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Be very careful about assuming that Washington meant to say that we should NEVER have “entangling alliances” (he never used those words anyway) with European powers.

It MUST be remembered that Washington said that we should avoid placing ourselves in a position of revealing that we did not have the military power to back up our foreign policy. He therefore advocated that we do not associate or pick sides in European conflicts until we had a stronger position. It should also be remembered that after the Revolutionary war the US was about crippled economically and had a very poor military capability. No Navy to speak of and no ability to stand up for ourselves. Even by 1812 we were in no real position to act on the war that broke out again with England then.

Washington estimated that it would be 20 years or more before we were ready to stand up as a strong nation at the conclusion of the Rev war.

I do NOT believe that Washington meant that we should forever steer clear of “entangling alliances” but that he was saying we couldn’t do it unless we had the power to back up our policy.

A review of the Farewell address and early American diplomacy reveals that we were ALREADY quite involved in MANY “entangling alliances” even BEFORE Washington delivered his “warning”.

So, to say that staying clear of “entangling alliances” and assuming that the Founders meant isolationism is NOT a good reading of the facts as far as I am concerned. It just seems like trite and misleading history to be so simplistic as to take those few words of the address and assume it was the “policy” of the Founders.

A good book on the issue is “To the Farewell Address” by Felix Gilbert.