Final answer:
To avoid repeating the circumstances leading to involvement in WWI, Congress enacted a series of Neutrality Acts in the 1930s, which constitutes the correct answer – option (2). These acts were in line with the isolationist mood of the period and aimed to prevent the U.S. from selling arms, making loans, or transporting goods to belligerent nations during conflicts.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the 1930s, to avoid the situations that led to United States involvement in World War I, Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts. These legislative acts were designed to ensure that the U.S. would remain impartial and not become entangled in foreign wars. The Neutrality Act of 1935 prohibited the sale of armaments to nations at war, and was subsequently expanded with further acts in 1936 and 1937 to include bans on loans to belligerents and the transportation of weapons on American ships.
To specifically answer the student's question, Congress attempted to avoid involvement by passing a series of neutrality acts, which is option (2). These acts reflected the isolationist sentiment prevalent in the United States during the interwar period, influenced by the Nye Committee's investigation which suggested that armament manufacturers had profited from the country's entry into World War I, though they were not a decisive factor for the U.S. entering the war.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, however, found limitations in the neutrality legislation that hampered his ability to assist nations being subjected to aggression, such as China and Ethiopia. Nonetheless, the Neutrality Act of 1937 granted Roosevelt limited leeway through the cash-and-carry provision, allowing trade of non-military goods to belligerent nations under certain conditions.