Thomas Jefferson Quotes
Our first and fundamental maxim should never to entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe.
This is one of the favorite quotations of American isolationists. Try as he and others did, they found the principle easier to utter than implement. Jefferson, having diplomatic experience in Europe knew far more than most Americans about foreign affairs, and he used this knowledge well on many occasions in playing off the French, Spanish and English against each other regarding their interests in America. By purchasing the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon, he not only greatly increased the size of the nation but all but eliminated Spanish aspirations in North America. At the same time the money he gave Napoleon increased the French threat to England, Spain and other European countries. So Jefferson and America was in European “broils” as the advantage and necessity outweighed the general principle and dislike for those machinations.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, 3rd President of the United States (Democratic Republican, VA), Quoted on America First website, March 26, 2002
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Adams was in agreement with his former chief George Washington {37176} as well as with many of his political foes.
Senator Burton was using this quotation to support the Republican isolation policy that they were advocating at the time. This quotation has been cited by almost every American politician advocating isolationism. Generally it was the Republican party that has been the isolationist advocates in America. However, after the Second World War that began to change, and in the beginning of the 21st century, the George W. Bush Administration, without any declaration of war by Congress, attacked and invaded two different countries starting the Iraq and the Afghanistan Wars. Meanwhile, the Democrats, who had been advocating American activism in foreign affairs also flip flopped and opposed foreign military intervention as Democratic President Obama withdrew American troops from the two Bush wars. The Afghanistan War was the longest war in American history.
Inscribed in the John Adams Building of the Library of Congress. On this subject Jefferson was in agreement with George Washington {37176} and his political opponent, John Adams {592705}.
This appears to be the first American expression of the balance of power doctrine in foreign policy.
Shortly thereafter the United States joined the allies and the First World War.
The Spanish had been beaten and bloodied by England, but no one else until Napoleon would come along later. So it was easy for Spain to bully and dominate the non-English countries.
Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels.
