APUSH Ch. 29 Essay Questions – Flashcards

Thesis: Roosevelt's New Nationalism program strongly called for social welfare programs, while Wilson's New Freedom program focused on banking reform and tariff reductions. However, they both favored unions, progressivism, and woman suffrage. Paragraph: Theodore Roosevelt was an imperialist. He ran in the election of 1912 as part of the Progressive Republican Party. During his campaign, he came up with this New Nationalism program. This program favored strong control of trusts (he believed they were good as long as they favored the people), social justice, woman's right to vote, stronger regulation, social welfare, and much more. He was also not a big fan of monopolies, he sought to regulate them, but not completely remove them. Alternatively, Woodrow Wilson was the Democratic presidential candidate in the same election. He was a very strong progressive; he came up with the program called New Freedom. This program wanted antitrust laws to be enforced/stronger and tariff reductions. In contrast to Roosevelt's program, Wilson's New Freedom wanted smaller businesses and he was very anti-monopolies. He even created the Clayton Antitrust Act which said that actions such as forbidding unions or strikes in factories were illegal. However, the New Freedom program did not support Roosevelt's programs for social welfare. While they had in common certain ideas such as favoring unions, being progressives, and the women's right to vote, Roosevelt's New National program was the more realistic response to industrialization because Wilson favored small enterprises and businesses, while Roosevelt tackled the big industries. He protected the working men, women, and children from exploitation.

Thesis: At the start of World War I, Wilson and the rest of Americans tried very hard to remain neutral. They even remained neutral after the Lusitania in an effort to stay out of the war. However, Germany did not believe that the U.S. was really neutral because of the trade with the Allies but not the Central Powers, which eventually led to America joining the war. Once they entered the war, Americans were still very reluctant and anti-war, Wilson had to create committees and find methods to spark enthusiasm in Americans. Paragraph: At the beginning of World War I, the United States was set on remaining neutral. They did not want to get dragged into another war, and did as much as possible to avoid it. However, Wilson had some policies that would eventually hurt the country, and ultimately help in the U.S. joining the war. For one, the U.S. had always provided help to the Allies in materials, like weapons. This trading system was what allowed America to prosper, especially with the Allies. The Central Powers, however, were upset at this because they felt that the U.S. was not really being neutral, since they were trading and with and helping the Allies. However, this was not really going against any "neutrality laws" because Germany was also free to trade with America if they wished. Although, it was hard for Germany to do so because Britain blocked this trade since they had control over the Atlantic Ocean, which Germany would have to cross through to be able to trade with the U.S. This was one of the policies that affected America's neutrality in World War I. Also, this neutrality came from the entire nation. The majority of Americans were very anti-war and wanted to avoid war as much as Wilson. However, once war was inevitable, Wilson had to come up with ways to inspire enthusiasm in his people. He did this in many ways. For one, he said that America would fight "for a war to end war" and to make democracy safe and possible in the whole world. This was at the beginning of the war; however, later came the Creel committee, yellow journalism, and more, which would spread propaganda to encourage Americans to have zeal for the war.

Thesis: While Roosevelt and Wilson were both labeled progressives, Wilson was a , much more effective progressive more the following reasons: he created many Acts such as the Federal Farm Loan Act, Workingmen's Compensation Act, Adamson Act, and more, to help the people and improve the quality of life through the government. Paragraph: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt were both progressives. In the election of 1912, Woodrow Wilson was the Democratic candidate, and William Taft and Theodore Roosevelt were the Republican candidates. However, Taft and Roosevelt were split, Roosevelt was actually running as a third party, the Progressive Republican Party. Because the Republicans were split, Wilson ended up winning; it is believed that if the Republican Party had not separated, Roosevelt would have won. While both Wilson and Roosevelt called themselves progressives, they had some differing beliefs. Wilson was intent on enforcing antitrust laws and tariff reductions. He was also anti-monopolies and did not support Roosevelt's social-welfare programs. Wilson was a more effective progressive because the nation was in dire need of government regulation because of poverty, alcoholism, and the war. Wilson tried to satisfy the people, while also fixing the issues of the nation. For instance, he passed the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1917, which gave farmers loans for a low-interest rate. Also, he passed the La Follette Seamen's Act of 1915 which helped sailors because it required them to be treated decently and to earn a living wage. He further helped workers with the Workingmen's Compensation Act of 1916, which offered help to federal civil-service employees in case of disability. Finally, the Adamson Act of 1916 was passed, which established that employees would only have to work 8-hour days, and would receive extra pay for overtime. Wilson was a more effective progressive because he used the government to help improve the quality of life and fight corruption, which is the very definition of progressivism.

