Defending The Glorious Cause: The Foreign Policy of the Founding Fathers

Americans are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding this year. Since that time, the country has grown from 13 colonies nestled along the Atlantic seaboard into a superpower and the center of the international order. Mike Watson, the executive director of the Alexander Hamilton Society, will discuss how international affairs affected the nature of the United States, how the founding fathers set the country on the pathway to success, and how statesmen and policymakers can benefit from their example today.

Watson’s talk will focus on the biggest foreign policy dilemmas faced by America’s founders. It will show how geopolitics affected the Declaration of Independence and Americans are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding this year. Since that time, the country has grown from 13 colonies nestled along the Atlantic seaboard into a superpower and the center of the international order. Mike Watson, the executive director of the Alexander Hamilton Society, will discuss how international affairs affected the nature of the United States, how the founding fathers set the country on the pathway to success, and how statesmen and policymakers can benefit from their example today.the Model Treaty drafted by the Continental Congress; how foreign affairs directly impacted the drafting and ratification of the Constitution; how the French Revolution forced Americans to reevaluate their own revolution; and how the United States reacted to the Latin American revolutions and the threat of great-power competition in the Western Hemisphere.

Parts of Mike’s talk will reflect a recent article he wrote for special journal edition that AHS published, “1776: The Beginnings of American Exceptionalism.”