Why We Are at War

Why We Are at War is a book of Messages to the Congress January to April, 1917 by Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, with the President’s proclamation of war April 6, 1917. The contents list a message to the Senate headed A WORLD LEAGUE FOR PEACE, dated January 22, 1917, and a message to the Congress headed THE SEVERANCE OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH GERMANY, dated February 3, 1917. The contents also list WE MUST ACCEPT WAR, a message to the Congress dated April 2, 1917.

One of the messages says that in every discussion of the peace that must end this war it is taken for granted that that peace must be followed by some definite concert of power. The text says that International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, and that the German Government has swept aside this minimum of right. One message calls upon young men and old alike and upon the able-bodied boys of the land to turn in hosts to the farms.