Read the excerpt from president woodrow wilson’s speech, “war message to congress.” i am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only for the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of non-combatants, men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. which statement best describes the main idea of the excerpt? a lot of the nation’s property has been destroyed. the nation has lost an immense amount of wealth. human lives are worth more than material items. the nation will get back everything that was lost.

The main idea of the excerpt is that human lives are worth more than material items because the president highlights the fact that all material belongings that have been lost can be recovered or paid for. However, human lives that have been taken away in an unfair situation will not be able to come back, and no amount of money can replace them.

C. Human lives are worth more than material items.

Explanation:

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)