Question

Read the excerpt from President Woodrow Wilson’s speech, “War Message to Congress”. On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the 1st day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feelings away. Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion. Which best states if the speech is effective or ineffective?

Answer 1

The answer is: The speech imparts a negative connotation of the German government to support his argument for war. Woodrow Wilson address the Congress and the citizens of the United States to presents his point of view and facts to make a clear argument: the U.S. has to declare war against Germany.  

In the part of the excerpt where he states: “It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way”, Wilson exposes its arguments trying to create an emotive reaction in its audience.

When Wilson says: “The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feelings away. Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right”, he argues that it is not revenge what moves him but a reasonable fact that Germany was a legitimate threat to the United States.

The Declaration of War Message of Woodrow Wilson to Congress was on April 2, 1917.

Answer 2

The answer i came up with is A