Effect Wilson Reads Treaty of Versailles Into Senate Record July 10 1919

Written by: Bill of Rights Constitute

By the end of this department, you will:

• Explain the causes and consequences of U.S. involvement in Globe War I

Suggested Sequencing

Employ this Decision Point at the cease of Affiliate 10 to allow students to explore the U.S. role in the conclusion of World State of war I.

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From 1914 to 1917, the president and Congress debated America's stance toward the war in Europe. Once the The states had been drawn into the conflict in April 1917, their attending turned to debating how best to execute the war and to shape the peace to come after the successful conclusion to the disharmonize. Guided by progressive ideals, President Woodrow Wilson's vision was to create a new globe order as part of the Treaty of Versailles, in which a league of nations would ensure that this, indeed, was "the war to end all wars." During the treaty ratification procedure, Wilson had to decide whether he would fight for this goal without compromising or whether he would piece of work with the Senate to become nearly of what he wanted.

Wilson's idealistic vision was challenged in Congress by Republican Senator Henry Cabot Guild of Massachusetts. Social club had opposed Wilson's neutrality policy during the state of war and opposed the Treaty of Versailles after the war. During the peacemaking process, the conservative Society was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Commission and led the fight confronting the ratification of the Wilson peace programme, which he viewed as unconstitutional and threatening to American national sovereignty and traditional foreign policy principles. Lodge had to decide whether to obstruct the ratification of the treaty or discover areas of compromise with the president.

Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, pictured here in 1916, led the group in Congress whose members opposed President Wilson's peace plan.

The outbreak of war in August 1914 had prompted President Wilson to urge Americans to be "impartial in thought also equally in action." Lodge thought neutrality was unsound and impractical and wanted to support the Allied powers. In May 1915, a German U-boat (submarine) sank the passenger linerLusitania, killing 1,200 people, including 128 Americans. Wilson asserted that Americans were "likewise proud to fight" and instead pursued peace for the good of the world. Lodge and his friend Theodore Roosevelt thought the president'south response was feeble idealism inappropriate to the tragedy.

In 1916, Wilson spoke at a meeting of the League to Enforce the Peace. In that speech, he articulated a vision of an association of nations that would go along the peace and finish warfare. An international body of nations would stop assailment rather than relying on the existing balance-of-power diplomacy and system of alliances amid sovereign nations. Wilson'south ideas culminated in his "peace without victory" speech of January 22, 1917, in which he promoted "the future security of the earth against wars." The new globe order was to be rooted in a community of ability to reach peace.

But a week later, Frg announced it would unleash unrestricted U-gunkhole warfare, gambling that information technology could starve United kingdom and the Allies into submission earlier the The states entered the conflict. On Apr ii, the president went to Congress and asked for a annunciation of state of war. Wilson said the United States must "make the world rubber for democracy" past destroying autocracy in Europe and vindicating "the principles of peace and justice" in the world. Congress obliged by declaring war a few days afterward.

The American Expeditionary Forces were made up of approximately two million troops and helped back up the war-weary English language and French troops when the The states entered World State of war I. Pictured are officers of the AEF c. 1918.

Every bit American troops fought in Europe, Wilson worked out his vision of a just and peaceful postwar gild. In January 1918, he delivered his Fourteen Points speech, in which he argued for freedom of the seas, a reduction in arms, and national cocky-determination of ethnic minorities. Nigh important, Wilson developed his thought of a league of nations. The covenant, or understanding, of the League was the "fundamental to the whole settlement," equally he saw information technology.

Wilson fabricated several blunders preparing for the peace conference in Versailles. During the 1918 midterm congressional elections, he had fabricated blatantly partisan appeals, stating that Republican dissent with assistants policies was unpatriotic. Republicans and so won command of both houses of Congress, making Lodge the Senate's majority leader and the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which considered the peace treaty. Wilson made additional missteps by not inviting whatever Republicans or senators onto the Versailles peace conference delegation and not consulting with Society before he left for Paris. Yet he needed the support of two-thirds of the Senate for the peace treaty to be ratified.

Wilson had a sense of providential destiny virtually his vision for the League of Nations and his ain leadership. Against the recommendations of his advisors, he decided to be the outset president to travel overseas to negotiate a peace treaty, because he believed no one else could achieve his goals. When he arrived in Europe in December 1918, millions celebrated him in Paris, London, and Rome, which fed his vanity and sense of moral purpose.

