For those of you still in a patriotic mood after the Independence Day holiday, how would you like to read a speech given by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams on July 4, 1821? The American Diplomacy website provides a review and a link to the text of the speech. I thought the speech was interesting because it speaks to the constant tension in American foreign policy between isolationism and engagement (and some would say interventionism) with the world. In his speech, Adams says:
Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.
What would Adams make of a world in which monsters are so self-evident that they needn't be searched for? On a day when Iran demonstrated the capability to attack American interests throughout the Middle East, is Adam's advice still relevant 187 years later?
