Should the United States go to war in 1917 - Essay Example

All of these reasons should prevent the United States from entering the war. The first reason not to go to war would be Germany’s degree of threat. Germany has a low level of threat level towards the U.S. Germany’s fight is not with the U.S. If the U.S. went to war over a country that is non-threatening, it would only waste our resources to fight real threats on U.S. soil. It is true that German submarines killed American citizens. However, these American citizens were on British vessels.

Warnings have been issued for American citizens to stay off of British ships. If the U.S. went to war with every country that killed American citizens as a by product of war, it would be the U.S. against the world. Charles Schwab, president of Bethlehem Steel, one of the world’s largest arms merchants, took a profitable trip to London. There, he secured orders from the British government for millions of artillery shells, as well as ten 500-ton submarines. Though the construction of such foreign vessels broke the law, Bethlehem proceeded with it and the Wilson administration did not stop them. (Dwyer) Unless the Imperial Government should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether (Bass).

This alone could be a strong enough message. This and stronger warnings for Americans to stay off of British vessels could save lives. Going to war would only put American lives at risk for another country’s fight. Democracy is a precious thing. If the U.S. goes to war, they will jeopardize this precious gift our forefathers gave us. The only reason to go to war would be the threat of losing our way of democracy. Germany does not threaten it. The only threat is the people who want to go to war. The