Question

What was the primary reason the united states rejected the treaty of versailles?

a. the senate feared that the treaty would take away their constitutional right to declare war.

b. united states' officials were offended by french criticisms that were leveled at wilson and refused to continue negotiations.

c. the united states demanded that the allies liberate all their colonies, but britain and france refused.

d. the republican-controlled senate wanted to deal wilson a political defeat by rejecting the treaty.

e. the united states could not agree to the harsh reparations proposed by france because it wanted a strong germany to trade with?

Answer 1

The correct answer is A: The Senate feared that the treaty would take away their constitutional right to declare war.

The Treaty of Versailles was a formal peace treaty between the World War I Allies (Britain, France, Italy, and the United States) and Germany their enemy during the war.  The then-majority leader of Senate, Henry Cabot Lodge, a Republican who came from Massachusetts, rejected the treaty, especially on the section about the League of Nations the primary reason being the fear that this would take their constitutional right to declare war. His reasons were that the U.s. would lose its power to the League of Nations.

The Treaty of Versailles became the formal peace treaty that ended World War I between the Allies and Germany.

Answer 2

Answer: a. The Senate feared that the treaty would take away their constitutional right to declare war.

Explanation:

The Republicans in the Senate feared the treaty could commit the US to future wars that were not directly related to US national security, because of the commitment the treaty made to the formation of a League of Nations.

The United States never joined the League of Nations, in spite of the fact that an organization such as the League of Nations was the signature idea of US President Woodrow Wilson.  He had laid out 14 Points for establishing and maintaining world peace following the Great War (World War I).  Point #14 was the establishment of an international peacekeeping association.

The Treaty of Versailles adopted that idea, but back home in the United States, there was not support for involving America in any association that could diminish US sovereignty over its own affairs or involve the US again in wars beyond those pertinent to the United States' own national security.   Because of its objections to membership in the League of Nations, the United States Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles.