station #1 - web viewsuch divisions amongst us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might...
TRANSCRIPT
-STATION #1- American Neutrality
Woodrow Wilson, Message to Congress, 63rd Cong., 2d Sess., Senate Doc. No. 566 (Washington, 1914), pp. 3-4.
The effect of the war upon the United States will depend upon what American citizens say and do. Every man who really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned.
The people of the United States are drawn from many nations, and chiefly from the nations now at war. It is natural and inevitable that there should be the utmost variety of sympathy and desire among them with regard to the issues and circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish one nation, others another, to succeed in the momentous struggle.
Such divisions amongst us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might seriously stand in the way of the proper performance of our duty as the one great nation at peace, the one people holding itself ready to play a part of impartial mediation and speak the counsels of peace and accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a friend.
STATION #2- Cause of U.S. Entry into War
U-boat sinking an American Merchant ship, by Willy Stower
STATION #3- Cause of U.S. Entry into war
STATION #4- Propaganda Posters- US on the Home Front
STATION #5
Espionage Act- APRIL 1917
Section 3Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall wilfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies and whoever when the United States is at war, shall wilfully cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall wilfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service or of the United States, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both.
SEDITION ACT- MAY 1918
prohibited many forms of speech, including "any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States...or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the Army or Navy"
STATION #6
STATION #7
Schenck v. United States (1919)
Circumstances of the CaseCharles Schenck was the general secretary of the Socialist Party of America. Socialists believed that the war had been caused by and would benefit only the rich, while causing suffering and death for the thousands of poor and working-class soldiers who would do the actual fighting in Europe. Party officials not only opposed the war, they urged American workers to oppose the war as well.Schenck participated in many antiwar activities in violation of the Espionage Act, including the mailing of about 15,000 leaflets urging draftees and soldiers to resist the draft. He was arrested and charged with “causing and attempting to cause insubordination in the military and naval forces of the United States” and with disturbing the draft. He was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison for violating the Espionage Act of 1917, and he appealed his case to the Supreme Court.
The Decision: The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the
United States, upholding the conviction:
Quotes from the Decision:
“Words can be weapons...The question...is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such nature as to create a clear and present danger that will bring about the substantial evils that Congress has a right to prevent.”
“Free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting ‘FIRE!’ in a crowded theater and causing a panic.”
STATION #8
STATION #9
The League of Nations was formed at the Treaty of Versailles. It was a body made up of member nations that would act collectively if a nation threatened a member nation. A great debate took place in the United States Congress over whether or not to join.
Woodrow Wilson defending the Treaty of Versailles
I want to remind you how the permanency of peace is at the heart of this treaty. This is not merely a treaty of peace with Germany... it is nothing less than world settlement, and at the center of that stands the covenant for the future we call the Covenant of the League of Nations. Without it the treaty cannot be worked and without it it is a mere temporary arrangement with Germany. The covenant of the League of Nations is the instrumentality (means) for the maintenance of peace.
If the treaty is not ratified by the Senate, the war will have been fought in vain, and the world will be thrown into chaos. I promised our soldiers, when I asked them to take up arms, that it was a war to end wars...
-Pres. Woodrow Wilson
The Opposition
The question before us is whether the League that has been drafted by the Commission of the Peace Conference and laid before us is will it secure the peace of the world as it stands, and whether it is just and fair to the United States of America. That is the question and I want to bring it to the test.
Wars between nations come from contacts. A nation with which we have no contact is a nation with which we should never fight... In this scheme for a League now before us we create a number of new contacts, a number of new relations, which we have not undertaken before to create.
-Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Massachusetts
