The Myth of American Isolationism

Julia Shaw / December 10, 2010

If there is one thing that the left and the right often agree about these days when it comes to the Founding, it is that the Founders were isolationists. Look no further than George Washington, we are told: he proclaimed neutrality in the war between Britain and France, and he cemented the policy of isolationism in his Farewell Address, admonishing America to avoid entangling alliances.

The Founders, though, were not isolationists or even non-interventionists. The Founders’ isolationism is a convenient narrative from progressive historians who are eager to dismiss the Founders’ wisdom as outdated and inapplicable to the modern world.  As Marion Smith highlights in his latest essay on the myth of isolationism, what these historians dismissively consider “eras of virtuous and glorious isolationism are better understood as periods of uncontested independence when the U.S. was afforded the luxury of following a policy of neutrality.” (more…)