Presidents Failure To Maintain Neutrality

During the early years of American independence, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson had mixed successes in trying to maintain neutrality. All three presidents had some successes in maintaining neutrality, especially since none of them officially declared war. On the other hand, the presidents failed at maintaining neutrality in other ways, such as fighting in undeclared naval wars and being exploited in the XYZ Affair. In response to the presidents’ policies, the public largely had negative reactions to their various attempts at dealing with foreign affairs. Thus, the presidents were partially successful and partially unsuccessful at maintaining neutrality while the public negatively responded to their overseas policies. The first three presidents

One example is when America and Britain had conflicts. Britain, in refusal to show respect for America, began impressing American soldiers and keeping trade posts, as shown in the Map of American Posts Held By British After 1783, on American territory. Jay’s Treaty was a feeble attempt at resolving British-American relations, but it did not stop the British or help America a significant amount. This is shown in James Madison’s Criticism of Jay’s Treaty where he criticised Jay’s Treaty for pandering too much to the British and not standing up for America. In addition, during Adams's presidency there was an undeclared naval war between America and France. In the early 20th century woodcut, a scene is depicted with the Captain of the HMS Leopard returning on the USS Chesapeake after the ships soldiers were impressed and the ship was badly damaged. This unofficial conflict was eventually resolved with the Convention of 1800, still became involved in an international conflict. Thus, even though America had some successes, it failed at maintaining neutrality multiple times in its early