Document Based Question: Why did the United States enter World War I?
Historical Context
When the Great War erupted in the summer of 1914, Americans were shocked at the barbarism of modern warfare.
They were thankful that the Atlantic Ocean separated the United States from the warring nations of Europe. People were
determined to keep out of the conflict and applauded President Wilson when he asked that his fellow citizens remain
“neutral in fact as wells as in name.”
Throughout the following months, while national resolve to remain neutral stayed strong, many Americans began
to choose sides; this was almost inevitable. Most Americans could trace family roots to England, Germany, Italy, Eastern
Europe, or other countries or regions then engulfed by war. In fact, many were themselves immigrants or the children of
immigrants from one of the nations at war. It was only natural that they still had emotional ties to their homelands. Many
people, shocked and appalled by Germany’s brutal invasion of Belgium in the opening weeks of the war, were firm
opponents of the Germans. As American shipping and trade began to be blockaded by England and Germany, patriotic
anger rose. But still, even after German submarines sank the British liner Lusitania in May of 1915, killing over 100
Americans, public opinion still opposed American involvement in the war. In November 1916, American determination to
stay out of the war expressed itself in reelecting President Wilson whose campaign slogan was “He kept us out of War.”
Nonetheless, April 2, 1917 found President Wilson standing before a joint session of Congress asking that war be
declares against Germany. “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.” Two days later, the Senate voted 82
to 6 for war. Then, on April 6, the House of Representatives did the same, voting 373 to 50.
What led the United States to abandon its neutrality and isolation? What led Americans into World War I?
QUESTION: Why did the United States abandon its neutrality and choose to enter World War I
on the side of the Allies in 1917?
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying documents. As you analyze the documents, take into
account both the source of each document and the author’s point of view. Be sure to:
1. Carefully read the document-based question. Consider that you already know about this topic. How would you
answer the question if you had no documents to examine?
2.
Now, read each document carefully, underlining key phrases that address the DBQ. Answer the questions linked to
the documents. You also may wish to use the margins to connect each document to US entry into WWI.
3.
Based on your own knowledge and on the information found in the documents, formulate a thesis that directly
answers the question.
4.
Organize supportive and relevant information into a brief outline. Think about which documents support which
ideas.
5.
Write a well-organized essay proving your thesis. The essay should be logically presented and should include
information both from the documents and from your own knowledge outside of the documents.
DOCUMENT 1
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
By 1917, American loans to the Allies had soared to$2.25 billion; loans to Germany stood at a paltry $27 million.
DOCUMENT 2
1. To which countries did the United States loan money and trade with prior to US entry into World War I?
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DOCUMENT 3
During the four days of Congressional debates following President Wilson’s war message, Senator George Norris of
Nebraska spoke against voting for war. This is an excerpt from his speech on April 4, 1917.
To whom does war bring prosperity? War brings prosperity to the stock gambler on Wall Street—to those who are
already in possession of more wealth than can be realized or enjoyed. . . . Their object in having war and in preparing
for war is to make money. Human suffering and the sacrifice of human life are necessary, but Wall Street considers
only the dollars and the cents. . . . We are going into war upon the command of gold.
2. Why did Senator Norris believe the US entered World War I? _______________________________________________
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DOCUMENT 4
President Wilson’s first Warning to the Germans on unrestricted submarine warfare, April 19, 1915.
To declare or exercise a right to attack and destroy any vessel entering a prescribed area of the high seas without first
certainly determining its belligerent nationality and the contraband character of its cargo would be an act so
unprecedented in naval warfare that this government is reluctant to believe that the Imperial Government of Germany
in this case contemplates it as possible… The suspicion that enemy ships are using neutral flags improperly can create
no just presumption that all ships traversing a prescribed area are subject to the same suspicion. It is to determine
exactly such questions that this Government understands the right of visit and search to have been recognized.
