19-3 Critical Thinking #3&5

How did the war affect government power?

The government's power increased enormously during war time. The factors of this were how private businesses were affected, the amount of power given to the president, and the Espionage and sedition acts. The war was a difficult time for small business owners. The government was coming into the industries and made them transfer from producing consumer goods, to producing war supplies. This job was far too complex and important for small business owners, therefore, the larger businesses started to collaborate with the government instead.
As far as presidential power over the economy, Woodrow Wilson was given the majority of the power, which included the ability to fix prices and regulate certain war related industries. The government's power also increased with the passing of the Espionage and Sedition Acts. This made it so a person could be fined up to 10 thousand dollars and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort.So it could definitely be said that the government gained more power than usual during WWI.
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Do you think that the war had a positive or a negative effect on American society?

The war definitely had both positive and negative effects on our society, but it had many more negative affects. The Propaganda campaign was a definite negative. While the Committee on Public Information was doing well for itself, after selling millions of their biased pamphlets and booklets, it started getting the public to campaign patriotism, which enraged the civil liberties of various ethnic groups and all of those who opposed the war.
However, a positive was the job opportunities given to African Americans, who were recruited as extras in the war, and women, who took over the jobs their husbands would be doing if they were not fighting in the war. However, the other negative was the ridiculous amount of power the government had over industries. With all the businesses producing war supplies, the common consumer would not be able to buy the necessities they normally get from those vendors.