Western Europe and the United States of America

Abstract

For more than a century after the establishment of the United States there was graven on the heart of every politically-minded American citizen the famous words of advice given by George Washington in his speech of farewell “Avoid entangling alliances.” There was every reason to believe that it was good advice. The American people had brought into existence a new country which, though not at first fully democratic, provided, at least, an example of liberty, justice and the rule of law on a greater scale than anything which Europe could offer. They looked back on Europe and observed a quarrelsome and tyrannical continent. Its two most powerful countries, Britain and France, had been engaged, throughout the 18th century in what were, to American eyes, cruel and senseless wars into which the peoples of Asia were reluctantly dragged. As the decades went by, the population of the United States was increased by the influx of high-spirited Europeans escaping from military conscription, from the relics of feudalism, and from systems of government in which the most elementary human rights were denied.