Unlike today, in 1914 the United States did not wish to involve itself in the affaires of other countries and preferred to remain isolated from major conflicts in the world. The United States government certainly favored the Allied Powers, but from the start of the war, the over-whelming sentiment of the American public was that the United States should remain neutral. So United States President Woodrow Wilson certainly did not want to bring America into the war in 1914. At the same time Wilson claimed that America, as a neutral country, had the right to trade with any of the countries at war according to international law.