The United States, without doubt, had to become a major part of World War 1. Isolationism was simply not an option. The U.S. had no choice but to defend both itself and its allies from the hostility of the Germans. There was truly no other option. A nation as strong as the United States could not simply sit back while being mocked, embarrassed threatened and, finally, attacked, by the German war effort. We did nothing to them. The Germans were on a quest for world domination and most certainly did not care if we happened to call ourselves neutral.
On February 12 1915, President Wilson issued his first warning to the German government, powerfully declaring that, "American citizens and their vessels will not be molested by the naval forces of Germany." With this
, America had made its first stand against German hostility. By early 1917, Wilson had a far more definitive opinion of the situation. "It is inconceivable that the people of the United States should play no part in [this] great enterprise." By mid-1917, the United States could take no more. Isolationism was no longer an option. The German government had gone too far. "With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the Government and people of the United States."
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