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Farewell Address To George Washington's Foreign Policy

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In his Farewell Address in 1796 George Washington heeded a final word warning, a last piece of advice to the country regarding relations with foreign nations. “...avoid entangling alliances”. Washington was not an idealist, he was level headed with a realistic understanding of global affairs, allowing him to determine the best course of public action based on self-interest. And perhaps his sectionalism was what saved our government’s development all those years ago. In his speech George Washington seemed to stress the dangers of foreign influence. He predicted that the greatest possible threat to the young United States was foreign power. George Washington admonished the nation to stay away from permanent Alliances. He explained that foreign nations could not be trusted, and that they would do nothing more than pursue their own interests when forming international treaties. Rather …show more content…

Washington suggested improving foreign commercial affairs that could be mutually beneficial to both parties involved, all while keeping as little political connection with others as possible seeing as they little to nothing to do with American interests. Although now controversial, a few Americans still recognize Washington's words as wise and perhaps the best policy to refer to when making international decisions, that the United States should withdraw from foreign affairs whenever possible. In our modern day setting, however this is not the case. In the name of global good as opposed to our own good we have recklessly implanted ourselves into world government. Foreign affairs now take up a vast majority of our time, resources, money, and military. The effects are definitely being felt as our economy continues to fluctuate with

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“Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival ship, interest, humor, or caprice? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world... we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.” This quote from George Washington in his 1796 farewell address describes the opinion of the United States for a majority of its history. Americas public opinion and national policy had the purpose of minimizing the risk of entering another war.

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Although Washington wanted America to grow rapidly, he believed that America should not negatively interfere with other countries while striving to meet the desires of the

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He also stated that in order to have great success, that the nation has to have little , to no political connection with other countries. Lastly, he says that the new nation should not have long lasting alliances with any other section of the world. He warned the U.S. that if he didn’t make the decisions that he made then their new, young nation would be unsuccessful. He always thought that if the political parties took over

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At a time when France and Britain were at war, Washington was careful to articulate a foreign policy that would allow the United States to extricate itself

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Without Washington’s aide, America would still be part of the British colonies today. To help win the War for Independence, George Washington used the strategy of attrition. The strategy of attrition includes Washington prolonging the war as long as he possibly can to wear out the British of supplies

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He advocated an increase in action by the U.S. and other nations as a response of growing expansionism by Germany, Japan, and Italy. “The political situation in the world… has been growing progressively worse…” This lends to the idea that because of the political situation, the involvement of presidents increase. In his speech, it shows an effort to combat isolationist arguments. He advocates the idea of “containment”, which is also seen in another of his Quarantine Speech.

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Washington warned that if political parties continue to grow and gain popularity the country will begin to split apart and become divided because each political party has very different viewpoints on different topics. For example what the economy will be based on and what countries America should create alliances with. A second tip was, “ steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world”. He was worried that these alliances will create enemies for the United States that they do not need. Since they are a fairly new country with a weak army and navy.

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The United States foreign policy has been greatly influenced throughout history. George Washington’s farewell address layed out important guidelines in how we handle foreign alliances. For example, George Washington stated that we should not forge alliances with other countries. I

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It made me wonder what Washington would have thought of imperialism. I think he would agree being prepared for war is sensible, but would he see how denying other countries their independence goes against what the other founding fathers and he fought for? Or would he too be swept up in the idea of racial superiority? Maybe he would just hold a cabinet meeting and let Jefferson and Hamilton argue the matter out. The other thing I noticed in TR’s address was how he said: “In all our history there has never been a time when preparedness for war was any menace to peace.”

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After the Civil War, the second Industrial Revolution swept the US and the country began to flourish. Baring the economic prosperity, many Americans grew the urge to expand overseas. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, foreign policy was the hot topic among citizens and government officials. There were two sides to the argument; some Americans pushed for the aggressive foreign policy while others favored for the US to keep their nose out of foreign affairs. Notable figures in government took bold stands for and against foreign affairs.

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With great power comes great responsibility. That of moral, political and economic power has divided America into three different selections. That power must be managed and not push upon other countries and their views… we must be strong in our political moves, military gains, and economic growth. Which in turn scared our “ally” friends into believing we will take over there the way of life and turn it into an American way of

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Let there be an international conference, imponderable influences bring the United States there” (Doc. 3). In this, James is discussing how the United States talks as if they are supporting isolationism, but is actually playing a very active role in politic and the economics of the world. James is noticing how there are economic rivals and political tensions arising with the United States and they cannot avoid it for much longer. The purpose of Edwin James’ argument is to inform the United States how sooner or later, the neutrality and isolationism is going to blow up.

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The final piece of advice given by George Washington is to stay neutral when it comes to foreign affairs. The country should not be too loyal to one particular country, and should not neglect any other: “Observe good faith and justice towards all nations...to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage... likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils(4th paragraph). If the country is too loyal to another, they could trick the U.S. and benefit from our mistake. The people should treat all countries equally so there is no conflict.

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Although he is a supporter of staying neutral in foreign affairs, he does believe in the idea of good faith and justice towards all nations. “Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.” (Agel 1997) He states that these connections will only dilute the government’s judgment in its foreign policy. These relationships will draw the U.S into wars that have nothing to do with the safety and prosperity of America.

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Both the World Wars significantly affected the lives of the Americans on the battlefields as well as back on the home fronts. There were various changes that occurred between the two wars. During the First World War (1914-1918), the U.S. troop did not enter the battlefields until spring of 1918, when all other nations have been fighting for years. The U.S. army was unprepared and inexperienced, but since it was the fresh army, it played a significant role in the favor of Allied powers. However, the war resulted in the death of around 7 million civilians, and the deaths of around 10 million military men.

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