ISOLATIONISM

American foreign policy before 1941

Today the world is accustomed to America being a far-reaching global superpower. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor however, and particularly before the First World War, the country’s political and military leaders had stood firmly behind a policy of isolationism…

Against the backdrop of Franklin D Roosevelt’s memorable speech to a joint session of Congress, the United States formally declared war on the Japanese Empire on December 8, 1941 – a direct response to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Not yet 200 years old as a nation, America was now embroiled in the Second World War. It was no stranger to this kind of mass conflict however; in its relatively short history the US had endured the War of Independence, a civil war, involvement in the First World War and several confrontations with European and South American forces as it expanded and established its territory to the west coast and beyond throughout the 19th century.

Despite this familiarity with military engagements, it wasn’t until the attack on Pearl Harbor that the US embarked on a permanent outward-looking role in foreign affairs, instead of focusing its gaze on what was happening within its own borders, or just outside of them. The American tendency towards isolationism came, partly by design and partly by default, from the core ideals on which the nation was founded.

America’s pursuit of isolationism was never more evident than in 1919 when the Senate voted against joining the League of Nations which President Woodrow Wilson had helped to develop in the aftermath of the First World War. This cartoon – The Gap in the Bridge – appeared in Punch magazine on December 10 of that year and depicts the United States as the missing keystone of the League of Nations arch. Uncle Sam smoking a cigar symbolises American wealth. ✪

America declares its intentions

So monumental was the notion that a small band of revolutionaries could forge a new nation from a disparate collection of colonial territories, that turning the dream of America into a reality was the sole purpose of its founding fathers. The way in which the fledgling country would interact with the wider world was far from their immediate thoughts, but because the set of ideals and values they laid out in the Declaration of Independence of 1776 became so fundamental to every facet of the American existence, the desire for freedom soon became a strong tendency towards isolationism in its foreign policy.

It’s not hard to see how this concept developed. The declaration enshrines the right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,’ free from foreign interference or oppression, so it stands to reason that a country founded on that basic idea should not seek to extend its influence beyond its own peoples.

A far more compelling and practical reason why a role in foreign affairs wasn’t pursued in America’s infancy was that it simply didn’t have sufficient power or resources. And what measure it did have of each was devoted to its domestic goals, and then to ensuring its own survival once freedom had been achieved. This idea, that all efforts should be focused on advancement at home rather than interference abroad, would become so entrenched that nothing short of a direct assault on the American way of life could shake it.

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This map depicting America in 1750, with modern day borders added for perspective, demonstrates the incredible challenge faced by the original 13 US colonies – the red British-owned territory – to establish a new nation. With a mass of French-owned land to the west, the Model Treaty and the Treaty of Alliance were both vital. Courtesy,

While America had neither the desire nor the realistic capability of being a player on a global scale at that time, its fortunes were nevertheless tied to those of its European contemporaries; in fact, its entire future depended on their actions.

By the time the Second Continental Congress had formed in 1775, the Revolutionary War was already under way and it was clear to the delegates of the colonies that they would require political, economic and possibly military support from France.

As the de facto national government, the Continental Congress began negotiating with foreign nations on behalf of the colonies and dispatched delegate Silas Deane to France in 1776 to secure support for its independence campaign, the same year in which highly respected American diplomat Benjamin Franklin became the US ambassador to the country.

America’s early foreign policy

Later in the year, the Continental Congress would approve the Model Treaty with France, a document drafted by Massachusetts delegate and future president John Adams, which would become a template for subsequent international agreements. What makes it so signifi cant is that its primary focus was not to shape or dictate the course of general foreign affairs, but to ensure that the greatest possible number of commercial opportunities were available to the young nation, which had already spent vast sums of colonial cash in its fi ght against the British Empire.

The opportunity to prosper and make ful l use of its sought-after national resources was of paramount importance for the US and it began to lay that foundation by ensuring the Model Treaty had within its terms that America would accept no military personnel from France or submit to any French authority as part of any alliance. It was simply about the Continental Congress, and the governing bodies which would follow it, having the chance to present terms of trade.

It wasn’t until 1778 that France and America reached an agreement, and when they did it was not the Model Treaty but the Treaty of Alliance which was formally adopted. There were only slight differences to Adams’ original, but importantly these covered both nations not seeking territorial gains in areas that each had a claim on – the US in North America and France in the Caribbean. It also included a statement that the American colonies had no designs on Spanish territories.

With a formal alliance with France and support from Spain, the Revolutionary War turned in America’s favour as the 1770s came to a conclusion, and by the end of the decade and the beginning of the next, the Continental Congress was preparing peace terms which would see the British Empire recognise America as an independent nation. Foreign policy had been vital to the imminent American victory, but although assistance had come from abroad its alliances were not the sort of complex agreements which would leave it vulnerable to either France or Spain asserting their own authority within the proposed American borders.

On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by Great Britain and the United States of America to offi cially bring the Revolutionary War to an end.

In 1789 the fi rst US Congress would create the Department of Foreign Affairs, but this would soon be renamed the Department of State, as we know it today, and the symbolic change further demonstrated that America’s overseas concerns were about ensuring its own prosperity and not meddling in the business of others.

The new government’s commitment to this approach would be sternly tested in 1792 as Britain and France went to war and the French looked to the United States for backing, invoking the terms of the Treaty of Alliance. With his cabinet unanimously behind him, President George Washington declared neutrality and announced that the 1778 agreement no longer applied; the fi rst of three key events which would set a precedent for the American isolationism that would remain largely intact until 1941.

A fragile status quo had existed between the US and Great Britain in the decade since the end of the Revolutionary War, but the latter’s confl ict with France – or more importantly how America would react to it –saw tensions fl are once again. The second event that helped shape US foreign policy for the years to come was the signing of the Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America; better known as the Jay Treaty.

After the US had gained its independence, Britain had become its most fruitful trading partner and neither country wanted to slip back into a costly and ruinous state of war. In order to avoid this, the Jay Treaty settled some of the questions concerning boundaries and trade that had lingered since the Treaty of Paris and, despite opposition from prominent members of the American government who still harboured strong anti-British sentiment, it was signed and is credited with averting an all-out war between the two nations, something America felt it simply could not afford at the time. By choosing the best course for American trade and commerce over international friendships or rivalries, Washington also set a foreign policy example which his predecessors had to follow. With the president’s actions having set out the stall for American isolationism, his words during his farewell address of 1796 cemented the policy in place.

He declared: “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. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfi lled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation.”

By this time, Washington was a revered fi gure across America. He was the war hero who led 13 separate colonies to a victory against one of the largest and most powerful empires the world had ever seen, he was the political leader whose shrewd guidance had allowed a nation to establish itself and then he established his legacy by stepping down as president after eight years because he didn’t believe in one person holding power for longer. His words were as close to gospel as a non-religious fi gure could be, and they consecrated America’s isolationist stance as steadfast national policy.