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Reasons For The Opposition Against Joining The League Of Nations

768 Words4 Pages

Ava Romina Colombo-Walzer
AP US History
Ms Rosen
02/27/2023
The Opposition Against Joining the League of Nations In the Senate After the First World War, there was a nationwide debate on whether or not to accept the Treaty of Versailles and therefore join the League of Nations, or the debate between the irreconcilables and the reservationists. The League of Nations was an organization created to support peace and promote healthy communication between countries in order to prevent widespread war. However, many US senators saw drawbacks in the idea of joining an international peace organization. The reasons why many US senators opposed the idea of joining the League of Nations were that it would be the abandonment of the Monroe Doctrine principles, …show more content…

This was seen as an issue by many senators, such as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. Lodge shares in an address on February 28, 1919 that the abandonment of the Washington policy would lead to Europe having the right to take part in the settlement of all American questions and issues. To agree to this treaty would be to would bind ourselves to submit “every possible international dispute or difference either to the league court or to the control of the executive council of the league,” which means before taking action to work on issues as a nation, the US would have to submit their conflicts and issues to the league of nations, stopping the US from truly having control of its politics and progress. Furthermore, as stated by Senator George Norris of Nebraska to the Senate in November, 11, 1919, if the League of Nations were to include the United States, the US would “mortgage thereby the lifeblood of unborn American boys to stifle this cry and uphold the cruel aristocratic reign of greedy kings and pagan monarchs the world over”. What this means is that the League of Nations was a trap to enthrall the US in a system that would only control them and stifle the cries of freedom and liberty, while the US would have little power in affecting other world powers such as Great Britain even in cases when interference is needed for the sake of proper …show more content…

The US was struggling with issues of lynching and racism towards African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and other people of color. If each conflict and issue was to be reported to the League of Nations before action was able to be taken, then the changes in the system would not be done with the support of the American people. Senator Hiram Johnson, in his Speech from June 2, 1919, stated “You, gentlemen from the South, would resent the suggestion that a race problem of yours should be decided by nations bound to the race affected by secret treaties”, meaning that if the League of Nations chose to enact change in policy regarding race in the US, then it would be detrimental to the Southern White way of life where white-supremacy is common. If the jurisdiction is given to outside countries to affect the politics of the US, racial conflicts and factions would

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