President Woodrow Wilson put forth his 14-point proposal for ending the Great War in his War Aims and Peace Terms speech to Congress on January 8, 1918. The 14 points were the result of research on topics likely to arise in the anticipated peace conference by a group of about 150 advisors dubbed The Inquiry.RELATED PRODUCTSMORE Everybody's Guide to Small Claims Court Everybody's Guide to Small Claims Court in California Represent Yourself in Court Settle Your Small Claims Dispute Without Going to Court The 14 points included proposals to ensure world peace in the future: open agreements, arms reductions, freedom of the seas, free trade, and self-determination for oppressed minorities. The 14 points served as a basis for the terms of German surrender negotiated at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, but most of Wilsons 14 points were abandoned in the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I. The Treaty of Versailles did, however, include one of Wilsons proposals: the establishment of a world organization to provide a system of collective security for all nations; this organization came to be known as the League of Nations. The U.S. Senate refused to adopt the treaty or join the League of Nations. Wilson later suggested that there would be another world war within a generation if the U.S. failed to join the League.
