Isolationism Forever?
"Early Isolationism Revisited: Neutrality and Beyond in the 1790s" by Marie-Jeanne Rossignol, in Journal of American Studies (Aug. 1995), Cambridge Univ. Press, Journals Dept., 40 W. 20th St., New York, N.Y. 10011–4211.
"Early Isolationism Revisited: Neutrality and Beyond in the 1790s" by Marie-Jeanne Rossignol, in Journal of American Studies (Aug. 1995), Cambridge Univ. Press, Journals Dept., 40 W. 20th St., New York, N.Y. 10011–4211.
"Why, by interweaving our destiny with peace and prosperity in the toils of that of any part of Europe, entangle our European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?" asked President George Washington in his Farewell Address of 1796. Was he, as many isolationists have since claimed, enunciating eternal principles of isolationism, of peace and neutrality toward all nations? Not at all, maintains Rossignol, a professor of English and American studies at the Université Paris VII-Denis Diderot.
True, she says, Washington did urge his countrymen to adopt this "great rule of conduct" toward foreign nations: "in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible." But he was not laying down a timeless standard, just being realistic, she argues. The United States was then a small nation of four million people whose army two years before had only barely defeated the Northwestern Indians after five years of violent clashes. Aided somewhat by Britain and Spain, Indians remained a significant threat in the South.
And the United States was also just recovering from a severe economic crisis. At the time, Rossignol says, it "made good economic and military sense" to avoid European entanglements. That did not preclude U.S. military action when vital interests were at stake, she notes. "The United States had its own frontline in the 1790s; it was on the [western] frontier, not on European battlegrounds, that its soldiers fought." Indeed, Rossignol observes, Washington himself did not rule out America’s participation in European conflicts at some time in the future: "If we remain one people, under an efficient government," the president said in his Farewell Address, "the period is not far off when...we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel."