President Wilson's Fourteen Points

The "Fourteen Points" was a 8 January 1918 statement by United States President Woodrow Wilson that World War I was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe.

Point 5: self determination
A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.

In other words if you have a strong enough mindset you can push yourself to do whatever you want to do.