The Americans Take Sides - Maija

             The President repeatedly stressed to Americans about not taking sides during the war. The U.S. had 8 million German Americans and 4.5 million Irish Americans. Many of the German Americans sided with Germany because it was their homeland and there was a possibility that they had family and friends remaining in Germany. Many of the Irish Americans sympathized with Central Powers. A vast majority of Americans valued the heritage, language, and political ideals Britain shared with them. Others came to value the link America had created with France during the Revolutionary War.

           The U.S. remained neutral for more than two years. In 1915 Carrie Chapman Catt and Jane Adams (both leaders of the Women’s Suffrage Movement) created the women’s peace party. They worked alongside the League of Limit Armament to keep America out of the war by telling the President not to build up the military.