The USA just won a very expensive war for independence and already and already owed much to there new ally french Foreign entanglements threatened to complicate an already complicated financial question also the new country was relatively small and weak and would not be wise to not be involved in the warring affairs of large wealthy European nations foreign policy was best made simple by neutrality Washington was prophetic in this way it was alliances and arms races that caused multiple european wars in the 19th century and world war.
