Senate and the Treaty of Essay

Foes in the senate argued that Article X would impair the sovereignty of the U.S. By committing the nation to use its armed forces to protect the existing boundaries of all members of the League.

On November 19, 1919, the U.S. Senate, after much action on the part of the President via speaking tours, voted on the treaty. The Committee on Foreign Relations, headed by Lodge, proposed forty-five amendments and a number of reservations. The senate, however, rejected all of the amendments but approved one reservation that the U.S. assume no obligation to use its armed forces in the service of the League unless the action was approved by a joint resolution of Congress. A Republican motion to ratify with reservations was defeated by a vote of 39 to 55 with most Democrats voting in the negative; also, a Democratic resolution to ratify failed by a vote of 38 to 53.

Clearly then, the failure of the U.S.Senate to ratify the Treaty of Versailles had much to do with fervent nationalism, due to many senators, both Republican and Democrat, viewing the stipulations of the treaty as going directly against the interests of the United States, particularly during a time when America's role in world affairs was not that certain nor very clear-cut. Also, the failure of the senate to ratify the treaty was the beginning of a long series of divisive disagreements, especially considering that the American economy was in the throes of high inflation, for commodity prices rose sharply during the war and continued to rise through 1919 and into 1920 when the price index nearly doubled. One other problem was the Nineteenth Amendment which granted voting rights to women, something….....