The president briefly returned to the United States in February 1919. On the evening of February 26, Senator Lodge and other members of the Foreign Relations Committee attended a dinner at the White House. Society sat impassively while the president spoke nigh a league of nations to proceed the peace. Then he asked Wilson a serial of questions. The answers confirmed Gild'due south fear that Article 10 of the Treaty of Versailles would commit the United States to a war against an aggressor nation that attacked another nation, thus bypassing the constitutional requirement that Congress retain the power to declare war.

Guild believed in this constitutional principle and opposed committing U.S. troops to conflicts around the globe based on the vote of an international body. He and other senators also feared that the League would supersede the Monroe Doctrine, which had asserted American preeminence in the western hemisphere for a century. Wilson was adamant that "yous cannot dissect the Covenant from the treaty without destroying the whole vital structure."

On the evening of March 2, Lodge worked at his home with 2 other senators to draft a Senate resolution expressing their opposition to the League of Nations. 30-9 Republicans signed information technology, and even some Democrats supported the measure. Near a dozen senators were "irreconcilables," who refused to back up the treaty regardless of a compromise, and 40 were "reservationists" who were willing to ratify if Wilson compromised on Article Ten.

The Senate Strange Relations Committee, pictured here in 1919, was led by Henry Cabot Lodge (fifth from the left) and worked to garner support from fellow senators to block Wilson'due south peace plan.

On March three, Lodge delivered an important speech opposing the League of Nations. He criticized Article 10 for violating the Us' national sovereignty and Congress's prerogative to declare state of war, and he cited the danger that Americans would exist forced to send their immature men overseas to finish aggressor nations. He stated, "I want to keep America as she has been—not isolated, not prevent her from joining other nations for these peachy purposes—only I wish her to be master of her fate." In the Senate, Lodge packed the Foreign Relations Committee with handpicked opponents of the League of Nations.

When President Wilson returned to the United States that summer, he bankrupt with precedent and on July x presented the treaty to the Senate in person while addressing the torso. Every bit he walked into the bedroom with the bulky treaty under his arm, Club jokingly asked, "Mr. President, can I behave the treaty for you lot?" Wilson retorted, "Not on your life." In his speech, President Wilson asked the Senate rhetorically, "Cartel we reject information technology and break the heart of the world?"

During committee hearings in Baronial, Lodge repeated his business concern that Article X violated the principles of the Constitution. He asserted that no American soldier or sailor could be sent overseas to fight a war "except by the constitutional authorities of the United States." In improver, Club worried that membership in the League of Nations would bind the U.s. to fight in wars effectually the globe. He thought the primary goal of American foreign policy was to protect American national interests. He said, "Our offset ideal is our land. . . We would non take our country'due south vigor exhausted or her moral forcefulness abated, by everlasting meddling and muddling in every quarrel, groovy and small which affects the world."

In September, Wilson farther provoked Social club and other opponents by taking the case for the League of Nations directly to the American people. His speaking tour was consistent with his view of American politics, in which congressional government was messy and the separation of powers an outdated principle. Instead, a stiff president needed to act equally a national leader who guided the nation in correct principles through rhetoric. Large crowds applauded his message that the League was the "crusade of mankind," but the tour was soon cut short when the president suffered a debilitating stroke on Oct 2, which incapacitated him for months. From his sickbed, he refused any compromise considering removing Article X "cuts the very heart out of the treaty."

Early in the morn of November 19, 1919, spectators flooded the Senate gallery, jockeying for a good vantage betoken to view the historic debate and the vote on the treaty. Members of the press were there to report the outcome for their newspapers. The 68-year-old Senator Lodge captivated most people'due south attention.

This political cartoon, created by John T. McCutcheon in 1918, depicts the U.S. Senate objecting to a marriage between the United States and its "foreign entanglement" bride via the League of Nations. (credit: The Ohio Country University, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum)

The senators debated the treaty during a ten-60 minutes marathon, hearing from all sides, and so prepared to vote. Prodded past Wilson, who told them not to compromise, they rejected the treaty with reservations by a vote of 55–39. A vote was so taken on the treaty without reservations, as the Wilson administration wanted. It was also defeated, by a nearly identical vote of 53–38. Several Democrats begged Wilson to compromise, but he refused. The president deluded himself that he could "bring this country to a sense of its great opportunity and greater responsibleness" if only his health improved. When the treaty came up for another vote in mid-Nov, Wilson obstinately said, "Let Lodge compromise. Permit Lodge concur out the olive branch." The treaty was voted down again, then for a final time on March nineteen, 1920.

Throughout the fence over the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, President Wilson and Senator Lodge rooted their positions in very dissimilar visions of American diplomacy. Wilson thought the simply way to achieve a lasting peace and new world order was a league of nations. Lodge wanted to preserve American national sovereignty and protect American national interests. This contend between idealism and realism continued to define the course of American strange relations during the twentieth century.

