US Hist Uncle sam Essays (566 words) - Ethics,

Richard Heredia October 18, 2018 US History 112 Stanley Uncle Sam Wants You Word War I was a war like no other, it involved the world's most powerful countries. World War I began in 1914 and lasted until 1918. Many historians have combed over the battle grounds of this war and have given specific details to what the war looked like. What many people fail to realize are the actions and events that took place back home. In a country filled with worried wives, parents, and children, their way of life would never be the same. Every country effected by the war handled it in their own way, the US population did something remarkable. US citizen came together in order to turn America into a well-oiled war machine. In his novel, Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern Citizen, Christopher Capozzola shows how, when the war began, Americans at first mobilized society by stressing duty, obligation, and responsibility over rights and freedoms. They Selective Service Act is was set the tone for the war back home. To Capozzala, " The Selective Service Act of 1917 was the centerpiece of wartime citizenship and its defining obligation"(21). This act made citizens realize the severity of the war and the power the government had. The US government was asking its young men to die for the nation. This sense of obligation and volunteerism spread to other parts of the society. It brought people together in schools, churches, clubs, families, and newspapers. With so much mobilization happening, groups like the American Protective League thought it was their duty to seek out anyone who stood in the way of the US citizen. The American Protective League (APL) was an organization of older citizens that worked with Federal law enforcement agencies during the World War I era to identify suspected Germa n allies and to counteract the activities of radicals, anarchists, anti-war activists, and left-wing labor and p olitical organizations. Most men in the APL were men that were too old to make the cut for the Selective Service Act. The government during the mobilization did whatever it could for its citizens. The government worked with many groups in order to achieve the maximum volunteerism, and some of these groups were ran by women. Not only did the Selective Service Act get the men to war, it also got women fighting for their rights. The mobilization gave women the opportunity to show men what they were capable of. With all the young men gone, women had to step into their workplace and prove that that they were just as good at the same jobs. Unfortunately, "Americans struggled to understand the difference between voluntary sacrifice and unpaid, or even forced, labor"(86). Though eager to prove themselves, women felt they were being taken advantage of. Because of this situation, groups like the General Federation of Women's Club and the National Association of Colored Women became powerful political groups. They challenged politicians in order to raise the standard society and political life. Capozzola' s novel focuses on the people and politics back home. Capozzola shows the ways that federal, state, and local governments cooperated with numerous voluntary associations to advance the war effort on the home front. A part of history that is just as equally important as the war itself.