He believed that to get involved would stir up relations with other foreign allies therefore he thought it was best to stay uninvolved. For example during the French Revolution he created an act that kept us from becoming involved and this caused James Madison to say that what he did was out of line without approval of congress. this act was the Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793
The debate is relevant today because there are more or less similar things happening nowadays. The conservatives nowadays are also starting to respond to the political and cultural liberalism that has been the norm for a while. Both now and then, the country was and is divided a lot, which results in power struggles by these two factions.
President Thomas Jefferson wanted to control trade along the Mississippi River
In the United States, both the President and the State Department are responsible for foreign policy, although most of these powers are delegated to the Secretary of States.
