The debate of isolationism vs. imperialism or expansionism is something that was even touched upon in the founding of the United States itself. When Britain and France were at war with each other, during the 1790s, there was great debate on whether the United Stated should intervene and pick sides. Federalists, like Alexander Hamilton, didn’t want to get involved, as America had been founded only recently and they didn’t want to risk losing the newborn nation. Democratic Republicans, like Thomas Jefferson, thought it was be a good idea to help the French, as they were allies with America from aiding Americans to victory during the Revolutionary War. George Washington, however, took sides with Hamilton and the Federalists by issuing a statement of neutrality during the war; he even wrote about the importance of not getting involved in foreign affairs in his farewell address in 1796, setting the precedent of American isolationism that wouldn’t be fully broken until the imperialism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.…