We are a democracy, where the majority are the masters, or all the hopes and purposes of the men who founded this government have been defeated and forgotten.
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
In America there is but one way by which great reforms can be accomplished and the relief sought by classes obtained, and that is through the orderly processes of representative government.
Those who would propose any other method of reform are enemies of this country.
America will not be daunted by threats nor lose her composure or calmness in these distressing times.
We can afford, in the midst of this day of passion and unrest, to be self-contained and sure.
The road to economic and social reform in America is the straight road of justice to all classes and conditions of men.
Let those beware who would take the shorter road of disorder and revolution.
The right road is the road of justice and orderly process.
You will remember that the beginning of the end of the war came when the German people found themselves face to face with the conscience of the world and realized that right was everywhere arrayed against the wrong that their government…
I think, therefore, that it is true to say that this was the faith which won the war.
Certainly this is the faith with which our gallant men went into the field and out upon the seas to make sure of victory.
The Old World is just now suffering from a wanton rejection of the principle of democracy and a substitution of the principle of autocracy as asserted in the name, but without the authority and sanction, of the multitude.
This is the time of all others when Democracy should prove its purity and its spiritual power to prevail.
It is surely the manifest destiny of the United States to lead in the attempt to make this spirit prevail.
The law of Democracy is for the protection of the weak, and the influence of every democracy in the world should be for the protection of the weak nation, the nation which is struggling toward its right and toward its proper recognition…
The United States is of necessity the sample democracy of the world, and the triumph of Democracy depends upon its success.
It is my privilege to draw to the attention of Congress for very sympathetic consideration the problem of providing adequate facilities for the care and treatment of former members of the military and naval forces who are sick and disabled…
These heroic men can never be paid in money for the service they patriotically rendered the nation.
Their reward will lie rather in realization of the fact that they vindicated the rights of their country and aided in safeguarding civilization.
The time has come when a more complete program can be formulated and more satisfactorily administered for their treatment and training, and I earnestly urge that the Congress give the matter its early consideration.
I respectfully submit that this condition precedent having been fulfilled, it is now our liberty and our duty to keep our promise to the people of those islands by granting them the independence which they so honorably covet.
I have not so much laid before you a series of recommendations, gentlemen, as sought to utter a confession of faith, of the faith in which I was bred and which it is my solemn purpose to stand by until my last fighting day.
We are unquestionably gaining in thoroughness; but are we gaining in thoughtfulness?
We are giving to many youths an insight, it may be profound, into specialties; but are we giving any of them a broad outlook?
The philosopher,” he held, “is the man of speculation, whose trade is not to do anything, but to observe everything;” and certainly he satisfied his own definition.
Politicians like Woodrow Wilson
