[Music] April of 1917 War had been raging in Europe and around the world for two years and eight months two years and eight months of violence and privation with no real progress Britain France and Russia the Allied Powers had gone to war against Germany and Austria-Hungary the Axis powers for complex and tragic reasons what was hoped to be a short war had been bogged down in the mud and trenches of the eastern and western fronts this was truly a world war with fighting taking place around the world and involving people from across the globe many part of the web of Empire that emanated from Europe Millions had died in places who still fare scars to this day places like Verdun the song ipra tannenberg and Gallipoli the United States had remained a Vigilant neutral President Woodrow Wilson had promised to keep the United States out of war in Europe and had done so however by January of 1917 this was becoming increasingly difficult the United States had slowly crept closer to war every year the infamous sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a German submarine or U-Boat in the deaths of 1193 passengers on 7 May 1915 had shocked many Americans the issue of submarine warfare continued December as the war dragged on Germany grew increasingly desperate to limit Allied supplies and in January of 1917 they began to consider using unrestricted submarine warfare this meant they would attack any ship that sailed towards British and French ports knowing this would anger the United States Germany sent a telegram to the Mexican Government informing them that if they declared war on the United States they would be supported by Germany this telegram was intercepted and decoded by the British and shared with the Americans this telegram coupled with the Declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany in February of 1917 and the subsequent sinking of 10 American vessels finally led the U.S to enter the conflict today we will be looking at the address that Woodrow Wilson gave to Congress when he sought a declaration of war on April 7 1917. Wilson believed it was time for the U.S to enter the conflict however as president he had to get Congress to agree with his vision today we'll examine only selections of Wilson's address and see how he made the case for war so before we dive into the document let's focus on three questions while we're examining one why does Wilson take his request to Congress two what reasons does President Wilson give for requesting a declaration of war and finally why does Wilson say this war needs to be fought so Wilson begins I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious very serious choices of policy to be made and made immediately which is which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making so our first question why does he go to Congress it is not right or nor constitutionally permissible for him as president to declare war on his own so he's coming to Congress to go through the formal process of a declaration of war what this essentially means is that the government of the United States will be in a war footing towards Germany meaning like you would assume we're now going to attack or fight or send troops to engage with Germany and eventually Austria-Hungary Wilson's going through this process to get that official declaration of war this will unlock new resources more money that can be diverted for tax purposes it gives him more authority to act within the government there's lots of reasons to get this formal declaration but he has to go to Congress to get it so Wilson goes on then to make his case and this is where he begins to make his case the present German submarine warfare against Commerce is a Warfare against all mankind it is a war against all nations American ships have been sunk American lives taken in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of but the ships and the people of other neutral and friendly Nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way there has been no discrimination the challenge is to all mankind so Wilson here now is making his case to Congress as to why this declaration of war is necessary of course while we're going to war it's a big decision so he has to make a case for it he has to give reasons for why he thinks the United States needs to go to war he starts here by talking about the unrestricted submarine warfare meaning German submarines can sink any ship that they think is carrying supplies to their enemy Nations which for them were Britain and France and Russia and that has now caused American ships to be sunk so Wilson is saying hey you're sinking our ships you're killing our Sailors but not only that Wilson goes further and he says that they're sinking everybody's ships with this unrestricted policy and so not only is this something that's threatening the United States but it's something that's threatening all mankind he says the challenge is to all mankind it'll come back to that theme later on and this is too he says it is a war against all nations he's really positioning Germany to be this enemy of the entire world and what Wilson is putting forward here is the sense that there is a world order that is against what Germany is doing and that's very much part of Wilson's Vision both for foreign policy for the United States and for the reasons for him wanting the United States to enter into the first World War so again the challenge is to all mankind that's really important again for Wilson's vision and what Wilson was seeing this war would end up being so he goes on he says each Nation must decide for itself how it will meet it meet it being this challenge that is now facing all mankind which is German aggression towards all shipping sort of this indiscriminate as he puts it indiscriminate sinking of ships choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and temper temperedness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation we must put excited feeling away our motive will not be revenge or the Victoria's assertion of the physical might of the nation but only the Vindication of right of human right of which we are only