AP Success - AP US History: Woodrow Wilson's War Message

The United States declared war on Germany in December 1941 only 3 days after declaring war on Japan.

Source 1

The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against 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 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….

The world must be made safe for democracy....We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion…

It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance.

But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts, for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own Governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.

“Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Germany.” National Archives.

Question 1

Short answer

Briefly identify ONE reason the United States entered the war described in the excerpt.

Question 2

Short answer

Briefly explain ONE effect the United States entering the war had on the war's outcome.

Question 3

Short answer

Briefly explain ONE way the views expressed in the excerpt were challenged between 1918 and 1945.

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