If such a deplorable situation should arise, the Imperial German Government can readily appreciate that the
Government of the United States would be constrained to hold the Imperial Government of Germany to a strict
accountability for such acts of their naval authorities, and to take any steps it might be necessary to take to safeguard
American lives and property and to secure to American citizens the full enjoyment of their acknowledged rights on the
high seas.
It is stated for the information of the Imperial Government that representations have been made to his Britannic
Majesty's Government in respect to the unwarranted use of the American flag for the protection of British ships.
DOCUMENT 5
“American-Registered Ships Sunk, February 3,1917-April 4, 1917,” in Rodney Carlisle, “The Attacks on US Shipping that
Precipitated US Entry into World War I,” The Northern Mariner, Vol. 17 No. 3, January 2007.
DOCUMENT 6
Political Cartoon of President Wilson, March 21, 1917.
3. How did the German policy of unrestricted submarine warfare affect the United States? __________________________
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DOCUMENT 7
Message from the German Foreign minister to the government of Mexico intercepted in January 1917 by British
intelligence. It was turned over to the United States Department of State and released to newspapers in mid-March.
We intend to begin on the 1st of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep
the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal of alliance on
the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our
part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The settlement in detail is left to
you. You will inform the President of the above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States of
America is certain and add the suggestion that he should, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence
and at the same time mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call the President's attention to the fact that the
ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England in a few months to make
peace.
Signed, Zimmermann.
4. What did the Zimmerman note call for? _________________________________________________________________
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DOCUMENT 8
Excerpts from President Wilson’s Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1917.
We are provincials no longer. The tragic events of the thirty months of vital turmoil through which we have just passed
have made us citizens of the world. There can be no turning back. Our own fortunes as a nation are involved whether we
would have it so or not.
And yet we are not the less Americans on that account. We shall be the more American if we but remain true to the
principles in which we have been bred. They are not the principles of a province or of a single continent. We have known
and boasted all along that they were the principles of a liberated mankind. These, therefore, are the things we shall stand
for, whether in war or in peace:
That all nations are equally interested in the peace of the world and in the political stability of free peoples, and equally
responsible for their maintenance; that the essential principle of peace is the actual equality of nations in all matters of right
or privilege; that peace cannot securely or justly rest upon an armed balance of power; that governments derive all their just
powers from the consent of the governed and that no other powers should be supported by the common thought, purpose or
power of the family of nations; that the seas should be equally free and safe for the use of all peoples, under rules set up by
common agreement and consent…
DOCUMENT 9
Excerpts from Wilson’s war message to Congress on April 2, 1917.
On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German
Government that on and after the 1st day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity
and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach the ports of Great Britain … or the western coasts
of Europe … The new policy has swept every restriction aside… The present German submarine warfare against
commerce is a warfare against mankind.
Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples,
and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force
which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such
circumstances… We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a government…
there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. We are now about to accept gauge of
battle with this natural foe to liberty…We are glad… to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the
liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of
men everywhere to choose their way of life… The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted
upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion.
We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but
one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as
the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.
4. How did President Wilson justify US entry into World War I? _______________________________________________
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DOCUMENT 10
Senator George W. Norris in opposition to President Wilson’s War Message, April 2, 1917
...a large number of the great newspapers and news agencies of the country have been controlled and enlisted in the greatest
propaganda that the world has ever known to manufacture sentiment in favor of war.
DOCUMENT 11
“The Rape of Belgium,” New York Tribune, November 5, 1917.
5. How did some American news sources portray World War I? _______________________________________________
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QUESTION: Why did the United States abandon its neutrality and choose to enter World War I
on the side of the Allies in 1917?
Write a 2-3 page well-written essay explaining why the US entered World War I in 1917 on the side of
the Allies. Make sure you use your outside knowledge of World War I, as well the documents, to
support your argument. A strong essay will analyze and utilize at least 6 documents. See the essay
rubric for more information on what constitutes an effective essay.
The essay is due on _____________________.