We have set America aside as a whole for the uses of independent nations and political freemen.
Woodrow Wilson
The Public Record
Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, he was born in Virginia and raised in Georgia before moving to New Jersey, where he became a prominent political figure. Wilson was a key leader of the Progressive Movement, advocating for reforms such as antitrust legislation and the establishment of the Federal Reserve System. His presidency is also noted for significant events such as the United States' involvement in World War I and his efforts to promote the League of Nations, an international organization aimed at preventing future conflicts.
gutenberg.org
We regard war merely as a means of asserting the rights of a people against aggression.
And we are as fiercely jealous of coercive or dictatorial power within our own nation as of aggression from without.
But we do believe in a body of free citizens ready and sufficient to take care of themselves and of the governments which they have set up to serve them.
If our citizens are ever to fight effectively upon a sudden summons, they must know how modern fighting is done, and what to do when the summons comes to render themselves immediately available and immediately effective.
And the government must be their servant in this matter, must supply them with the training they need to take care of themselves and of it.
The military arm of their government, which they will not allow to direct them, they may properly use to serve them and make their independence secure,-and not their own independence merely but the rights also of those with whom they have…
I, for one, do not doubt the patriotic devotion either of our young men or of those who give them employment,--those for whose benefit and protection they would in fact enlist.
It seems to me very clear that it will be to the advantage of the country for the Congress to adopt a comprehensive plan for putting the navy upon a final footing of strength and efficiency and to press that plan to completion within the…
We have always looked to the navy of the country as our first and chief line of defense; we have always seen it to be our manifest course of prudence to be strong on the seas.
This would be a navy fitted to our needs and worthy of our traditions.
But armies and instruments of war are only part of what has to be considered if we are to provide for the supreme matter of national self-sufficiency and security in all its aspects.
It is necessary for many weighty reasons of national efficiency and development that we should have a great merchant marine.
It is high time we repaired our mistake and resumed our commercial independence on the seas.
If other nations go to war or seek to hamper each other's commerce, our merchants, it seems, are at their mercy, to do with as they please.
We are not likely to be permitted to use even the ships of other nations in rivalry of their own trade, and are without means to extend our commerce even where the doors are wide open and our goods desired.
Without such independence the whole question of our political unity and self-determination is very seriously clouded and complicated indeed.
Moreover, we can develop no true or effective American policy without ships of our own,--not ships of war, but ships of peace, carrying goods and carrying much more: creating friendships and rendering indispensable services to all…
They are the only shuttles that can weave the delicate fabric of sympathy, comprehension, confidence, and mutual dependence in which we wish to clothe our policy of America for Americans.
It should take the first steps, and should take them at once.
Our goods must not lie piled up at our ports and stored upon side tracks in freight cars which are daily needed on the roads; must not be left without means of transport to any foreign quarter.
We must not await the permission of foreign ship-owners and foreign governments to send them where we will.
I am not so much interested in the particulars of the programme as I am in taking immediate advantage of the great opportunity which awaits us if we will but act in this emergency.
We must be free from every unnecessary burden or embarrassment; and there is no better way to be clear of embarrassment than to fulfil our promises and promote the interests of those dependent on us to the utmost.
But I, for one, do not believe that the people of this country approve of postponing the payment of their bills.
Politicians like Woodrow Wilson
