In his farewell address, outgoing President George Washington famously stated that, "The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities"" (Black 107). In the years after the revolution that gave the United States independence from England, the United States foreign policy reflected these views held by George Washington. In this essay, we will examine why this isolationist foreign policy was necessary and ultimately successful during the formative years of the United States republic. Additionally, we will examine why this foreign policy could not be successfully carried over into the twentieth century. We will then examine the United States' entry into both World Wars and also how the United States dealt with the USSR in the Cold War. By examining these different periods in history, we will come to the conclusion that a one-size-fits-all approach to foreign policy in the United States is both unrealistic and impractical due to the always shifting balance of power abroad. While isolationism was the correct approach to take in the formative years of the United States, it would have been dangerous and devastating for the country to carry over this approach during and after the rise of a militant Germany. .
In his book, "In Defense of the Bush Doctrine,"" Robert Kaufman discusses how the founders of the United States embraced an isolationist strategy in the years 1776-1830.
