Franklin Delano Roosevelt begins his demand for war by reminding his audience of the violent attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor after America had made it clear they would play no part in the war. Roosevelt stated that he and Japan had previously coexisted together in peaceful harmony and that their aggression towards the nation was not only uncalled for, but shocking. Japan had planned the attack on Pearl Harbor days before the actual attack, but they didn't stop there. Japan also continued to attack other areas of the world besides Pearl Harbor, quickly turning peaceful neighbors into vengeful enemies looking for retaliation for what had happened. Japan fooled them all, but Roosevelt plans to show the Japanese that they are not a nation to be trifled with. Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippine Islands, the Wake Island, and also the Midway Island also tasted the bitterness and desperation of the Japanese to not only be heard, but to attempt to weaken their enemies who had done nothing previously to them to call for such measures to be taken. Roosevelt assures the American people that although this will be a difficult task, the nation is more than capable of completing it and knocking Japan down a peg, thus ending its rein of destruction. Roosevelt wants to make sure that Japan will never be able to betray America like that ever again. He concludes his speech by demanding Congress declare a declaration of war against Japan due to the uncalled for and uncalculated attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Kellogg Briand Peace Pact was signed in 1928. It was created as a treaty to reestablish stability between the nations. Powers such as Great Britain, Italy, Germany, France, Poland, Belgium, and Japan in the coming year. The treaty called for war to no longer be used as part of the national policy. Those who agreed to the terms and signed the document were therefore agreeing to no longer use war, weapons, and militarism as it had been previously used and instead accept the change the pact projected. If any nation that had signed the agreement were to break that pact and use war as means of benefiting their nation, they would be denied all the positive things the treaty had to offer to them. The treaty was created as a means to slowly wane countries off of using war for their own self benefit and one day live in a world where people would no longer need that sense of violence. The document, having been written by S. of State Frank Kellogg and signed by President Coolidge, gave America the complete control to allow as many nations into the pact as they pleased.
Wilson's Fourteen Points were first presented in his speech to the American Congress in 1918. The points stated that there would no longer be any secret governmental agreements that others were unaware of, they would have access to all areas of the sea, all other countries were to decrease their weapons supply, and any decisions directly or indirectly involving American colonies were to be fair and just. It also stated that Germany should be removed entirely from Russia so they are able to build their own empire free of other nations' control, Belgium should be considered independent (as it once was before the war began), France should be freed and allowed to obtain its own areas of land it had lost, those native to Italy are allowed to reside there, self-determination should be created as an achievable mindset for those in Austria-Hungary whereas self-independence is prohibited in the Balkan states, the Turkish people should be governed solely by a Turkish government while non-Turks are to be governed by others, Poland should be named independent and allowed access to the sea, and finally, a League of Nations should be established so that political and territorial independence may be guaranteed to all states.
In the 1900s roughly 2 million children were found working long hours for jobs that paid very little. The Keating-Owen law regulated child labor and made it illegal for a company to sell products when the workers there were under a specific age. For example, children working in factories, shops, or canneries under age 14 and miners under the age of 16. Wilson passed the law and it remained in place until the government named it unconstitutional during the Bailey vs. Drexel Furniture Company court case over the idea that Congress cannot regulate trade. Although the law was removed from existence, the wrongdoings of child labor continued to be argued and regulated over the coming years.
Wilson begins his first inaugural address by stating that there has been a change in government. He elaborates on the history behind there finally being a large population of Democrats within the heart of the government. Wilson considers this, from the Democratic standpoint, to have been a success. Finally a political party was united in government, a fact he thought to be nothing but a positive turning point for the nation. He continues speaking of the past and the blood, sweat, and tears it took Americans to develop a government as mighty and respected as our own, eventually narrowing down his speech to the topic of the lives that had been lost to achieve this country of greatness. Wilson states that Americans became greedy in some sense and began spending, not money, but human lives on the cost of worldly desires. He states that our growth industrially is obviously a good thing, but having too much of it could turn corrupt and evil. Wilson points out that the government had been used for selfish reasons rather than its original purpose--"for the people, by the people, of the people." But he then changed pace and began moving towards the positive side of all the nation is about. He states that seeing the good with the bad is a great thing in order for them to move forward in worldly affairs. Wilson wants to slide one foot into the future while keeping the other planted firmly in the past--meaning he wants to chase the destiny of the growing nation while still keeping in mind the original bases on which it was created. He wants to maintain the ideas of human rights in such a way that remains untouched no matter how many years pass. Wilson understands how the government is the guiding hand for the people, and promises to guide them without failure towards a greater future.