Neutrality Acts:

The Neutrality Acts were a series of acts created by the United States Congress that were geared toward keeping the United States out of another war. The acts passed between 1935 contained provisions limiting arms sales to nations that were not at war, gave the United States the power to keep citizens from traveling on belligerent ships or to belligerent nations, prohibited loans to belligerent nations and nations that were not repaying previous debts, and forbade American shipping to carry arms to belligerents. It was believed that if American ships were carrying weapons to a nation at war, they would be a logical target for an enemy nation and the U.S. could be drawn into another war. These acts released the United States from responsibility for actions that could provoke such a situation, and thus released the United States from the obligation of war in certain scenarios. However, once war actually broke out, the arms embargo was repealed, and the United States was allowed to help the British through a Lend-Lease program.

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