Thesis: Wilson's conduct of foreign policy from 1914 to 1917 could be described as him trying to remain neutral, but being forced into joining the war. He tried very hard to keep the nation neutral, but events such as the Lusitania sinking, the Zimmerman note, and more, interfered with this policy and he eventually decided to enter the U.S. into WWI. Paragraph: Woodrow Wilson was the Democratic candidate in the election of 1912. He won, defeating Taft and Roosevelt. One strong belief that characterized Wilson's presidency was that he wanted to remain neutral in World War I. In this war, the Allies (Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and eventually the U.S.) were fighting against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire). Before the U.S. joined the Allies, Wilson strongly wanted for America to remain neutral and stay out of the war. However, the U.S. joining the war eventually became inevitable when events such as the sinking of the Lusitania and the Zimmerman note occurred. Even though they tried to fix these issues, for example with the Sussex Pledge, which was a promise by the Germans to not sink any American passenger ships without warning. Even so, it did not really work because of the Zimmerman note and other events that lead to the U.S. joining the war. Then in 1917, Wilson passed the Espionage Act after entering the war, which prohibited acts of national "disloyalty" and made Americans feel as though their civil liberties were being abused. Wilson could not have pursued a different course that would have kept the U.S. out of war because he had already done everything he could. The Germans were abusing the American neutrality when they sunk the Lusitania and the U-boats, they threatened America with the Zimmerman note, and they were interfering with America's trade with Britain. He tried to remain neutral but was being provoked too much, to the point where war was the only answer.

Thesis: Wilson finally decided to enter WWI because of factors such as the U-boats, Lusitania, and most importantly, the Zimmerman note. The U.S. should have entered the war because it had to assert the power and respect that the Germans were taking advantage of. Paragraph: When World War I began, Wilson was intent on remaining neutral. While the majority of Americans were anti-German, they were also strongly opposed to war. However, many factors arose that ultimately led to America joining World War I. Firstly, prior to the U.S. getting involved, Germany was very fond of using U-boats. Then, a German U-boat struck a British ship, Lusitania, which resulted in the deaths of 128 Americans. The U.S. became very upset at this because they were trying to stay out of conflict. Germany kept sinking British ships without warning until the Sussex pledge, which stated that Germany would not sink passenger ships without warning again. One "condition" that Germany placed with this pledge was that America would have to persuade the Allies to end the blockage on trade; since this was not going to happen, war with Germany was just around the corner. This was not possible because America relied on trade with the Allies, and they could also trade with Germany, but Britain blocked the road for Germany to trade with America. Another strong factor in America joining WWI was the Zimmerman note. A secret note was intercepted and leaked to the public by the German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman, which proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico. Therefore, if the U.S. ever went to war with Germany, Germany would have Mexico on their side, and thus have easy access to attack the Southern end of America. The Zimmerman note upset the Americans very much. About a month and 4 more unarmed sunken ships later, in April, Wilson asked Congress to declare war. Wilson's decision for the United States to enter World War I was, unfortunately, a good decision on his part. Prior to the U.S. entering the war, Germany was taking advantage of America's neutrality. They were attacking unarmed passenger ships knowing that America was trying very hard to stay out of conflict. While America was aware of this risk, they needed to continue trading because that was how the nation and industry prospered, they could not just stop because of German threats. Especially after the Lusitania incident and the Zimmerman note, it was obvious that Germany was trying to provoke the United States. Therefore, the United States had to fight back and show Germany, and the rest of the world for that matter, that it was a force to be reckoned with. While they tried to remain neutral, Americans were not just going to sit back and take all the hits without retaliation. Even so, Wilson came up with the Fourteen Points to try to come to a peaceful agreement and end the war.

Thesis: After getting involved with WWI against the wishes of many Americans, Wilson had to come up with a way to inspire patriotism amongst Americans. To do this, the government created the Committee on Public Information which used the media to spread its message via posters, speeches, movies, songs, etc. Paragraph: Prior to the U.S. getting involved in World War I, Americans were very anti-war and tried to remain neutral. After a series of events including the U-boats and the Zimmerman note, Wilson decided to enter the U.S. into the war, which some Americans were still against. American attitudes were still very apathetic towards the war. To help spark enthusiasm and patriotism, the American government tried many methods. One of the most recognizable of which was the Committee on Public Information, or Creel Committee; it was created by George Creel. This committee helped influence American attitudes to become more energetic about the war. Creel was a muckraker who created the committee to influence America heavily using the media. His tactic was to use words and images as weapons. This committee created posters, pamphlets, and leaflets which were spread around the nation like wildfire. Also, movies were released with posters showing the Kaiser as a beast, that had titles such as "Hang the Kaiser" and "the Beast of Berlin". Finally, one of the strongest methods was the "four-minute men" speeches. They were part of the committee and they gave countless speeches across the nation which contained "patriotic pep". The methods used by the U.S. included a lot of propaganda against Germany, that depicted them as monsters and beasts, and Americans as heroes.