Roderick Reilly
2008-05-28 13:39:38
Golly, isolationists are so fond of quoting George Washington’s farewell address about “no foreign entanglements” to justify no foreign intervention whatsoever, and certainly nothing nasty like military action.
But even Jefferson didn’t fully learn the lesson of the Barbary Pirates and a strong navy. During his administration, he cut back the size of the Navy, so that when British and French navies were interfering with American trade, the impotent Jefferson had to pull a Jimmy Carter and invoked an embargo against British and French goods. An American economic depression ensued as a result.
