Neutrality should not be confused with isolationism—neither in Adams’s time nor in ours. He had supported neutrality since the Declaration of Independence, and ending the Quasi-War with France in the 1800 Treaty of Mortefontaine was one of his crowning achievements as president. Adams also cultivated trade relationships and believed the that future of the United States depended on active economic engagement with the rest of the world. Like FDR nearly two centuries later, Adams found a way to align America’s interests and values in his foreign policy.
American national security and industrial might were also famously married during the Civil War.
Many of the improvements associated with the Gilded Age had their roots in the Civil War, including government-backed fiat currency, the expansion of railroads, the explosion of industrial production, and the rapid spread of the telegraph. It’s no coincidence that the transcontinental railroad project started in 1863—the midpoint of the war—and durable telegraph cables connected New York to Europe in 1865.
None of this, of course, means that the death and destruction of the Civil War or any other war are worth it for the technological, industrial, and economic improvements. It’s preferable to gain the advantages of wartime innovation without the instability, suffering, and death—as was the case for much of the Cold War. The United States never fought a direct war with the Soviet Union, but government investment in defense led to the Interstate Highway System, space exploration, jet airlines, nuclear power, and the internet, among many other inventions and projects.
The United States today faces serious, long-term threats from near-peer competitors in China and Russia. The United States needs to prepare itself for the possibility of a major war, but even if one never breaks out, the ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East and Taiwan’s chronic endangerment demonstrate how reliant America’s democratic allies are on its industrial output, especially for defense.
We are not in this fight alone. Earlier this month, the European Union crafted a new long-term aid package for Ukraine, which promises to deliver $54 billion over the next four years. While the United States remains the largest single donor by gross dollar value, Estonia, Latvia, and Norway have all contributed over 1 percent of their GDP. For comparison, the United States has contributed 0.37 percent of its GDP.