UNITED STATES HISTORY AND THE

CONSTITUTION

South Carolina Standard USHC-5.5

Mr. Hoover, Abbeville High School

Questions to Answer Why did the United States reject

internationalism? What was postwar disillusionment? How did the Senate’s refusal to ratify the

Versailles Treaty, and the election of 1920, change the role of the United States in international affairs in the 1920s.

 

League of Nations According to the United States

Constitution, foreign policy is the domain of the executive branch but the system of checks and balances requires that the Senate ratify all treaties.

Despite President Wilson’s central role in the drafting of the Versailles Treaty and his desire for the United States to play a leading role in the League of Nations, the Senate refused to ratify the treaty.

Collective Security Some members of the Senate were

concerned that the principle of collective security, which was the central idea of the League, would require the United States become involved in future military action under the auspices of the League without the consent of the Senate.

Compromise In part, the rejection of the treaty was

the result of political partisanship. Republican leadership in the Senate

opposed ratification outright or had reservations about the treaty.

Democrat Wilson refused to compromise with the Republican Senate.

American People Instead Wilson took his case to the American

people on a cross country speaking tour, attempting to secure the election of Democrats to the Senate in the upcoming elections.

In the midst of this tour, Wilson suffered a stroke.

Both physically and mentally debilitated, Wilson stubbornly refused to compromise.

The United States Senate never ratified the Versailles Treaty. The United States later made a separate peace with Germany.

International Idealism The election of 1920 became a referendum on

the League of Nations. The Democratic candidate (Cox) supported Wilson’s international idealism while the Republican candidate (Harding) advocated a return to ‘normalcy’.

Rejected Internationalism The public had responded to Wilson’s

idealistic call to “make the world safe for democracy” but the American people were disillusioned by the brutality of the war, the cost in human life and the greed of the post war Allies.

The Republicans won in a landslide; the American people seemed to have rejected internationalism in favor of isolationism.

World’s Financial Capital Although the United States had rejected

collective security, it had not rejected economic involvement with the rest of the world.

As a result of the war, the United States became the world’s leading economic power, the leading exporter of goods, a major creditor nation and the world’s financial capital.

Good Neighbor Policy America continued to be involved in

Latin America and attempted to improve relations there through the Good Neighbor policy.

Watched From The Side Lines The United States never joined the

League, but did send observers to meetings of the League of Nations and participated actively in several international conferences to limit the size of the world’s navies

Hands-off Approach United States also helped to make it

possible for the Germans to continue to pay the war reparations through a loan program [Dawes and Young Plans].

The United States took a hands-off approach to events in Europe as dictators rose to power in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.

Stock Market Crash After the crash of 1929 signaled the start of the

Great Depression, Americans were too concerned with their domestic economic problems to take much heed of the gathering storm in Europe.

Neutrality Acts In Congressional hearings early in the

1930s, testimony about how the United States became involved in the Great War led the Congress to pass legislation to attempt to keep the United States out of any future war.

World War II The resulting Neutrality Acts would tie

the hands of President Roosevelt and delay American involvement in World War II