USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
Henry Cabot Lodge believed for the United States to remain in the position as a world power-

(A) the U.S. military must adhere and put the needs of other nations beforethe United States

(B) the allegiance of power in theUnited States must be decided by the President

(C) ** . the U.S. should reject the ratification of the Treaty of Versaillesand oppose the League of Nations

(D) all colonial territories, including the U.S. should be grant independence to those lands

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -After World War I, Lodge became Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the leader of the Senate Republicans. From that position, he led the opposition to Wilson’s Treaty of Versailles, proposing fourteen reservations to the treaty.

Concept note-2: -In 1919 the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended World War I, in part because President Woodrow Wilson had failed to take senators’ objections to the agreement into consideration. They have made the French treaty subject to the authority of the League, which is not to be tolerated.

Concept note-3: -Senator Henry Cabot Lodge was opposed to the Treaty of Versailles because he believed that it sidestepped congressional authority to declare war. (The treaty required a sort of mutual defense pact which would have obligated the U.S. to use its military to defend another nation that was attacked).

Concept note-4: -The Lodge resolution failed on a 39-55 vote. The Senate then considered a resolution to approve the treaty without reservations of any kind, which failed on a 38-53 vote. After 55 days of debate, the Senate had rejected the Treaty of Versailles.