Between the years 1783 and 1828, the United States underwent highly fundamental development as a young nation in a variety of ways. On the domestic front, it grappled with the birth of political parties and sectional tensions between citizens, working towards expanding westward, and building a strong economic system to support itself with. As it developed domestically, the US also had to decide how it would approach issues in the greater world, as war raged overseas between European powers near-constantly. As a new player in the game of international relations over its early half-century as a nation, the United States experienced a full-circle moment in its approach to foreign policy, starting off with a neutral stance on foreign war before attempting to step into some conflicts, but ultimately…show more content… In this letter, Cathart comes across as reluctant to suggest war, but sure that it would make the best choice for the country. As a proponent of small government and limited military power, Jefferson didn’t find the decision to effectively make war against the pirates an easy one, but he refused to pay them for their own neutrality, and ended up doing as his consul suggested, and US trade benefited from it in the long term, as it was no longer subject to rampant piracy. About a decade thereafter, the country was again faced with the decision about whether or not to go to war, and this time it was regarding a much larger-scale conflict. As Britain and France were at war in Europe, their respective decisions to block the trade of the neutral United States severely damaged the US economy (document 5). Before jumping to the decision to go to war, the country tried to implement the embargo and non-intercourse acts to persuade the nations to resume trade with them. When these attempts failed to yield results, war seemed imminent. The War of 1812 was neither a decisive loss or victory for the