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Review Questions

1. Woodrow Wilson's plans for the postwar peace was most strongly challenged by

1. Henry Cabot Gild, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
2. Theodore Roosevelt, sometime president of the Us
3. the United States Firm of Representatives
4. supporters of the League of Nations

2. For President Woodrow Wilson, the "future security of the world against wars" most likely centered on

1. restoration of a balance of power between French republic and Frg
2. creation of a new world lodge based on a community of nations
3. dominance of the United states in European politics
4. retreat from American interventionism and internationalism

3. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points included all the following except

1. self-conclusion for ethnic minorities
2. freedom of the seas
3. a league of nations
4. promotion of European autocracy

4. A major misstep in President Wilson'south promotion of his peace plan afterwards World War I was his

1. failing to invite whatever Republicans or members of the Senate to the Versailles Peace Briefing
2. publicly outlining his Xiv Points peace plan
3. request Congress for a announcement of state of war in 1917
4. travelling overseas to attend the Versailles Peace Conference

five. The primary objection of the U.South. Senate to the Treaty of Versailles was

1. the war reparations clause demanded by the European allies
2. the war guilt clause aimed at Deutschland
3. the self-decision proposal for indigenous minorities
4. Article Ten of the League Covenant calling for commonage security

6. Ultimately, the U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles, stating that information technology violated

1. the Senate'due south constitutional power to negotiate treaties
2. the President's ramble power to declare war
3. national sovereignty
4. a Supreme Court decision

7. Senate ratification of the Treaty of Versailles required President Wilson to gain the support of

1. the "irreconcilables"
2. the isolationists
3. the internationalists
4. the reservationists

Gratis Response Questions

1. Compare President Woodrow Wilson's and Senator Henry Cabot Guild'southward foreign policy goals at the end of Earth War I.
2. Analyze the reasons the U.S. Senate ultimately refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles.

AP Practise Questions

"Resolved (2-thirds of the senators present concurring therein), that the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the treaty of peace with Germany ended at Versailles on the 28th day of June, 1919, subject to the following reservations and understandings . . .

one. . . . The United States shall be the sole judge equally to whether all Its international obligations and all its obligations under the said Covenant have been fulfilled . . .

2. The United States assumes no obligation to preserve the territorial integrity or political independence of any other country or to interfere in controversies between nations . . .

4. The United States reserves to itself exclusively the right to decide what questions are within its domestic jurisdiction . . .

ix. The United States shall not be obligated to contribute to any expenses of the League . . . unless and until an cribbing of funds . . . shall have been made by the Congress of the United States."

Henry Cabot Social club, "Reservations with Regard to the Versailles Treaty," November 19, 1919

Refer to the extract provided.

ane. The position outlined in the excerpt is most consistent with

1. the bulletin of Washington'due south Farewell Address
2. the establishment of the Monroe Doctrine
3. the U.s.' entry into the Castilian-American War
4. the treaty ending the war with Mexico

2. What was a direct result of the trend axiomatic in the excerpt?

1. An end to Progressive economic reforms
2. Growing back up for American isolationism in the 1920s
3. Ratification of the women's suffrage subpoena
4. The United States taking the lead in the League of Nations

iii. Which of the following statements best supports the position outlined in the excerpt?

1. Changing world conditions necessitated American internationalism.
2. States' rights did not extend to international relations.
3. The U.S. Constitution established a system of checks and balances.
4. Direct ballot of U.S. senators freed the Senate from the influence of special interests.

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Chief Sources

Guild, Henry Cabot. "Constitution of the League of Nations." Feb 28, 1919. https://world wide web.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/LodgeLeagueofNations.pdf

Wilson, Woodrow. "Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Germany." April ii, 1917. https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=61&page=transcript

Wilson, Woodrow. "Peace Without Victory." January 22, 1917. http://world wide web.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=three&psid=3898

Wilson, Woodrow. "President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points." January viii, 1918. https://avalon.constabulary.yale.edu/20th_century/wilson14.asp

Suggested Resources

Berg, A. Scott.Wilson. New York: Thousand.P. Putnam's Sons, 2013.

Cooper, John Milton Jr.Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Printing, 2001.

Cooper, John Milton Jr.The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985.

Cooper, John Milton Jr.Woodrow Wilson: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 2009.

O'Toole, Patricia.The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the Globe He Fabricated. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2018.

Widenor, William C.Henry Cabot Social club and the Search for an American Foreign Policy. Berkeley, CA: University of California Printing, 1980.

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Source: https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/the-treaty-of-versailles

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