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
humanity and use its submarines to sink
it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of
and
every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain
Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by
Mediterranean.
the enemies of Germany within the
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
moderation of counsel and a temperateness of
make for ourselves must be made with a
must put excited feelings away. Our motive
judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We
will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the
of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human
physical might
right, of which we are only a single champion.
Which best states if the speech is effective or ineffective?