WORLD WAR I PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS
TWO WILSON DOCUMENTS — EXTRACTS AND EIGHT QUESTIONS

A: Presidential address to Congress, 2 April 1917.
B: Fourteen Points address to Congress, 8 January 1918.
National Archives archival citations: Records of the United States Senate, Record Group 46.

Read the archive citations, distinguish the introductory commentary from the transcript, and locate each short extract in its surrounding paragraph or numbered point. Give a claim, an exact quotation or clause, an explanation of how it supports your claim, and a limit. The extracts are short selections, not the whole documents. Use the linked transcripts for context. The eight answers are examples of supported reasoning, not the only acceptable wording.

SHORT EXTRACTS — READ IN THEIR LINKED CONTEXT

A1 — 1917 address: paragraph beginning “With a profound sense”
“I advise that the Congress declare”
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/address-to-congress-declaration-of-war-against-germany#transcript

A2 — 1917 address: paragraph beginning “I am not now thinking”
“Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be.”
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/address-to-congress-declaration-of-war-against-germany#transcript

A3 — 1917 address: paragraph beginning “We have no quarrel”
“We have no quarrel with the German people.”
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/address-to-congress-declaration-of-war-against-germany#transcript

A4 — 1917 address: paragraph beginning “We shall, happily”
“If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression;”
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/address-to-congress-declaration-of-war-against-germany#transcript

A5 — 1917 address: paragraph beginning “We are glad”
“The world must be made safe for democracy.”
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/address-to-congress-declaration-of-war-against-germany#transcript

B1 — 1918 address: Point I
“Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at,”
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-woodrow-wilsons-14-points#transcript

B2 — 1918 address: Point V
“the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.”
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-woodrow-wilsons-14-points#transcript

B3 — 1918 address: Point XIII
“An independent Polish state should be erected”
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-woodrow-wilsons-14-points#transcript

B4 — 1918 address: Point XIV
“A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants”
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-woodrow-wilsons-14-points#transcript

B5 — 1918 address: paragraph beginning “For such arrangements”
“we are willing to fight and to continue to fight until they are achieved;”
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-woodrow-wilsons-14-points#transcript

QUESTIONS

Question 1: Who produced documents A and B, when, in what capacity, and for which directly addressed audience? Distinguish each historical document from the National Archives webpage that presents it.
Claim: ______
Passage/point and quotation: ______
Explanation: ______
Limit or next evidence: ______

Question 2: Using A1 and its surrounding paragraph, identify the action Wilson requests. Can the phrase alone establish the date on which Congress enacted a declaration of war?
Claim: ______
Passage/point and quotation: ______
Explanation: ______
Limit or next evidence: ______

Question 3: How does A2 frame the harm caused by submarine warfare? Write one interpretation supported by the wording, then one broader causal claim it cannot establish alone.
Claim: ______
Passage/point and quotation: ______
Explanation: ______
Limit or next evidence: ______

Question 4: Read A3 beside A4 and the surrounding loyalty discussion. What tension appears in the address? Why is neither “all Germans were enemies” nor “everyone of German origin was guaranteed protection” a sound summary of these lines?
Claim: ______
Passage/point and quotation: ______
Explanation: ______
Limit or next evidence: ______

Question 5: In B1, what does Point I propose? Separate the policy language from a claim about actual practice. Give one kind of additional evidence that could test implementation.
Claim: ______
Passage/point and quotation: ______
Explanation: ______
Limit or next evidence: ______

Question 6: Compare Point V (B2) with Point XIII (B3). Does the displayed language promise an independent state to every colonized population? Preserve the qualifications in your answer.
Claim: ______
Passage/point and quotation: ______
Explanation: ______
Limit or next evidence: ______

Question 7: Using B4 and the remainder of Point XIV, identify the proposed institution’s purpose. Can the speech alone show that the United States later became a member? Separate transcript evidence from the archive’s historical commentary.
Claim: ______
Passage/point and quotation: ______
Explanation: ______
Limit or next evidence: ______

Question 8: Compare A5 with B5, using each document’s date and purpose. Write one claim about continuity and one about change. Does the 1918 peace program show that fighting had ended?
Claim: ______
Passage/point and quotation: ______
Explanation: ______
Limit or next evidence: ______