Over one-hundred years ago, President Wilson addressed a joint-session of Congress and set forth the fourteen points which would severely impact the settlement of the First World War. The fundamental similarity surrounding these points is the notion of individual freedom. It is the freedom of people; their movement, government, and self-determination. The fundamental belief in freedom and democracy has guided American foreign policy and intervention since 1918. Universal application by Wilson and his successors arises from the bedrock belief in American exceptionalism and values, ethnocentrism, and the changing balances of power. These beliefs and their application have not proven easy to implement; yet the impact of these fourteen points can clearly be seen in American foreign policy from the Wilson presidency to today.
It is difficult to fully understand why Wilson saw democracy as applicable world-wide. However, I believe that American exceptionalism, American values, and ethnocentrism played a strong role. American exceptionalism is the idea that the United States was founded on a series of beliefs such as equality under the law and the fundamental right to freedom which divides the nation from the rest of the world. As Americans, we idealize the equal …show more content…
In his fourteen points, President Wilson claimed that “for such arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight and to continue to fight until they are achieved” (President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points). The United States has since intervened in numerous crisis such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Syria, the Korean Peninsula, the Second World War, and so forth. We as a country have presented our nation as a shining beacon of hope for those seeking freedom and liberty abroad. As Lady Liberty is inscribed, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (Mettler,
It is difficult to fully understand why Wilson saw democracy as applicable world-wide. However, I believe that American exceptionalism, American values, and ethnocentrism played a strong role. American exceptionalism is the idea that the United States was founded on a series of beliefs such as equality under the law and the fundamental right to freedom which divides the nation from the rest of the world. As Americans, we idealize the equal …show more content…
In his fourteen points, President Wilson claimed that “for such arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight and to continue to fight until they are achieved” (President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points). The United States has since intervened in numerous crisis such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Syria, the Korean Peninsula, the Second World War, and so forth. We as a country have presented our nation as a shining beacon of hope for those seeking freedom and liberty abroad. As Lady Liberty is inscribed, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (Mettler,