It is true that he was widely praised for furthering the democratic way of life, however, these practices can also be thought to have been only in the president's beliefs, not the countries opinion. Even Wilson admitted this in his message on April 2, 1917 "The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty." In this quote, it is clearly shown that During World War I, Wilson's strong commitment to democracy above the nations welfare became even more strikingly obvious. On his famous tour of Europe in 1918, when he was hailed a "defender of democracy". .
Also, we can't forget the infamous Sedition Act, which Amended the Espionage Act of 1917. The Sedition Act was the government's closest bid to destroy free speech. "Whoever.shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States ., shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both. . . ." This was one of the flurry of Acts put before the congress shortly after America entered WWI by President Wilson. This act is a flagrant disregard of the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the document that it pretends to uphold. In this Act Wilson is blatantly ignoring the feelings of the American people, the people he is saying he is trying to serve. It could possibly give lie to this quote by him "No one but the President, seems to be expected . to look out for the general interests of the country." President Woodrow Wilson was a person who strongly believed in what he thought was right for the country, not what the people wanted, or what was good for them. What is previously determined in this document as Dedication, or self sacrificing devotion, was not what President Woodrow Wilson showed at all.