that through the attrition of their sovereign territory they were losing vast economic resources and their ability to establish self-determination and self-preservation.

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

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)

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

Wilson's peace plan, known as the Fourteen Points, introduced the idea of the League of Nations. The League of Nations would bind together all of the countries involved in order to resolve conflicts peacefully and protect independence. Wilson very much wanted the United States to be a part of the League, which would prevent a return to isolationism (Document G). Article Ten of the Treaty of Versailles outlines some of the obligations attached to being a member of the League. This article states that if any nation who is a part of the League is under attack or in danger, all other countries are mandated to come to their aid (Document E). The League of Nations, and this article in particular, caused a great deal of controversy in the U.S. Henry Cabot Lodge, a Reservationist senator, gave a speech to show his objection to the League. Lodge believed the United States should focus its efforts on self-betterment, rather than being forced to "play the part of umpire" in European affairs of no direct interest (Document D). Lodge's discontent with the circumstances that would be created by the League were also shared by the majority of senators, leading to the rejection of the Treaty of Versailles. This decision allowed the U.S. to return to its former isolated

In August 1914, Europe descended into war, without the support of U.S. Wilson refuses to get involve in the European conflict, until German forced Wilson to declare war on the central powers because of German’s declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare. When the war ended in November 11, 1918, Wilson negotiated a covenant for the League of Nation that he believed would sustain a world order. However at home, the congress rejected the League of Nations. Now, Wilson is admired by some scholars while hated by others. Some has praised him for his vision, while others criticized him for his impractical ideal.

Keynes, a liberal economist, who had been present at the peace conference in Paris thought Wilson’s principles were ‘wrongly conceived ....... and too little regard had been given to the economic realities’[5] but he looked on them more favourably than the eventual conditions in the Treaty of Versailles. Alan Sharp suggests that Keynes was torn between ‘fascination at the speed with which Lloyd George could absorb both atmosphere and complex briefs and disgust at his lack of fixed principles.[6] The British delegation containing on the one hand Jan Smuts, who took a more liberal stance on the Treaty and Billy Hughes, the Australian Prime-minister, who became the ‘most vocal exponent of a Carthaginian peace among the British delegation in Paris’[7] shows the divisions amongst the British delegation and possibly reflects the indecision in Lloyd George’s mind. He felt Germany needed to be left with enough room to recover and take her place in Europe but was anxious in the aftermath of the carnage of war that Germany should be seen to be punished. Italy’s Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando, was not vociferous at the Conference but was asking for Fiume to be assigned to Italy but it had already been assigned to Yugoslavia. Wilson resisted Orlando’s request and he and the Italian delegation eventually gave up and removed