BiasForAction · M
My understanding is that the fledgling USA during the Jefferson presidency didn’t have the military strength to take on Great Britain or France (or Spain for that matter) and wanted desperately to stay neutral during the European wars (napoleonic wars) — it had enough trouble dealing with pirates from Tripoli. Jefferson’s wish for peace was self serving and he later in life admitted that the USA had to be better prepared militarily because other nations aren’t always peaceably inclined.
