Wilson's War Message To Congress Summary

Wilson’s War Message Outline With the Great war raging across Europe in the early 20th century, Americans were content with their declaration of neutrality and non-interventional policy. While many Americans did not care about this distance conflict, as the war continued it became evident that America would have to re-evaluate their foreign policy. This was due to German U-boats not following the international rules of the sea and sinking all ships, regardless of their home country. As American merchant ships began to be threatened by Imperial Germany, it seemed as though the United States would have to intervene in the conflict (Thompson 122). This led President Wilson to ask Congress on April 2, 1917, to declare war on Germany.

This tool results in the audience developing a stronger opinion about the conflict since Wilson is evoking strong nationalist feelings among them. Wilson is able to effectively do this by sharing with his audience that we must fight for “such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other” (“Wilson's War Message to Congress”). Wilson is evoking the feeling of patriotism within his audience in this statement by claiming that it is our democratic duty to fight. To fight in this conflict would be noble for we could defend and promote the principle we have been founded on. This sense of patriotism and pride he is creating is encouraging his audience that being part of a great country it is their duty to defend others while promoting their core principles. This appeal to the audience’s emotion is very effective because it creating a strong sense of pride then giving them a call to