Girn, Kanwaljit Singh (2018) Internationalism and Isolationism in Early American Foreign Affairs, circa 1774 to 1789 : An Eighteenth Century Balance of Power Perspective. PhD thesis. SOAS University of London. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/30254 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. 1 Internationalism and Isolationism in Early American Foreign Affairs, circa. 1774 to 1789. An Eighteenth Century Balance of Power Perspective. Kanwaljit Singh Girn Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD 2017 Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy SOAS, University of London 3 Abstract It is the central argument of this thesis that American foreign policy in its critical founding years involved an active participation in the European balance of power. A framework is presented of American foreign engagement in this period which rejects existing notions of the newly independent nation as diplomatically isolationist from the start. The thesis also rejects two generally accepted origins of isolation, an interpretation of President’s Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address as a warning against entangling alliances, and of an American neutrality as, what John Adams referred to as a perfect impartiality. Instead, concerns with neutrality and avoidance of alliances which are interchangeably quoted when discussing isolationism, are exposed as nuanced terms that had specific meanings. They are best understood as a framework that mandated a hybrid approach to the creation of policy, within which ideology and realism were given greater relative weight depending on international conditions. Hence, at the commencement of the Revolutionary War, the ideological basis of foreign affairs that rejected political alliances, enshrined in the 1776 Model Treaty, was compromised in favour of a French Treaty. After success in that War, foreign policy took on a subtle complexion. Once independence had been achieved, American statesmen felt compelled to articulate an approach to foreign affairs that, whilst claiming an equality of dealings with European powers, in practice circumvented that neutrality by taking advantage of their rivalries in a rapidly evolving view of American national interest. Analysis of early foreign affairs through this prism of balance of power, illustrates the effectiveness of the emerging, ideologically polarised American nation in confronting the established international structure that was the European equilibrium. An equilibrium designed to contain conflict and restrain power, provided fertile ground for statesmen to achieve the objectives of national interest without compromising the fundamental tenet of the American founding. 4 Acknowledgements At a press conference, following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, President Kennedy told reporters that success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan, if he was right, then the debt owed to so many people will hopefully be a good portent. A particular debt is owed to Dr Simon Rofe, for his unfailingly cool, calm and considered supervision and his direction and encouragement from that first fateful day outside the London School of Economics. I am grateful also to the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS, particularly, Dr Dan Plesch and Dr Sutha Nadarajah, and numerous students for the kind and constructive comments over the last few years in the presentations of this research and earlier versions of the findings. I would like to thank my examiners for their diligent review and constructive comments. Thanks also to the comments of the attendees at various conferences on American history and foreign affairs over the years, particularly at Cork University, and the Rothermere American Institute, Oxford. I also wish to thank a list of international academics, specialists in the field of early American history, professional and academic friends, and others including; Dr Max Edling (Kings College), Brent Tarter (University of Virginia Library), the late Professor Pauline Maier (Professor of American History, MIT), Professor Jack Rakove (Professor of History, Stanford), Lisa Francavilla (Managing Editor, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson), Professor Gordon Wood (Emeritus Professor of History, Brown University), Dr Simon Stringer (Lecturer and Director, Oxford Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence) for his encouragement throughout, the boys of the St Paul’s School, Barnes History Society for their intelligent and well informed discussion of the topic, and Pushpinder Saini Q.C., Deputy Judge of the High Court, Queen’s Bench Division and Gemma White Q.C. for the long holidays in the South of France and in Polzeath, that led to much discussion and writing. Special mention is due to Dr Craig Livingstone, long term friend and colleague, who has provided enormous support and encouragement, including many hours devoted to arguments over the 5 arcane and esoteric ideas that sprang from the American Revolution and Constitutional reform, and his invaluable advice throughout. I owe a profound gratitude to my father and late mother for the love and support that they gave me from a young age which has been instrumental in the undertaking of this work. A debt is also due to my boys, Roman and Ruben, who in their own special way provided interesting and helpful comments, blunt criticism of both the script and the process (!), and for their unfailing assistance in helping to physically organise the vast number of volumes that underpin this work through several moves around the house, out, and back in again. Finally, this work would have been nothing more than a pipe dream had it not been for the unconditional love and support of my wife Shally, her refusal to accept the idea of insurmountable obstacles, and of whom the only remaining thing to say (other than what has already been said in shelter from the storm), is, c'e un dio. K.S. Girn London, 2017 6 Table of Contents Table of Contents ................................................................................................... 6 1. Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................... 8 The Analytical Timeframe .................................................................................................. 17 The First Period .................................................................................................................. 18 The Second and Third Periods ........................................................................................... 20 The National Interest in the Second and Third Periods ..................................................... 22 Early Ideas of Isolationism ................................................................................................. 25 The Analytical Balance of Power Framework .................................................................... 29 Balance of Power: A General Theory ................................................................................. 30 Balance of Power: A Theory of Peripheral State Involvement .......................................... 33 The Historiography of Internationalism and Isolationism in Early American Foreign Affairs ........................................................................................................................................... 38 Contribution of this Thesis to the Literature ..................................................................... 44 Construction of the Thesis ................................................................................................. 47 2. Chapter Two: National Interest on the Eve of the Revolution........................... 53 The Concept of National Interest ....................................................................................... 53 The Three Conditions for National Interest ....................................................................... 54 The First Condition of National Interest: A Common Colonial Interest ............................. 61 The Quitrent as a Feudal System of Control ...................................................................... 67 The Board of Trade as an Instrument of Colonial Government ......................................... 68 The Expansion of Representative Assembly ...................................................................... 71 The Development of Colonial Autonomy........................................................................... 74 The Second Condition of National Interest: Representation ............................................. 77 The Catalyst for Action ....................................................................................................... 77 Cohesion and the Predominating Grassroots View ........................................................... 81 Facets of Pan Colonial Cooperation at the Outset of the Revolution