ndependent nations and political
freemen." A few weeks later he proposed that the nations of America
should unite "in guaranteeing to each other absolute political
independence and territorial integrity." This proposal was actually
embodied in a treaty, but this plan for an American league of nations
did not meet with the approval of the other states, who probably feared
that the United States would occupy too dominant a position in such a
league. President Wilson's refusal to recognize the despotic power of
Huerta, while expressing sympathy for the people of Mexico, was the
first application of the policy which later so successfully drove a
wedge in between the Kaiser and the German people. His refusal to
invade Mexico and his determination to give the people of that country
a chance to work out their own salvation gave evidence to the world of
the unselfishness and sincerity of his policies, and paved the way for
the moral leadership which he later exercised over the peoples of
Europe.

President Wilson's insistence on neutrality in "thought, word, and
deed," the expression "too proud to fight," and his statement in regard
to the war, May 27, 1916, that "with its causes and objects we are not
concerned," caused deep offense to many of his countrymen and were
received with ridicule by others at home and abroad. His reasons for
remaining neutral were best stated in the speech accepting his second
nomination for the presidency, September 2, 1916: "We have been neutral
not only because it was the fixed and traditional policy of the United
States to stand aloof from the politics of Europe and because we had
had no part either of action or of policy in the influences which
brought on the present war, but also because it was manifestly our duty
to prevent, if it were possible, the indefinite extension of the fires
of hate and desolation kindled by that terrible conflict and seek to
serve mankind by reserving our strength and our resources for the
anxious and difficult days of restoration and healing which must
follow, when peace will have to build its house anew."

Other speeches made during the year 1916 show, however, that he was
being gradually forced to the conclusion that "peace is not always
within the choice of the nation" and that we must be "ready to fight
for our rights when those rights are coincident with the rights of man
and humanity."

After the German peace proposals of December 12, 1916, President Wi