| Being a democratic president with a Senate which | | | | isolated from the affairs of Europe also had |
| had a majority of Republican Senators, the | | | | serious reservations on the commitment that the |
| partisan politics then influenced the political action | | | | United States will put up with. Wilson might still |
| that a president hoped to make, and thus explains | | | | have won the approval if he had agreed to some |
| the rejection of both the League of Nations and | | | | relatively minor changes in the language of the |
| the Treaty of Versailles. | | | | treaty, but then Wilson refused to yield stating |
| Nevertheless, partisan politics is part of the | | | | that the United States had a moral obligation to |
| American system of constitutional government. | | | | respect the terms of the agreement precisely as |
| Because the opposition or the Republican | | | | they stood. And although Wilson decided to appeal |
| Senators possessed a majority of the members | | | | to the public, the public interest then in the peace |
| of the Senate, the Treaty of Versailles was | | | | process on international matters was said to fade |
| voted down three times and led to its eventual | | | | because of the severe recession experienced by |
| rejection. | | | | the American economy. |
| The Americans who were then used to being | | | | |