In the sixth symposium of AEI’s “We Hold These Truths: America at 250” initiative hosted at the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, scholars of American history and international relations surveyed how the United States defined its place among the community of nations following independence. As they noted in the Declaration, the revolutionaries understood that the success of their movement depended on “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind” and assistance from allies abroad. At the same time, disputes over foreign entanglements and neutrality fiercely divided Americans in the early republic.
Looking at the founding-era debates over America’s “empire of liberty” can inform the foreign policy questions we face today.