Why did the U.S. refuse to ratify the Treaty of Versailles?
The Peace Treaty Woodrow Wilson entered the war with a very idealistic vision of American’s mission. In his eyes, the purpose of the war was not to punish Germany or to gain wealth or territory for the U.S., but to create a new international order in which nothing like the Great War could ever occur again. Wilson hoped that WWI would be “the war to end all wars.” Soon after the U.S. entered the war, however, Wilson learned that the other Allied governments did not share his views. He learned about secret Allied agreements to take territory from the Central Powers at the end of the war and to make Germany to pay enormous indemnities or reparations (payments to the Allies to make up for their losses and expenses). Wilson responded by trying to make clear to the world what the United States was fighting for. With this in mind, he addressed Congress on Jan. 1, 1918 in a famous speech outlining what came to be known as the Fourteen Points. Here he summarized the ideals that he saw as repres
