Woodrow Wilson: Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War against Germany

Context

For several years Americans had soured on both sets of the belligerents. At first they designated Germany the prime culprit, for it was perceived as waging war in particularly ruthless fashion. Evidence included the devastation created by the German siege of the Belgian city of Louvain and the French city of Rheims, the U-boat sinking of such passenger ships as the Lusitania in May 1915, and efforts to sabotage American industrial plants supplying the Allies. Once tension with Germany ebbed thanks to the Sussex pledge of May 1916, tension with Britain increased. Britain had been successfully blocking much American trade with the Central powers within weeks after the war erupted. As the conflict continued year after year, the Allies ever expanded the list of contraband (that is, materials defined as directly supportive of an enemy's war effort), stopped merchant ships of neutral powers, hauled these craft into Allied ports, and confiscated any goods judged to be ultimately destined for its enemies. Other points of grievance included the ugly suppression of Ireland's Easter Rising of April 1916 (an attempt by rebellious Irish republicans to gain independence from Britain), a blacklist of American and Latin American firms with whom British subjects were forbidden to deal in any way, and mail seizures.

Most Americans did not adhere to the rigid neutralism exemplified by such figures as William Jennings Bryan, who resigned as secretary of state in June 1915 on the ground that the Wilson administration was too confrontational with the Germans. They also did not support the chauvinist posture of Theodore Roosevelt, who sought to defend American rights by force. Until the eve of American entry into the war, much of the public sought a middle ground, hoping to avoid war while preserving the nation's honor.