Neutrality Acts

(noun)

A number of laws that were passed by the United States Congress in the 1930s, in response to the growing turmoil in Europe and Asia that eventually led to World War II. They were spurred by the growth in isolationism and non-interventionism in the US following its costly involvement in World War I and sought to ensure that the US would not become entangled again in foreign conflicts.

Related Terms

Examples of Neutrality Acts in the following topics:

  • Degrees of Neutrality

    • Despite an official position of neutrality declared in the Neutrality Act of 1939, the U.S. consistently supported the Allied forces.
    • This apparent contradiction can be explained by Franco's pragmatism and his determination to act principally in Spanish interests in the face of Allied economic pressure, Axis military demands, and Spain's geographic isolation.
    • Several other countries attempted to remain neutral but were invaded.
    • In November 1939, the American Neutrality Act was amended to allow "cash and carry" purchases by the Allies (described in Module 33.3.2).
    • Green: neutral status, recognized by constitutions and international society; pink: neutral status not recognized by international society; orange: formerly neutral states

  • America's Growing Involvement in WWII

    • Though "cash and carry" concepts had already been introduced in the Neutrality Acts of 1936 and 1937, these Acts only pertained to materials that could not be used in war efforts.
    • The 1939 cash and carry legislation was designed to replace the Neutrality Act of 1937, which had lapsed in May of 1939.
    • Some argued that this provision would maintain US neutrality.
    • The Act effectively ended the United States' pretense of neutrality.
    • Neutrality Acts of the 1930's.

  • The Mood in America

    • The post-World War I isolationism and non-interventionism in the U.S. resulted also in a number of so-called neutrality acts passed in the 1930s in response to the growing turmoil in Europe and Asia.
    • The Neutrality Act of 1937 included the provisions of the earlier acts, this time without expiration date, and extended them to cover civil wars as well.
    • Finally, the Neutrality Act of 1939 was passed allowing for arms trade with belligerent nations (Great Britain and France) on a cash-and-carry basis, thus in effect ending the arms embargo.
    • Furthermore, the Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1937 were repealed.
    • The first came with the passage of the 1939 Neutrality Act (permitting the United States to trade arms with belligerent nations, as long as these came to America to retrieve the arms, and pay for them in cash).

  • Roosevelt's Second Term

    • Some of the few pieces of legislation were the Housing Act of 1937, a second Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which created the minimum wage.
    • Nevertheless, in 1937, Congress passed a stringent Neutrality act.
    • When World War II broke out in 1939, Roosevelt rejected the Wilsonian neutrality stance and sought ways to assist Britain and France militarily.
    • At first, the President gave only covert support to repeal of the arms embargo provisions of the Neutrality Act.
    • In one of his "fireside chats," he said that America should be the "Arsenal of Democracy. " On September 2, 1940, Roosevelt openly defied the Neutrality Acts by passing the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, which, in exchange for military base rights in the British Caribbean Islands, gave 50 WWI American destroyers to Britain.

  • Women and the Law

    • The Married Women's Property Act of 1839 was an act of statute in the state of Mississippi that significantly altered the law regarding property rights granted to married women, allowing them to own and control their own property.
    • This was the first of a series of Married Women's Property Acts issued in the United States.
    • The Married Women's Property Act of 1848 was a statute in New York State.
    • Paulina Wright Davis, Ernestine Rose, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were among the activists who pressed for the act.
    • The Married Women's Property Act set a precedent for women's property rights that is thought to have influenced legislators' decision to maintain gender-neutral language in the Homestead Act of 1862, allowing any individual to file an application for a federal land grant.

  • Foreign and Domestic Crises

    • However, Great Britain would judge any aid given to France as a hostile act.
    • Apprehensive of foreign entanglements and war, President Washington's official policy was one of neutrality.
    • Democratic-Republican groups, however, denounced neutrality and declared their support of the French republicans.
    • In response, Adams and the Federalist Congress passed the unpopular Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798.
    • The Alien and Sedition Acts were widely unpopular and vehemently opposed by the American public.

  • A Strained Neutrality

    • In the early years of World War I, Wilson urged neutrality and attempted to mediate peace, despite growing anti-German sentiment in the US.
    • When the war began, the U.S. proclaimed a policy of strict neutrality—"in thought and deed", as President Woodrow Wilson put it.
    • Wilson was under pressure from former president Theodore Roosevelt, who denounced German acts as "piracy".
    • Anti-war sentiment was still strong in the US, despite growing calls for an end to neutrality.
    • Discuss the factors that strained America's commitment to neutrality in the early years of World War I.

  • Enforcing the Navigation Acts

    • Later revisions of the Act added new regulations.
    • The Acts were in full force for a short time only.
    • Even more importantly, England conceded to the principle of "free ship, free good" which provided freedom for Dutch ships from molestation by the British Royal Navy on the high seas, even in wars in which the Dutch Republic was neutral.
    • On the whole, the Navigation Acts were more or less obeyed by colonists, despite their dissatisfaction, until the Molasses and Sugar Acts.
    • Describe the central stipulations of the Navigation Acts and the Acts' effects on the political and economic situation in the colonies

  • Legislative Achievements of the Second New Deal

    • The two major legislative achievements of the Second New Deal were the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the Social Security Act.
    • The National Labor Relations Act, NLRA, or Wagner Act, is a 1935 United States federal law that was one of the main achievements of the Second New Deal.
    • The act was immediately controversial.
    • Over all, the employers wanted the NLRB to be neutral as to bargaining power, but the NLRB's policy section took a decidedly pro-employee position.
    • It was a legislative act which created the Social Security system in the United States.

  • The Wilson Administration

    • This included the Federal Reserve Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the Adamson Act.
    • In late 1913, Wilson secured passage of the Federal Reserve Act, an Act of Congress that created the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the U.S., and granted it the legal authority to issue currency.
    • More importantly, the act set clear guidelines for corporations that had previously benefited from legal uncertainties.
    • In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, Wilson approved the Adamson Act.
    • He based his campaign around the slogan, "He kept us out of war," but U.S. neutrality was challenged in early 1917 when Germany began unrestricted submarine warfare against shipping, including American vessels despite repeated strong warnings, and tried to enlist Mexico as an ally.