a single Champion so this language will sound fairly familiar to us living in the 21st century because this is sort of setting up an ideological positioning for why it is that the United States would go into this war essentially German aggression is a threat to Freedom everywhere and to people everywhere and so it needs to be stopped but this is fairly new for this period And so when Wilson is saying but our motive will not be revenge or Victorious assertion of the physical mind of of the nation he's sort of referring back to these historical battles that have been waged where it's more about a nation's Prestige or their position in the world or um they're gaining something by going to war themselves it's proving something here he is claiming the United States is only going in to vindicate the rights the human rights um that you know the United States is only one nation that's a part of that is the right say for example to sail your ships across the seas without them being attacked an example of one of these uh Revenge uh fights might be what France and Germany are going at right now Germany had invaded France in the 1870s France had lost and with that loss they lost territory in the alsas rain regions in sort of the eastern part of France they were upset by this and part of their reason for going to war in World War one was to recapture that territory um and that's a tragic thing but it was a part of the way foreign policy had worked up to this point Wilson's declaration of war here is going in a different direction deliberately so he's including these lines to highlight that so he goes on with a profound sense of Solomon even tragical character of the step I am taking and the grave responsibilities which it involves but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional Duty I advise that Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German government to be in fact nothing less than war against the government and the people of the United States so Wilson's doing a couple things here he's saying look Germany has brought War to us we are responding now in kind by going to war with them they have brought War To Us by sinking our ships and having this disregard for the rights of what he again says is all mankind he is also acting as president here and he's acknowledging look this is a grave responsibility this is a big thing I'm doing and I'm letting you know Congress that this is what I advise and I don't do so lightly but I do so having thought this through in seeing this as the best course of action moving forward now it goes on to say I shall take the liberty of suggesting through the several executive departments of the government for the consideration of your committees measures for the accomplishment of the several objectives I've mentioned I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as having been framed after very careful thought by the branch of the government upon which the responsibility of conducting war in safeguarding the nation will most directly fall so here we have a constitutional question that's being posed and that Wilson is sort of asserting what he's saying is look Congress you declare war the executive branch he says here the branch responsible for conducting the war the executive branch is going to fight it to fight it I'm going to need some Authority from you Congress some flexibility Within These executive branches uh so uh the within um the agencies are directly administered by the government to help make things more efficient democratic government is inherently inefficient this is something that really troubled Woodrow Wilson and what he's saying here in war is that we're gonna have to make things a lot more efficient meaning effective streamlined um straightforward cutting through the red tape so to speak so that he can most effectively wage this war that Congress declares on behalf of the United States he's going to Congress and letting them know that that is what he is going to do with this statement as a part of his speech and so again Wilson's kind of doing a couple things here he is telling Congress why he thinks War needs to be declared he is connecting that to this broader purpose part of the reasons he's doing that are also an appeal to the people of the United States who he needs the support of if this is going to move forward if Congress is going to vote for it and he's letting Congress know that there are constitutional things that he's going to be doing and changes within his Department in order to wage this war so he's sort of signaling what's going to come next after this declaration while making a very strong case for why the war needs to be fought so then he goes on and does something else that's interesting rhetorically he says we have no quarrel with the German people I'm going to highlight German people here because Wilson goes on in this section to make a distinction between the German people and the German government this is something you hear a lot in foreign policy but what he is trying to do here is say look the German people in a sense don't have a lot of say in the what their government was doing and it's partly because the German government wasn't as Democratic as Wilson thought it ought to be they had an emperor who was running the government for the most part they had a more of a stratified stratified system than the United States had and so what he is trying to argue here is like look the German people were swept up in this and had no choice but to go to war and you know there's a lot of interesting things you could do with this and thinking through it and thinking about well this is United States perspective was the German perspective the same way but the appropriate place to put this I think for purposes of understanding this speech in this address to Congress are to say what is Wilson wanting to do here and what he's wanting to do is differentiate the German government from the German people and I think he's trying to get it into a situation where you can defeat the government but the German people themselves shouldn't be blamed for what their government did that may be