and others would say that the US was expansionist in North America and that disqualifies it as isolationist. For me, isolationism is a lack of readiness to extend strategic commitments beyond the mothership. And it has an enduring geopolitical slash geographic logic to it, which is ever present during the founding era. And that is that the United States has to its east and west big flanking oceans. It has to its north and south smaller, relatively mild neighbors. And as a consequence, the United States should bank on that natural security. And yes, during the early decades, we didn't have natural security because we were surrounded by the British, the French, the Spanish, and also the Russians that had the territory up in the North Alaska. And so part of realizing isolationism was to gradually push one by one European powers out of the Western Hemisphere. And that to me was really the sort of double edged goal of America over the 19th century. One, to expand westward and become a (14/33)
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