President Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1912. He was overall a good president, but he was not very familiar with foreign policy. He believed that America should remain neutral and not get involved. It was true, America had enough problems to worry about. Wilson was an honest man and wanted to keep the promises he made during his campaign. He began passing new laws, including the Clayton Antitrust Act, which legalized unions (Joseph, 19). World War I began in Europe in July 1914. President Woodrow Wilson successfully met his war challenge because he declared war, made 14 points, and achieved peace between the countries. Wilson did not want to go to war, he believed that America should remain neutral. The war had not started in England but would soon break out due to tensions between the countries. “Wilson's first task was to propose a pact of friendship between England, Germany, and the United States” (Osinski 60). However, no agreement emerged from this peace operation. On June 28, 1914, war was declared. At that time, America had no reason to join in or take sides. Since the start of the war, American businesses and financial firms wanted to know if they could lend money to foreign countries. American farmers and manufacturers did not want to limit trade restrictions with them and Wilson had to allow Americans to sell goods and lend money to any foreign country (Osinski 61). America participated in the war, not directly, but it is not clear that it was part of the war. On April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany. This was what Wilson didn't want to do, but some good would ultimately come from it. President Wilson was ready to present his peace plan. He made his “Fourteen Points”, these are his 14 areas of correction and agreement. Some of these fourteen points include freedom of navigation, reduction of armaments, and the formation of an association of nations (Collins 96). During these fourteen points, Germany even stood out by declaring: “We wish that it would only accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world instead of a place of mastery” (Collins 96) . The words Wilson used were carefully chosen and simply stated. Wilson was applauded for his idea and newspapers wrote about him (Collins 96). In October, German leaders told the United States that they wanted to sit down and discuss ending the war based on Wilson's Fourteen Points (Collins 97).