because of Peace ideas that he wants to sort of get through it may also be because the United States has a large population a large German population of either German recent German migrants or German migrants they've been living the United States for a long time and so associating all German people with the challenges that are that are coming out of German aggression would be challenging domestically the United States both in terms of political support but also in terms of possible retribution or people taking out and and doing things that they shouldn't do to other people and so he's trying to distance between those two things and it's an interesting approach and it's interesting to think about why he may be doing that so then he goes on to say one of the most famous phrases from the speech the world must be made safe for democracy it is a piece must be it's peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political Liberty we have no selfish ends to serve we desire no Conquest No Dominion we seek no indemnities for ourselves no material compensation but the sacrifices we shall freely make so what is he saying here the world must be made safe for democracy saying that democracy is a the best form of government in the world that the United States is willing to fight on behalf of democracy and that not only that is now the role of the United States to make the world safe for democracy in all places so that people everywhere have the opportunity to control their governments again this may be why he's separated the German people from the German Nation it's also giving him a broader policy uh idea that he is taking into the war itself so he's trying to can make this big connection so again if you think about where we started unrestricted submarine warfare has caused Germany uh to make war upon the United States the United States is now responding to declaring war on Germany and the United States is going to do it not just to end that unrestricted submarine warfare but to make the world safe for democracy so we're taking this thing and we are running with it and we are going to fight till the very end to make sure that the world is safe for democracy so then he concludes with this sort of Flowery passage he says distressing and oppressive Duty Gentlemen of the Congress which I have performed in thus addressing you again him is leader of the United States it's a big Choice bringing a declaration of war asking Congress for declaration of war he's really underlining that but he says but the right is more precious than peace meaning we've got to fight for the rights of all people and that is worthwhile that is worth spending American blood and American treasure in order to accomplish it and he says that goes on lists a bunch of those rights he says for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own government that's democracy for the rights and Liberties of small Nations so for smaller Nations like say Belgium who Germany invaded the beginning of the war to be able to determine for themselves um their own boundaries and have their sovereignty protected for a universal Dominion by right by such a concert of Free People I shall bring peace and safety to All Nations and make the world at last free and he goes on he says to such a task we dedicate our lives and our fortunes here he's echoing a little bit of the Declaration of Independence Our Lives fortunes and sacred honor since we dedicate our lives and fortunes everything that we are and everything that we have with the pride of those who know that one day that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured God helping her she can do no other so here he's saying look America has been blessed with this amazing Democratic constitutional system we now have the opportunity to go and help others get this same political foundation and so we are going to go to war to fight for that so we go to war in 1917 the United States gets in fights on the Western Front and is very much bloodied as a result of it we lose hundreds of thousands of soldiers but by November of 1918 Germany is finally put into a position where they surrender they surrender on November 11 1918 which we now remember as Veterans Day Wilson then brings to that peace conference what are famously called his 14 points where he lays out amongst other things a plan for uh developing A League of Nations which is the precursor to what we have today as the United Nations again this sort of uh World perspective on uh government on rights on other things but Wilson here and his War message is sort of giving signs that that's the direction he's going to go so looking at this we can come to better understand uh how he got there what he was thinking at this early stage of the war and what it was that he did in order to bring the United States into that conflict so again thinking back to our three questions he went to Congress because he needed Congressional declaration Congressional Ascent to declare war he says it's because both German unrestricted submarine warfare sort of force it upon them but also that we are now going to fight on behalf of All Peoples around the world to make the world safety for democracy and that becomes his larger vision for what he thinks this war is all about so we'll link down below both to where I got this Source from and also to a few other lessons on the Bill of Rights institute's website so you can learn a little bit more both about the United States and World War One some of the other things that were happening during that time period in the United States um and also about Wilson's 14-point plan so thanks for sticking around I hope you learned something and we'll see you next time I don't know the video's over oh come on don't be so sad don't you know that the Bill of Rights Institute has tons of videos on American history government and civics from primary source document breakdowns to historical image analysis whether you're studying for a test or just interested in learning more they've got something for you oh well in that case I better check out this video and don't forget to subscribe so you aren't so sad again