While the leaders of the government and big business may have started opening up to the world, the majority of American people in the late eighteen-hundreds were staunchly opposed to leaving isolationism behind. For many, it was the bedrock on which the country was built. From the founding of the U.S there had been the obvious geographical isolation as well as powerful, respected leaders driving home the point.  Leaders such as Thomas Paine with his narrative in Common Sense and George Washington’s with his burning support of isolationism in his farewell address on through President James Monroe’s establishing a policy of isolationism in 1823. The leaders of America were learning how the American people could be controlled through journalism and political propaganda during the Spanish-American War, but overall the minds and souls of Americans were ingrained with an isolationist policy. It would take a lot to “sell” the American people the idea of breaking away from this.  One of the first notions to penetrate this barrier and start a new way of thinking was the imposition into the American mind of a moral superiority. Using the financial and political upheaval of the 1890’s as a spring-board, American Evangelicals formed a large movement towards missionary humanitarianism.  As a byproduct, the U. S’s large Christian population found itself coming out of their isolationist comfort zones and moving towards interventionism. A country founded on the freedom from religion found itself using religion to invent itself as a moral authority. This was a large subset of the population that now considered involving itself in affairs outside the borders of America. The aforementioned lessons learned from the press in the Spanish-American war were now applied constantly between 1890’s and entry into World War 1. Consistently softening the American public and swaying opinions.  This led to an era of public zeal towards empire building and economic expansion. The benefits were immediately seen and recognized. By expanding into overseas markets and opening trading, the entire country could increase its standing financially. There were more jobs, people moved out of the agricultural environment and into a more urban one. The country as a whole expanded by leaps and bounds. There were massive growing pains with the labor force issues and human rights, but overall the country was receptive to operating within a worldly climate rather than just in its own sphere. The imperialist and progressive movements fit hand in hand ideals-wise, and the entire country seemed poised and happy to spread its self-perceived democratic and moral superiority throughout the world. The imperial land grab up through 1900 was something the American people were proud of. There was no idea where the expansion would stop. The American people finally put the brakes on around July 28, 1914 when World War 1 broke out. There were strong feelings of isolationism again. There was little to no interest in involving the country in the wars and affairs of Europe which was so far away. Falling back on lessons learned from the Spanish-American War, the Committee on Public Information went to work quickly controlling the information Americans received. The CPI was essentially a pro-war publicity agent for the Wilson Whitehouse. It was designed to create a “distinctly American understanding of a just war”. From the CPI, the NCPS was born. For lack of a better term, the NCPS was an extremely effective propaganda wing of the CPI.  The NCPS started using emotional appeals and stimulating imagery to try to sway public opinion in favor of the war as soon as a few months after the war started. President Wilson, once he had what he felt enough public support was generated, spoke with Congress on April 2, 1917 to ask for a declaration of war. Almost echoing the earlier battle cry of “Remember the Maine”, He lamented to the members of Congress about the dangers of Germany’s announcement of unrestricted submarine warfare and used the sinking of three American ships, The Virilancia, The City of Memphis, and The Illinois, as cause for war. Congress agreed and America was now forced out of its isolationist shell by its entrance into World War 1.
